Mr Michael B

Good to see you on here Pete, and well done on the second opinion .

You conveyed the heck out your thoughts to me. Bravo.

Hank Cohn

Pete – Hello! It is great to have you here!! I’m not actually sure that there’s a question in this diatribe but here goes. My experience begins with track prepared 993s (RS and RSCSes) which, I’ve always enjoyed because you can drive them quickly using both finesse and a little muscling around should you desire. From there I raced a 996 Supercup. While I had great respect for what that machine could do, I never felt as comfortable in that car as I did in the 993s. There was a very narrow aperture for success regarding setup with that car and nailing it two races in a row was more luck than skill. I’m sure this has a lot more to do with the law of primacy (what you learn first is what sticks with you) than the car.

I skipped the 996 GT3 street car, opting to wait for the 997 GT3. At the time I had the street car of my dreams – a 993 RS replica which I sold to help finance the 997 GT3. I immediately had the 7GT3 set to the circuit alignment published in the owner’s manual and drove the car every night after the kids went to bed to put the recommended 2000 miles on it. I had driven a friend’s 996 GT3 on the street a few years earlier and while I recall being impressed, the time between that experience and my 7GT3 rendered the memory useless for comparison purposes. I was surprised how comfortable the new car was on the streets and how stable it felt even at ‘slightly’ super legal speeds on twisty roads. The car had a seemingly endless flow of power and when exploring that on the street, you knew you were doing something wrong!

The day of the first track event came and after building enough confidence to turn all the electronic nannies off (except traction control), I was stunned at what the car could do but even more so by the way it did it – and stock too! It felt a lot like a perfectly set up 993 with a significantly stiffer chassis and twice the horsepower. There was excellent feedback through the steering wheel and, although I had stock seats, kinesthetic feedback from the chassis was excellent. If there was anything I didn’t like about the car, and there wasn’t, it was that it reminded me a lot of a previous E36 M3. That M3 was so good on the street that it was boring – if that makes any sense? I’m not at all saying that the 7GT3 is boring as I believe that it is, hands down, the best compromise street/track car I have ever driven (note, I have no experience with Ferraris or any other such cars). So, I sold it. I didn’t want to be in the first wave of nuts to spend thousands on shocks, springs, bolt-on parts and tuning to get a few more seconds out of the car - again.

My thought was: buy a 996 GT3 with some track modifications already done and have $30K left over to modify and ultimately develop the car to where I enjoyed driving it. I found the perfect ’04 GT3 with all the parts that I would have started with. This means that I’m not writing about a stock-to-stock comparison. On the street, the 6GT3 is definitely more engaging but in the same way that an ’89 Carrera is more engaging than a ’97 993. You don’t have a choice. On the first track outing, I was instantly transported back to the Supercup. The rear end of the 6GT3 is orders of magnitude less stable than that of the 7GT3 and the front end is less precise though there is more [raw] data coming through the steering wheel and the car feels a lot lighter than the 7GT3 and as a result considerably wieldier. By the way, comparing best lap to best lap the 7GT3 was 4/10ths of a second faster at Road Atlanta.

With time, effort, money and patience, I am confident that my new-to-me 6GT3 will be every bit as fast as the stock 7GT3. You’ve driven and tested both cars in the proper order. I did the same but in reverse order. If money were not a consideration the 7GT3 would be both my emotional and logical choice without hesitation. Don’t get me wrong; I like the 6GT3 – especially the challenge of tuning it to where I can interact with the machine rather than drive it around the track. That is the fun part for me. I just wonder if the law of primacy has skewed my opinion or (and) yours?

Hank

Edit: Rereading this I realize that it could be taken in the wrong way and I hope it isn’t. I appreciate that your experience is significantly greater than mine and I almost always find myself very much in agreement with your assessments and opinions – especially those with which I have direct personal experience. This time, however, I keep wondering how you feel the way you do or why I feel so differently. I’ve gone out in the 6GT3 several times since reading the article hoping to come back saying “Yeah, he was right. Not only is this car less expensive but it’s also much more rewarding to drive.” Perhaps that will happen on my next drive.

Thanks for all you do with the magazine. I always look forward to reading each in its entirety. Very enjoyable stuff.

Juha G

What a great article! I just bought the magazine today an read it twice already.

Now, if you could only do a comparison between a properly setup 997RS and a 997RS with factory settings...

With properly setup I mean:

* Club Sport Seats
* Harness
* Aggressive track oriented suspension settings (Camber, ride height, swaybars etc.)
* "real" R-comp tires.

stout

No offense taken, and a very nice write up. Want a job?

993 RS remains the best-handling factory-built 911 I've ever driven in terms of confidence and "rightness"...

But the wasser GT3 motors leave its flat six for dead, and the latest gen brakes are just incredible, "steel" or PCCB.

Interesting point of view you've brought to bear. One thing I've noted with a lot of 997 GT3 owners is how many have sold their cars, all for various reasons, usually financial. However, I still find this interesting. You're right, the car is in many ways the best all-around 911 Porsche has ever made, and does everything better than the 996 and 993 (and certainly looks great inside and out doing it!). And yet.

And yet, tried as I might, I never really fell for it. And yet I don't pine for another week in one -- on street or track. And yet people keep selling their cars.

There just seems to be a certain "it" factor that's missing, a shadowy, fleeting something that may or may not have nothing and everything to do with sunroofs, PASM, etc.

I don't mind technology, and have embraced it in many of Porsche's cars. But, for me, something is missing in the GT3.

The kind of something that would have made you want to hold onto your 7 forever. Or at least a few years, logic be damned.

This is a toughie, which is why my 997 GT3 test was so ambivalent, and why I chose the new car over the old in that test, but only kind of.

Argh. This is one of the hardest subjects I've come across, but the suspension geometry changes to the GT2 tell me that I'm not alone in my feeling about 997 GT3 handling. It's great in any one corner, but just doesn't gel....

Or whatever, my head hurts!

Best,

pete

stout

All things are possible. Oh for the budget and staff to execute. Add this to my list of great stories to do, but probably not going to come to fruition. Remember that 20th anniversary issue? Twas but a hint at what could be...

Though I guess a magazine does need to make money.

pete

LA964RS

Pete:

I also subscribe 3 years at a time. Nice book.

Your comparo reminds me of one I read in Evo...where they were comparring the newest latest superlight Caterham (I think CSR) with the redesigned pushrod suspension, etc. etc. to the 2nds hottest model in the Caterham lineup, the Superlight. The writer did quicker laps in the CSR, but stated it did not engage, challenge or "please" him as much as the older model.

Its all amazingly subjective and what makes reading the opinions so entertaining. At the end of the day its all up to each persons own "feeling"...its emotional and experiential...I think one of the main reasons why car enthusiasts have so much in common with each other....we understand that "language" and respect it.

Keep up the great work w/the book. I look forward to its arrival with great alacrity. I do get a bit cheezed-off when I see it on the stand before my mailbox....but they smoke a lot of pot in the post office here in Hollywood....so its not your fault!

LA964RS

PS: Zach is wanting to do an article on my car when it gets back from paint. Read that as...who knows when I'll see it again! Anyway, its an interesting bit of kit. If you are in LA, you might want to take it for a squirt up on Mulholland as well.
Best.

LA964RS

Clarkson w/the same insight/conslusion with the 599. Brilliant car! But where's the fun?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCA9LO4sP3s

Hank Cohn

Hey Pete. It’s interesting that weeks after your article and the clarity that time normally brings to viewpoints such as this that you still struggle to identify the “it.” Your points about the ‘new’ [to North America] normally aspirated engines and modern Porsche brakes are right on. I also agree that the 993 RS may well have been the last of the truly special 911s hewn from Porsche’s traditional RS/GT heritage – reduced weight, increased horsepower, focused suspension, minimal amenities and, simultaneously, civilized and raw [direct] driving experience.

It’s difficult to write in a few words why I sold the 7GT3. My reason was financial. Even after 9 months of ownership the car was still worth what I paid for it. I didn’t want to damage its resale value by modifying it to my liking and consequentially diminish its value or significantly narrow the audience of potential buyers. Perhaps this is exactly your point. If I knew I was going to hold on to the car forever, I wouldn’t have been concerned about resale.

The balancing thought for me was the 6GT3 looked like it offered 98% of the performance for 70% of the price. A percentage of the surplus dollars could then be used to bridge gap in performance. I still believe this to be true, however, in order to extract that performance from the 6, you have to be at the top of your game and the experience is one of very hard work. If you’re “racing” a well driven 7 you’ll have your WORK cut out for you!

It will be very interesting to witness how the perspective of a few years will change our perception of both cars. The course of GT class Porsches and other marks as well, I would assume, has been irrevocably changed by the Carrera GT accident, legal outcome and consequences to Porsche. Some even think that there might be a recall of the 6GT3 to retrofit PSM as it was a deployed technology during the time of its manufacture and sale. I hope not.

In the final analysis for me, the 7 is not only objectively the better car but subjectively better as well. It did gel for me. I like to think of myself as a driver (don’t we all) and, as such, look forward to mastering the 6 which brings its own kind of satisfaction.

Now, about that job….

Thanks again for all you bring to the Porsche enthusiast world. I’m sure your job isn’t easy but your reward is in the knowledge that thousands of people like me actively wait for you next issue to fuel our passion and imagination.

Hank

multi21

This echos my impression of driving both cars and what others I know have done with their 7GT3's. You've simply expressed it so much more eloquently than I ever could have. I look forward to going out and reading this piece.