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Old 05-25-2011, 08:05 PM   #1
equ
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Porsche World Roadshow - Monticello, NY 6/10-6/12

As can be seen from

https://www.porscheworldroadshowusa.com/

this looks to be a cool event, a couple of hours on track-ish/auto-x situations with porsche's latest crop. Gf and I are booked for 6/11, Saturday, 4-6:45pm. It is about two hours from the city.

I happen to have an invite (not sure if it will invite a couple or a single, but it will only work for one email address). My own passcode allowed me to add a guest. I will open it up here to NYC 'mudgeons, or 'mudgeons who might be the area at the time. I guess I will go by some combination of timely response/likelihood of making it. There is not much time left to register, slots are filling up fast.

Pm me your email address if you think you can make it (I don't know if you have to match my time slot or not, I doubt it. But if you could, it would be fun to have some company).
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Old 05-26-2011, 12:17 PM   #2
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Sounds like a great time! I guess you have to be a P'car owner in order to get invited? I would like to attend the one in Atlanta.
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Old 06-12-2011, 09:29 PM   #3
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So I went to this thing. Despite the longish drive to and back, pretty good event.

Auto-x-ish sessions with boxster S, spyder and cayman R's. I didn't get a sense for the spyder so much. But the cayman R was very good, sounded awesome even with sports exhaust option off. Both the spyder and the R made the boxster S feel like a regular car, not as good sound and not as buttoned down. I wonder how the cayman R deals with bad real world roads, but it felt perfectly firm and creamy on a freshly paved track. Had I been a track junkie, I'd go for the carbon fiber seats. As I'm not, I'd skip them for getting in/out ease. There was no chance to feel/explore power and really only a minute per car. The cars got a bit greasy and squirmy on hard stops (end of day tired rubber and cooler temperatures, damp conditions).

The 997's were set out on a road course. Much less waiting in lines, almost all the time either driving or gf was driving. We each drove four two mile laps and were passengers for each other in lead follow format. About 4 cars following instructor. Our lap following the instructor was the best.

First car was a 997c2, then a 997c4S coupe, then a 997c2S and a 997c4S cab. Simply, to no one's surprise coupe > cab and 2 > 4 (porsche does rewrite laws of math). The turn-in on the awd models was worse. The cab's grip was noticeably worse. The c2S positively shined with the c2 behind it. Going from the c2S (best car) to the cab4S (worst) was eye-opening. I was much closer to traction edge. Not sure about tire wear on these.

I had never driven a 911 cab before. Wow, they are really not for me. Might not matter in any other car, but when the coupe drives so well, that small loss of grip/tightness just ruins it. Same with the awd. Perhaps the r8 and turbos are good (as I know the rs4 is the awesome)(and perhaps the 911 turbos, never driven them), but on regular carreras it just adds to already present understeer.

A long long time ago, in '04, I drove a couple of boxsters, loved them. Before I pulled the trigger on one, I decided to drive a couple of 996's. I found a silver c4 and a blue c2. Drove them back to back and bought the c2 on the spot. The same livelier feeling persists to the 997.

Cliff notes: Cayman R (in red) and 997S rock. Did not get enough seat time in spyder, also likely rocks. Regular 987S under-impressed (not enough of a leap over what I have).

Not that I'm shopping, but hypothetically, would it be the 987R or the 997S then?

I cannot call that at this point. Both are very good. Then there is the generation change in '12 too.
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Old 06-12-2011, 10:04 PM   #4
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I really don't think the R or Spyder make any sense at all unless you are a track rat. Especially in your case, a few thousand dollars of suspension work and you'd have 85 percent of the Cayman R, without all the negatives that go with it. Sure, you wouldn't have the lightness, but that's a double edged sword--smaller fuel tank, e.g.

I completely concur with your assessment otherwise. The 997S is simply an amazing car; now that the M3 is gone, that's my new aspirational vehicle.
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Old 06-12-2011, 10:39 PM   #5
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There is something about the complete package in the R, the extra 10hp, the sound (seemed different ), the good suspension, standard LSD, slightly blackened look.. If I were ordering a new cayman S, it'd be hard to not get the R even as a non-tracker. Sort of like a zhp over a zsp. There is nothing wrong with the latter, in fact it's perhaps a bit better for daily use in small ways but on the whole zhp's are simply more desirable.

If a pot of money fell on my lap, I might go for the 997. If for nothing else, simply for a new experience. I've had a cayman for five years and hardly go to the track.

I was just surprised by the not so subtle variations from coupe to cab, 2S to 4S. Both of these are more important than S to non-S, so a standard 997 might do as well. I was also highly impressed by the sheer grip of the 997S. Huge reserves of it. So it'd be fine on track as well, perhaps a bit less fun than the 987R (but also the more spacious feeling real world machine).
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