Here's a little write-up on my Porsche Experience Day I had last week in 2 Turbos:
[*]1st car spec: Basalt Black, Tiptronic, Steel Brakes
[*]2nd car spec: Dark Olive, Manual, PCCB
The day consisted of meeting up at a very nice country manor hotel, having a spot of lunch, then heading out on the public roads for about 30 mins followed by a few hours at the Millbrook track.
For those of you that don't already know, Millbrook is a testing facility and not a public racing track. These days manufacturers like Aston Martin have offices located at the track where they hone their cars each and every day. So other than the odd DB9, or Jag flying by the whole place is very very quiet. Very much like a Six Flags theme park all to yourself
I am going to compare against my C2S Cab quite a bit as this is what I will be upgrading from.
Acceleration
On the mile straight the acceleration (especially in 2nd gear) is just mental. The car just turns into a total psychopath when the Turbos kick in. First gear is almost pointless as you need to change practically straight away after you take off. I must say that I didn't feel that much difference when in Sport Mode and the over-boost kicks in. When I get mine I will definitely just drive around in Sport mode though as otherwise you only get about 0.7bar on the Turbos when you plant your foot. To get the full 1.0 you need Sport on I found. After I got back in my C2S to drive home I realized how much more civilized a N/A engine is though. It accelerates so much more smoothly, whereas the Turbo is a real Jackal and Hyde between casual driving and sticking your foot down.
Handling
Firstly, the Turbo feels much more planted than my Carrera, especially when accelerating. The steering is slightly heavier, and the clutch in the 3.6L engine much lighter. The grip this car has is simply ludicrous. Going round the inner handling circuit (with the instructor driving) was sheer madness. We were absolutely thrashing the car just to try to get the PSM warning light to come on. The instructor was driving like a maniac and still the car gripped and went like you wouldn't believe. How anyone can complain about too much over/under-steer must be doing some seriously high speed cornering. I would say my driving limits are only about 7/10 on a twisty track, on the public roads I don't see how anyone could even put the car through 5/10 of its limits.
Manual vs Tiptronic
I spent a lot more time in the Manual Turbo than I did in the Tiptronic, mainly because I will be getting a manual myself. The reason being my Turbo will be more of a weekend toy than a town commuting car. But I would say that the Tip does have 3 main advantages. Firstly, better in stop/start traffic. Secondly, it let's you concentrate on steering instead of changing gear constantly when accelerating (eg. you spend more time looking at the revs than you do the road otherwise). Thirdly, it's much smoother than hitting the rev limiter all the time in manual when accelerating hard. However, the car is just so much more involving with a manual. You do have to aim to up-shift when you hit 6000rpm otherwise you hit the rev limiter all the time - 1st and 2nd gear especially which just disappear in seconds. So that's just a practice thing really.
PCCB vs Steel brakes
I definitely preferred the feel of the PCCB brakes over the steel ones. They bite a little earlier and for me are more confidence inspiring. We did lots of emergency brake tests from 30mph, 60mph with no hands, 70mph with swerve avoidance, 100mph and even 160mph. The only downside is that the PCCB brakes did squeal when only doing gentle braking. I believe this got better after our high speed brake executions though.
Noise
I actually wasn't that disappointed with the MY07 Turbos I had (manual was better than Tip) in terms of exhaust/engine sounds whilst I was driving them. Obviously, afterwards, getting back into my Carrera with a hacked-open Sports Exhaust put things more into context. So I will still add a Cargraphic exhaust pretty soon after delivery,
Limited Slip Dif
Although neither car had a LSD I did ask all the instructors about this option. The overwhelming verdict was that unless you wanted to do power-slides on a track then don't bother. I am still going to order mine with a LSD as I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
All in all, I was very impressed with the Turbo after my track day. A 20 min demo on public roads really doesn't do the car justice. So if you are thinking about getting one then a Porsche Experience Day gets a huge thumbs up in my book.
[*]1st car spec: Basalt Black, Tiptronic, Steel Brakes
[*]2nd car spec: Dark Olive, Manual, PCCB
The day consisted of meeting up at a very nice country manor hotel, having a spot of lunch, then heading out on the public roads for about 30 mins followed by a few hours at the Millbrook track.
For those of you that don't already know, Millbrook is a testing facility and not a public racing track. These days manufacturers like Aston Martin have offices located at the track where they hone their cars each and every day. So other than the odd DB9, or Jag flying by the whole place is very very quiet. Very much like a Six Flags theme park all to yourself
I am going to compare against my C2S Cab quite a bit as this is what I will be upgrading from.
Acceleration
On the mile straight the acceleration (especially in 2nd gear) is just mental. The car just turns into a total psychopath when the Turbos kick in. First gear is almost pointless as you need to change practically straight away after you take off. I must say that I didn't feel that much difference when in Sport Mode and the over-boost kicks in. When I get mine I will definitely just drive around in Sport mode though as otherwise you only get about 0.7bar on the Turbos when you plant your foot. To get the full 1.0 you need Sport on I found. After I got back in my C2S to drive home I realized how much more civilized a N/A engine is though. It accelerates so much more smoothly, whereas the Turbo is a real Jackal and Hyde between casual driving and sticking your foot down.
Handling
Firstly, the Turbo feels much more planted than my Carrera, especially when accelerating. The steering is slightly heavier, and the clutch in the 3.6L engine much lighter. The grip this car has is simply ludicrous. Going round the inner handling circuit (with the instructor driving) was sheer madness. We were absolutely thrashing the car just to try to get the PSM warning light to come on. The instructor was driving like a maniac and still the car gripped and went like you wouldn't believe. How anyone can complain about too much over/under-steer must be doing some seriously high speed cornering. I would say my driving limits are only about 7/10 on a twisty track, on the public roads I don't see how anyone could even put the car through 5/10 of its limits.
Manual vs Tiptronic
I spent a lot more time in the Manual Turbo than I did in the Tiptronic, mainly because I will be getting a manual myself. The reason being my Turbo will be more of a weekend toy than a town commuting car. But I would say that the Tip does have 3 main advantages. Firstly, better in stop/start traffic. Secondly, it let's you concentrate on steering instead of changing gear constantly when accelerating (eg. you spend more time looking at the revs than you do the road otherwise). Thirdly, it's much smoother than hitting the rev limiter all the time in manual when accelerating hard. However, the car is just so much more involving with a manual. You do have to aim to up-shift when you hit 6000rpm otherwise you hit the rev limiter all the time - 1st and 2nd gear especially which just disappear in seconds. So that's just a practice thing really.
PCCB vs Steel brakes
I definitely preferred the feel of the PCCB brakes over the steel ones. They bite a little earlier and for me are more confidence inspiring. We did lots of emergency brake tests from 30mph, 60mph with no hands, 70mph with swerve avoidance, 100mph and even 160mph. The only downside is that the PCCB brakes did squeal when only doing gentle braking. I believe this got better after our high speed brake executions though.
Noise
I actually wasn't that disappointed with the MY07 Turbos I had (manual was better than Tip) in terms of exhaust/engine sounds whilst I was driving them. Obviously, afterwards, getting back into my Carrera with a hacked-open Sports Exhaust put things more into context. So I will still add a Cargraphic exhaust pretty soon after delivery,
Limited Slip Dif
Although neither car had a LSD I did ask all the instructors about this option. The overwhelming verdict was that unless you wanted to do power-slides on a track then don't bother. I am still going to order mine with a LSD as I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
All in all, I was very impressed with the Turbo after my track day. A 20 min demo on public roads really doesn't do the car justice. So if you are thinking about getting one then a Porsche Experience Day gets a huge thumbs up in my book.
] 167 is as close as I got, as Alex says your looking for the braking point which my instructor insisted was 1/4 mile.. to be fair it could of quite easily made a bit more had I been OK with later braking, the car never once struggled to shed the speed.
