Would you trade 2011 GT3RS for 2008 GT3 Cup
#47
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How much does a Cup car cost to run nowadays? It seems the money & support to run a Cup car can be much higher than a RS, year in and year out.
If we are planning to actually participate in some races and to win some trophies, the Cup car is a ticket to the game. Otherwise, the RS might be easier-going to run; just regular items like oil, fluid, tires, pads, tune-ups, etc.
Regards,
If we are planning to actually participate in some races and to win some trophies, the Cup car is a ticket to the game. Otherwise, the RS might be easier-going to run; just regular items like oil, fluid, tires, pads, tune-ups, etc.
Regards,
#48
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Just cruising DE's in a CUP car does not seem to warrant the switch.
Just my crazy take on racing and race cars;
Going racing is like getting a second job if you want to compete. A job adds stress, you must test, adjust, analyze, setup, practice, tell people what to do, etc.
I'm not much of an outdoors man, but racing to me is like camping with noise.
As you indicated, maybe you can keep it in the middle and just chase qualifying laps that the race car drivers achieved during the last race at that particular track?
If you go fanatic, just keep in mind that while the others are sitting back and relax in between track sessions, you might be frustrated on the job instead?
If you like the challenge and pressure, switch if you want to sit back and relax, don't switch?
Just my crazy take on racing and race cars;
Going racing is like getting a second job if you want to compete. A job adds stress, you must test, adjust, analyze, setup, practice, tell people what to do, etc.
I'm not much of an outdoors man, but racing to me is like camping with noise.
As you indicated, maybe you can keep it in the middle and just chase qualifying laps that the race car drivers achieved during the last race at that particular track?
If you go fanatic, just keep in mind that while the others are sitting back and relax in between track sessions, you might be frustrated on the job instead?
If you like the challenge and pressure, switch if you want to sit back and relax, don't switch?
Great point of view. I'm more of a weekend warrior than a track rat. I run about 20-25 days a year. I enjoy it, I use up a ton of vacation time doing it, but that means I want to maximize and enjoy my time at the track. I can unload in ten minutes and I rarely have to open my tool box. I think I'm a decent driver. I usually run in the top 3rd of the pack, but I'm not close to the fastest car. I also know that I'm not even realizing the full potential of my RS, so a Cup Car would widen that gap. I would most like ly be in over my head for the first season.
I ran at Monticello recently. There was a 997 Cup there also. He had a pit crew. He ran 3 laps and smoked the brakes. Another few laps and he was back in the pit for a tranny issue. The car had to be tweaked between every run and it was parked before lunch. I logged 6 solid hours of driving in my RS over 1.5 days and all I had to do was drop some tire pressure when the track temp warmed up after lunch. So as much as I'm intrigued. As much as I understand that Cup cars are special. I'm still not convinced it would be a good fit for me as a Track Day car. My home track in now Monticello. I can run for 90 minutes at a stretch if I want to, very different than a PCA DE. My RS does that without a hitch. Will it wear down over the next year or so, sure. But I'm not beating on it too hard and I'm ultra conservative on downshifts. So for now, I think I'll stick with the RS and see what things look like next summer.
As a side note one of my other deciding factors was measuring my driving over the last couple of track days relative to a cup car. I would have flat spotted a couple sets of tires and I would have looped the car at least twice. ABS and SC saved me with the RS. I could tell myself I would have been less aggressive in the Cup, but then what's the point. The RS let's me test my limits with less severe consequences. 98% of the time, the nannies stay quiet. But on those occasions when I stretch my ability a bit too far, I sure like having them. Knowing that the nannies were there, I was able to take 10 seconds off my average lap time over the 2 days. My last lap was my fastest and my smoothest. Almost like having a built in instructor. When you screw up, they tell you and they also hold you back enough to keep you safe.
Thanks for all of the great responses. You guys made the decision not to buy a tough one.
Last edited by BBTurbo; 10-15-2010 at 08:33 PM.
#49
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well done! top prognosis. you, sir, are a realist. you have weighed it up beautifully and your analysis is refreshingly honest, and realworld. i like your style.
#51
Rennlist Member
The car had to be tweaked between every run and it was parked before lunch. I logged 6 solid hours of driving in my RS over 1.5 days and all I had to do was drop some tire pressure when the track temp warmed up after lunch.
Just having driving fun is what it is all about. Some drivers are also tinkerers and love to mess with the car all day as much as they like driving. If I remember to lower tire pressure I'm really into my laptime, if I adjust swaybars, I am being fanatical ;-) having to sweat to change wheels, pads or rotors I try to avoid at all cost. If there are any track support guys there I ask them to do it and pay; I'm on vacation after all
#52
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I ran at Monticello recently. There was a 997 Cup there also. He had a pit crew. He ran 3 laps and smoked the brakes. Another few laps and he was back in the pit for a tranny issue. The car had to be tweaked between every run and it was parked before lunch.
As a side note one of my other deciding factors was measuring my driving over the last couple of track days relative to a cup car. I would have flat spotted a couple sets of tires and I would have looped the car at least twice. ABS and SC saved me with the RS. I could tell myself I would have been less aggressive in the Cup, but then what's the point. The RS let's me test my limits with less severe consequences. 98% of the time, the nannies stay quiet. But on those occasions when I stretch my ability a bit too far, I sure like having them. Knowing that the nannies were there, I was able to take 10 seconds off my average lap time over the 2 days. My last lap was my fastest and my smoothest. Almost like having a built in instructor. When you screw up, they tell you and they also hold you back enough to keep you safe.
Thanks for all of the great responses. You guys made the decision not to buy a tough one.
As a side note one of my other deciding factors was measuring my driving over the last couple of track days relative to a cup car. I would have flat spotted a couple sets of tires and I would have looped the car at least twice. ABS and SC saved me with the RS. I could tell myself I would have been less aggressive in the Cup, but then what's the point. The RS let's me test my limits with less severe consequences. 98% of the time, the nannies stay quiet. But on those occasions when I stretch my ability a bit too far, I sure like having them. Knowing that the nannies were there, I was able to take 10 seconds off my average lap time over the 2 days. My last lap was my fastest and my smoothest. Almost like having a built in instructor. When you screw up, they tell you and they also hold you back enough to keep you safe.
Thanks for all of the great responses. You guys made the decision not to buy a tough one.
If I had your wallet I'd buy a 996 Cup, leave it at Monticello, and by a Panapoopoo for the 4hr hump back and forth from MA.
#53
Rennlist Member
Absolutely spot on. I have a few friends that actually dumped their GT2s and GT3s after they got a cup car. They now drive Conti GTs and 599s on the street and never bring them to the track. The cup car will eradicate any need for a dual personality car.
#54
I logged 6 solid hours of driving in my RS over 1.5 days ... relative to a cup car ... I would have flat spotted a couple sets of tires and I would have looped the car at least twice. ABS and SC saved me with the RS. I could tell myself I would have been less aggressive in the Cup, but then what's the point. The RS let's me test my limits with less severe consequences. 98% of the time, the nannies stay quiet. But on those occasions when I stretch my ability a bit too far, I sure like having them. Knowing that the nannies were there, I was able to take 10 seconds off my average lap time over the 2 days. My last lap was my fastest and my smoothest. Almost like having a built in instructor. When you screw up, they tell you and they also hold you back enough to keep you safe.
Running SC/TC on in the RS won't save you from yourself -- if you go into a turn where the limits of traction amount to 90 mph and you're doing 100, you'll get away with a scalding. If you're doing 130, you're toast and no amount of inside rear brake and throttle trim will be sufficient -- those four tires simply can't keep that projectile on the track surface.
Of course, it's only a matter of time before Porsche or some other vendor releases a PSM that "learns" a track or reads the GPS to know what the road is doing or what the traffic is doing up ahead and it will be able to intervene as you approach a blind crest and slow the car before you lift off even though you and the car have never been on that road before. That technology exists in the R&D lab today, but it's probably another generation away before Mercedes (most likely) brings it to market.
[tangent alert]
Sadly, these are the same manufacturers that do things like buy the patent for a technology to automatically deploy a canister of puncture sealant if a convention car tire suddenly loses pressure, which could save hundreds of lives every year in the US alone and cost practically nothing to install after-market or be incorporated with the tpms in new cars. But they buy those patents or acquire the rights to those inventions and then the tire makers build wildly expensive "run flat" tires that have the weakness of a harsh ride and less traction than a conventional tire, but they create so much profit that the tire maker puts them on the new cars for "free" because then the customer finds out they cost twice as much as conventional tires, but since there's no longer a spare, the car owner feels compelled to stick with the run flats. Conspiracy? I do not see any other explanation.
So we'll probably have to buy "lane departure" and whatever other technology for a few years because it's cheap to throw a camera on a door mirror and have it false and beep its head off, but it brings the "fear" and that brings the profit. Perhaps after a decade or so, the technology we could have today will eventually arrive in cars once it's obsolescent and the manufacturers are looking for fresh profits.
[/tangent alert]
#55
Three Wheelin'
I have both cars and last week I took my GT3 RS to the Track for the first time.
In one word the RS was "RUBBISH" compared to the Cup Car at the track.
Having stated this, the RS makes the Cup feel like "RUBBISH" on some many other different levels.
After considering the vehicles that you already own I would do it, however I will just say this, you can say that you are going to the turn the engine down and all of those other $$$ saving things, however this will dilute the cup experience.
Cup Cars are FUGGIN EXPENSIVE to run, the tyres, brakes, front splitters are the constant things that nag at you. The major things = Engine, drive shafts, gearbox, clutch, they are the things that HURT!!
Not to mention the whole transport, un load, set up, tyre change scenario is utter B/S!! I hate this the most!! As a matter of fact, I couldn't be arsed taking my Cup out when I consider all of the time it takes to go out in it!!
I hope that this helps???
In one word the RS was "RUBBISH" compared to the Cup Car at the track.
Having stated this, the RS makes the Cup feel like "RUBBISH" on some many other different levels.
After considering the vehicles that you already own I would do it, however I will just say this, you can say that you are going to the turn the engine down and all of those other $$$ saving things, however this will dilute the cup experience.
Cup Cars are FUGGIN EXPENSIVE to run, the tyres, brakes, front splitters are the constant things that nag at you. The major things = Engine, drive shafts, gearbox, clutch, they are the things that HURT!!
Not to mention the whole transport, un load, set up, tyre change scenario is utter B/S!! I hate this the most!! As a matter of fact, I couldn't be arsed taking my Cup out when I consider all of the time it takes to go out in it!!
I hope that this helps???
#56
Rennlist Member
dilute the cup experience.
FUGGIN EXPENSIVE constant things that nag at you
things that HURT!!
utter B/S!!
I hate this the most!!
I couldn't be arsed taking my Cup out when I consider all of the time it takes to go out in it!!
FUGGIN EXPENSIVE constant things that nag at you
things that HURT!!
utter B/S!!
I hate this the most!!
I couldn't be arsed taking my Cup out when I consider all of the time it takes to go out in it!!
#58
Rennlist Member
I have both cars and last week I took my GT3 RS to the Track for the first time.
In one word the RS was "RUBBISH" compared to the Cup Car at the track.
Having stated this, the RS makes the Cup feel like "RUBBISH" on some many other different levels.
After considering the vehicles that you already own I would do it, however I will just say this, you can say that you are going to the turn the engine down and all of those other $$$ saving things, however this will dilute the cup experience.
Cup Cars are FUGGIN EXPENSIVE to run, the tyres, brakes, front splitters are the constant things that nag at you. The major things = Engine, drive shafts, gearbox, clutch, they are the things that HURT!!
Not to mention the whole transport, un load, set up, tyre change scenario is utter B/S!! I hate this the most!! As a matter of fact, I couldn't be arsed taking my Cup out when I consider all of the time it takes to go out in it!!
I hope that this helps???
In one word the RS was "RUBBISH" compared to the Cup Car at the track.
Having stated this, the RS makes the Cup feel like "RUBBISH" on some many other different levels.
After considering the vehicles that you already own I would do it, however I will just say this, you can say that you are going to the turn the engine down and all of those other $$$ saving things, however this will dilute the cup experience.
Cup Cars are FUGGIN EXPENSIVE to run, the tyres, brakes, front splitters are the constant things that nag at you. The major things = Engine, drive shafts, gearbox, clutch, they are the things that HURT!!
Not to mention the whole transport, un load, set up, tyre change scenario is utter B/S!! I hate this the most!! As a matter of fact, I couldn't be arsed taking my Cup out when I consider all of the time it takes to go out in it!!
I hope that this helps???