NJ-GT

Exactly that's 0.4 - 0.5 secs difference at Lime Rock/Pocono North considering the 996 and 997 running the same tires.

gete3

It is about 45 metres or ten car lengths at a 160 kph average speed.

whakiewes

Could you please elaborate? At our local tracks, C6Z06's run on average 1-3 seconds faster per lap then modified 996 GT3's (VIR, Road Atlanta, Mid Ohio, Carolina Motorsports Park). They are incredibly fast and nimble. These are Z06's on stock tires with GT3's on DOT-R's. I am not saying the Z06 is the greatest, but there is no denying its quickness. I know for a fact that is has the power to easily pull a GT3 in a straight line, and its exit speeds are amazingly fast for a car with 500+hp on tap and RWD.

Wes

eclou

At TWS 100 hp will yield about 2 seconds, so with the Z06 with 100 or so hp on the 996GT3 that sounds about right. Stock tires on the C6Z06? I don't know of too many advanced drivers running street tires on road courses, except in the rain. If you are talking about novices then all bets are off and the comparison is then to drag racing from corner to corner - a useless reflection of a cars' trackworthiness.

whakiewes

Eclou,

These are what I would consider novices, but then again thats who 99% of the owners of these cars are. So what I see is that in the real work, the Z06 is 1-3 seconds faster a lap at my courses vs. GT3's. It seems that almost all the GT3's have switched to DOT-R rubber in one shape or another.

Wes

GT3 Nut

My experience at VIR was that a C6ZO6 on Goodyear Slicks was very close overall to me in my 996 GT3 on Pirelli slicks. He was an advanced instructor. He would walk away from me on the straights despite me having better exit speeds out of the corners leading onto the straight (or so it seemed), but I would catch him in the brake zones and in corners. When he finally let me by I gained enough distance to stay ahead for a while. Then my temp guage was climbing and the light came on. I slowed and let him by. Then I realized I had my A/C on - duh!!! - ( I had turned it on when we were gridding since it was so stinkin hot that day, and I forgot to turn it off). Anyway, I was impressed with the sheer accelaration in the straights the car had, and actually surprised it did as well in the corners. I think our lap times were probably very similar that day. We were running 2:07's if I remember correctly on the Full Course at VIR. I would say from this experience that they are pretty close overall. On courses with long straights the ZO6 may have an edge, but on other courses I think the nod would go to the GT3.

trumperZ06

When comparing the C-6 Z06 with the Porsche GT3's, the car's abilities are nearly equal. The Z does have more power, the Porsche seems to be a little more nimble. Lap times really depend on the driver.

NJ-GT

The misunderstanding here is considering average GT3 drivers performance as the baseline to compare the car against a C6 Z06. I've seen Corvettes passed by Honda Civics, and I've seen GT3s being lapped twice in a 20 minutes session around a 60 secs track.

I've not driven the C6 Z06, but I've driven the C6 and C5Z06, very easy cars to drive fast.

I personally know very few GT3 owners capable to run the car close to its limits. The few drivers that can explore the GT3 limits, on a properly setup GT3, will leave a C6 Z06 1+ seconds behind at each of the mentioned tracks.

eclou

Wes,

still not sure what you are saying here. Novice run group C6Z06 drivers blowing away novice group 996GT3's? If so, that is a useless comparison. How the advanced/instructor groups or club racers do with the 2 cars is going to give you a more accurate picture. Otherwise, you are only going to be comparing rwhp. The C6Z06 puts down in the upper 400's, the 996GT3 might eek out the mid 300's. No comparison there.

I can turn a pretty decent lap at TWS in a ~400 hp 2700 lbs track car. However, some good spec Miata drivers can hug may *** through 90% of the course. My car can get 40+mph faster on the long straights. Does that make my car better than the Miata - I think not. One thing for sure - the Miata driver has to develop and use alot more consistent skill to keep up, while I can remain fat and lazy

10 GT3

Rohrl ran a 7:39 in a regular Euro spec GT3. It is in the official ring lap time log.

Wider track also means it needs more room and covers more distance around the track. Although there is more downforce, there is also 5% worse aerodynamics which means slower high speed acceleration.

NJ-GT

As of today, Walter Rohl has not run a regular Euro 997 GT3 at 7:39. It was a comment for Evo magazine. Rohl did run the 7:45 mentioned above, and Sport Auto the 7:48 on the Euro 997 GT3.

10 GT3

This is kind of interesting comparing the 2 cars. The Z06 has 90 more HP, 170 more lb-ft of torque, it is lighter by over 50lbs, has bigger diameter brakes and a wider wheel/tire setup. Yet even driven by one of the best professional drivers has a best lap 4 seconds slower than its lesser powered rival (Walter Rohrl ran a 7:39 in a 997 GT3). The tweaked pre-production Z06 was able to put down a 7:42.9 in professional - Jan Magnusson's hands. On paper the Z06 should kill a GT3 at the track, but in reality it does not.

Why? First, the back end in the C6 Z06 is pretty nervous. You need a very light touch on the throttle coming out of the corners. It is definitely not as easy to drive as a C5 Z06 out of the box. Part of this may be due to the General's choice to keep using archaic leaf springs on their street car, while even the C5R race car had leaf springs. The General insists to the puble that there are handling benefits to using plastic leaf springs, but won't run them on their own race cars. I wonder why? Since they finally figured out there are benefits in cross-drilled rotors, fixed multi-piston calipers and dry sump lubrication (yes , all were standard on 993 Carrera's back in 1994), I suspect they will finally fix this suspension flaw in the next version and it will be much closer to showing track times that are more proportional to its specs.

10 GT3

You are referring to only the Sport Auto test. Before it Porsche logged a 7:39 for a 997 GT3 and a 7:42 for an RS:

http://www.supercars.net/PitLane?vie...10073&bottom=0

RR

The 7:42 RS time and the 7:45 GT3 time was done on the same day on a wet track by Walter.

The 7:39 time for the GT3 was done, looks like in May2006 BEFORE the RS was released. So if that's the case the RS will still be faster than 7:39.

You have to compare apples to apples in this case it means both cars tested , same day same track same driver and to date that hasn't happened yet EXCEPT for the time in october where Walter ran the RS at 7:42 and the GT3 at 7:45 on the same day on a wet track as per EVO.

Notice the * asterix beside the time as well on that website. It is only a quote from a magazine.

trumperZ06

Hhmmmm.... Well just Damn.... while you're at it...

HOW MUCH MORE does a 997 GT3 CO$T ???

I instruct for wide variety of clubs here in the Southeast and the car we see most often in the instuctors group is a C-5... Corvette Z06.

Not that many C-6 Z06's are at the track... yet. I've only had 1 student with a new Z06... and most of the students I get have high hp. cars. I expect we will have a few more C-6 Z06's at the track this year.

Oh... and it's still my opinion that on the track...

the GT3 vs. the Z06 is very equal competition...

it still comes down to the driver.

I've seen both brands driven... very well & poorly.

Cya @ the Track,

Trumper