2007 Arctic Silver Metallic Porsche GT3

The elusive Porsche 911 GT3. Let me tell you, it’s probably as hard to drive one of these things as it is to get behind the wheel of a Ferrari. To start out with – there are only two GT3’s currently for sale in the Seattle area – and only one of them is a 997 body style, the other is a 996. My first two attempts to drive a Porsche GT3 were targeted at the 996 because it was at an independent dealer and I thought they may be a little more relaxed about letting me drive it. However, both efforts were thwarted within minutes of my arrival. Finally I thought I would contact the local Porsche dealer and see if they were a bit easier to deal with. Luckily my third effort was a success. I have to admit – after being rather disappointed by my first two Porsche 911 driving experiences, I was very nervous as they maneuvered the other cars out of the showroom to access the 2007 Arctic Silver Metallic 911 GT3 that I was interested in. Oh yeah – a 3rd Arctic Silver 911. Seriously? People need to get out more and realize that there are other colors that Porsche sells.

The day was pristine – about 75 degrees and perfectly sunny. As the dealer ran back in to pull the plate, I took a moment to take in the beauty of this rare car in front of me. I have only ever lusted after a car like this the way I pined for my M3. The sales guy came back with the plate and he hopped in the driver’s seat while I sat in the passenger seat. In a perfectly quintessential manner he turned the key and fired up the engine – then turned to me and said “okay, let’s just get one thing straight. If you buy this car you HAVE TO track it.”

It was at that moment that I was relieved to have this particular sales guy in the car with me – I knew he wouldn’t care if I put the hammer down on it.

We gingerly pulled out of the parking lot and he explained the route we’d be taking as the needle on the tach slowly climbed into the 3000 rev range. The hollow raspy exhaust note of the 997 GT3 was very similar to a regular Porsche Carrera or Turbo at the lower end. Over the next couple of miles the salesman explained to me a few things about Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) and sport mode. Pulling into a nearby parking lot, he turned the car around and pulled the e-brake: My turn.

As I hunkered down into the seat, it wrapped around me like a bear hug. It was quite a bit more firm than the seats in my M3, but supported me similarly, so they weren’t at all uncomfortable. All controls for the seats were manual, as they removed the power seat feature to save weight. The black leather felt great as I became accustomed to the cockpit and the alcantara was super comfortable. My hands wrapped around the black leather steering wheel, which was shaped fantastically, but had slightly less girth than my M3 steering wheel, which is perhaps the only thing about the car I wish was different. Looking through the steering wheel, sitting directly in front of me at eye-level was the huge light-grey tachometer that revved to 8,400 RPM. The speedometer sat just to the left of the tach and wrapped to an incredible 225 MPH. The salesman pushed the PASM button and the sport button, and immediately the exhaust became louder and growled with a slightly shallower note. Gripping the wheel with my left hand, I pushed in the clutch with my left foot – thank GOD there was actual sensation in the clutch pedal! I released the e-brake with my right hand and grasped the alcantara shift knob and pushed it into first gear. This was the moment I had been waiting for, the moment of truth: YES, I could actually feel the gates drop as first gear became engaged. This was possibly one of the biggest disappointments for me in the 996 Turbo and Carrera 4S – because their clutch and gearbox were smooth as silk, but completely and utterly numb to the senses. With a smile on my face as big as Christmas morning, I eased the clutch out and toed the gas.

The GT3’s throttle was easily as sensitive as my M3 in Sport mode – possibly even more so. As we rolled out onto the road the exhaust howl grew. Like a Ferrari, even at low revs with sport mode engaged the Porsche’s exhaust sounded vicious, like a caged rabid dog. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we were stuck on a straight road with a speed limit of 30 mph for the longest distance. I took the time to accommodate myself with the interior of the car and let the engine warm up a bit more. The gearbox was very firm and fantastically tight with every bit of communication you could hope for. I gave the throttle a few gooses to get a sense for how quickly it revved and it was noticeably faster in 2nd gear than the M3.

A couple miles down the road I put my signal on to turn left onto the freeway. Ahead of me laid a long sweeping right hand banking on-ramp with three cars in the right lane and a wide-open carpool lane on the left. The sales guy could tell I was looking hesitant and volunteered “You can take all three of those cars on the left.” Without a second of hesitation I gunned it. The exhaust howled as we were thrown back into our seats and the revs screamed northward. Second gear topped out just before I entered the corner and I had already passed one of the two cars. I popped into third and feathered the throttle as we entered the corner – the rough road and tight suspension jostling us around, but the grip remained solid. I will say that the acceleration didn’t hit us like a tidal wave like it did in the 911 Turbo, but the GT3 pulled consistently hard as the speedometer climbed toward 100 mph. I would describe it as noticeably faster than the M3, but not neck wrenching like the Turbo. The flat torque curve insures that the car accelerates very fast indeed, but like in the beemer it’s super smooth throughout the entire rev range. With the stiffness of the suspension, when the Porsche hit bumps it affected the steering and I had to be much more cautious with it because the car is so responsive to small adjustments of the wheel. I wouldn’t say this is a negative, just something I had to adjust to. At any rate – in the time it took for you to read this, I had already passed the other two cars and whooshed deliciously out of the turn and was now holding steady about 7,000 revs in third gear as I merged onto the freeway. The sound – oh the sound was like nothing I have ever experienced before! The engine screaming and the exhaust whaling like a banshee, the sound coming from behind me sounded like Metallica with the San Francisco Symphony at full blast.

We merged onto the freeway and most of the next couple of miles was spent between 70 and 95 mph. Also like the M3, this car is very manageable below 4,000 RPM, but keep the tach above that mark and it’s a savage beast. Dodging amongst a few cars, I took the next exit toward a connecting freeway, which contained another banked right hand turn. Blipping the throttle, I dropped the car to third gear and prepared to enter the corner at about 70 mph. This being my first high-speed turn-in with the Porsche I was expecting something similar to my car, but with the slightest turn of the wheel the svelte German machine immediately shot in too deep and I blew through the apex. “Whoops” I said with a bit of embarrassment to the sales guy. Pulling through the corner was pure ecstasy and I rocketed through 3rd gear once again, allowing it to spin down as I pointed the car toward the next off-ramp. Downshifting for the stop light was a beautiful experience, and I pulled through a left turn at the intersection, accelerating out in second gear I transitioned to the right and prepared for another right turn into a decreasing radius onramp to head back toward the dealer. I swung the Porsche wide and prepared to enter the next turn. Still in second gear, I allowed it to rev down as I entered the corner. Again the turn-in of the GT3 was so sharp that I missed the apex a mile too deep. Feeding gas back in and pushing the revs skyward the g-forces mounted as the corner began opening back up. We sling shotted out of the corner, wrapping the RPM band out almost all the way to the 8,400 RPM redline. I hit third gear and pounded the gas again, causing the sales guy to erupt in laughter. “Oh god, I have to say this is so much better than taking some old lady out in a Boxster,” he said, looking with a huge grin. Again I pushed the car to about 100 and let it coast back down as we merged into traffic.

The joyride continued for another few minutes and as we pulled back into the dealer, I could feel my hands and legs shaking with excitement.
The Porsche 911 GT3 was simply an amazing machine. This is what a Porsche is. None of that turbo charged 4 wheel drive bullshit. After even just a short experience like that I now fully understand why the GT3 is considered a benchmark sports car. In short The 997 GT3 was exactly like my M3 – except better in every single way. Turn in was amazingly sharp. Agility was unmatched by anything I’ve ever driven. Confidence in the corners was unflappable, and almost zero body roll was present. And even though I clearly wasn’t pushing the car to its limits, I think you’d really have to work at it to produce a snap-oversteer event. Oh – and the interior was sick too.

Driving the 997 GT3 completely restored my faith in Porsche.

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I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, other than massive brake fade from the stock pads and lots of tire squeal from the General UHPs. I was worried that I might lose steering fluid under hard load, burn oil, blow a shock…you name it, I was worried about it going in.

Fortunately though, it turned out great. Other than the fade and rubbish tires, the car ran like clockwork through the 4 sessions. Even the dodgy sway bar setup that’s on the car at the moment (stiff in rear, soft upfront) didn’t cause any problems - in part due to the massive “push” (understeer) courtesy of the tires and stock suspension.

Bottom of the Chute at Summit Point Main Circuit

Through the Carousel - Plenty of Body Roll

Hauling through Turn 3

Images borrowed from www.trackdayphoto.com

So all in all, it was a successful day and I am much more confident in moving onto mods, knowing that the car can handle it out there. Stay tuned for some new stuff coming this week!

Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

Porsche 911 Turbo: So there I was at the Porsche dealership in Denver, pretty upset about my drive of the bland 996 Carrera 4S.  I hadn’t reported it, but I’ll detail it later in this review, I also drove the 996 Turbo Coupe with a Tiptronic transmission. Summary: The Transmission ruined the car.  Somehow all these cars were Arctic Silver Metallic, which was a very nice looking Silver color for a car, but about as exciting as Silver can be.

The Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet was definitely a different beast from the other two cars I will admit.  Most notably, there was gobs of acceleration - tons of it.  The roadfeel was significantly improved.  The communication was also improved with respect to the clutch.  The gearbox was still very numb.  With the sun setting, I hopped into the driver’s seat - brother in the passenger seat, popped it in gear and crept out of the parking lot.  The car had been idling for several minutes already, so the warm-up period was much shorter.  The car in general was very composed at regular city street speeds.  Immediately I knew I was in a different car than the C4S.  The Suspension on the 911 Turbo was much more stiff and communicated the road feel much better. The Turbo also felt lower to the ground, and the low end grunt was much more satisfying, even at part throttle, than its sibling.  There was more feeling in the clutch, so I could actually feel it engage and disengage, but I would still say it was like reading braile through leather gloves compared to the clutch in my M3. Action on the clutch was very light, so sitting in traffic with it was not very challenging.  Like the Porsche C4S, the gear lever was very light and silky smooth in its action, but still very very numb, and a fairly long throw.  After a short time, the engine had warmed up and we were ready to play.

I pulled up to a stop light in the middle of a very long straight section of road.  The cool air above, the noticeable LACK of heated seats NOT warming my ass, and the signature burble of the Porsche engine behind me.  My left hand on the steering wheel, my right hand on the gear shifter; we sat in silence, just looking straight ahead.  The light turned green and I began releasing the clutch while pressing the gas.  At first, the car lugged forward almost disappointingly.  This was my first aggressive (not balls-out) launch of this car though, so I wasn’t concerned.  I mashed the gas pedal and the revs climbed.  Somewhere around 2,000 RPM, I could feel the turbos start to spool.  And suddenly - just like in the Cayenne Turbo - a tidal wave of acceleration roared over us.  1st gear was gone in the blink of an eye, 2nd gear mashed us into the backs of our seats as the Porsche rocketed past 60 mph - then 70 - then a shift to 3rd - 80 - 90 mph.  The grin that was left plastered on our faces meant only one thing: This car is fast as hell.

We spent the next 40 minutes blasting through the gears and reveling in the breakneck acceleration.  The whole time, not even a threat of wheelspin because the All Wheel Drive kept the tires firmly planted.  Cornering in the car was great as well - again the feedback in the steering and balance was great.  The car was very composed on corner entry and exit.

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A Note about TipTronic:  The 996 Turbo we drove with TipTronic was a bit old (2001), so it’s possible they have made updates since then.  The Tiptronic was TERRIBLE.  I would call it the TipTragic.  Shift times were north of 1/2 a second and there’s no aggressiveness setting.  The experience was absolutely awful, so after a very very short run, we returned the car and swapped out for the 6 speed manual.

• Gear knob came off in my hand while downshifting
• Got stuck in a snow storm and almost shunted the whole thing into a wall, then drove sideways for a mile at 30mph with the door open so I could see where I was going
• Overfilled the coolant and had to suck some of it out with turkey baster
• Tried to take the headlights out and broke a bunch of clips. Old plastic isn’t flexible when it’s 30 degrees outside, apparently.
• Hood fell on my head thanks to 14 year old struts and nice winter breeze
• While replacing hood struts, took the fuse-box cover off and placed it on the motor…but forgot about it and slammed the hood. Then couldn’t get hood open.

Add this to the list of maintenance work that has already been done/needs to be done, and it’s looking like a busy Spring:

• Oil change to move from 5w30 to Mobil 1 15w50 [Done]
• Replace tranny fluid with Royal Purple Synchomax [Done]
• Brake inspection, bleed and flush with Motul 600 [Done]
• Replace coolant level sensor (throwing code on dash)
• Replace airbag occupancy sensor mat under passenger seat
• Replace differential seals and fluid
• Replace power steering hoses and reservoir, and bleed system
• Replace clutch pedal bushings

I’m sure there’s more stuff, and this is before we even start thinking about modifications.

I was toying with the idea of another Miata (would have been my 4th) and then supercharging. Weeks of searching local classifieds wasn’t bringing up much, and while it was comforting knowing the cars inside and out, I realized that I’d be spending a ton of money to basically do the same as I’d done before.

I spread my search out and started looking at E36s M3s. I’ve had an E46 M3 for almost 3 years now and had been assuming that an E36 would be out of my price range. I looked at a couple that were affordable but beaten to death, or “modded” by children who like shiny carbon fiber and lots of armor-all. Then I came across this one.

The bad:

167,000 miles (that’s around the world 6 1/2 times)

…and that was it for the bad.

The good:

Maintenance record folder and inch thick - Everything that was supposed to have been done had been done. Cooling system replaced, control arms, shock tower reinforcements, fluid changes. You name it.

Paint in great condition except for a couple of dings; overall decent interior including Vaders; modest mods including chip, intake, sways, shock-tower brace, underbody brace.

It’s a 1995 - To most this is a “bad”. However, I’ll take OBDI over OBDII anyday. It’s also plenty quick for me and since it’s not going to be a daily driver (DD), I just don’t care about some of the other differences. Harder leather? Who cares.

The purchase was made a week or so later after getting stuck in Atlanta with work, and catching the stomach flu. Nice.  And so the process began. Update coming soon, including what I found (and didn’t find) when it went up on a lift, and the discovery of some interesting problems.

Silver 996 Porsche C4S

Last weekend I found myself sitting in a 2002 Silver Porsche Carrera C4S.  This is the 996 Carrera widebody rear engine four wheel drive Porsche that has been popular for many years.  It was a cool evening in Denver when my brother and I headed down to the local Porsche dealer to do the drive.  This particular car had about 20,000 miles on it and the paint was in beautiful condition.  The dealer shuffled a few cars out of the way while we got in - my brother in the driver’s seat initially, while I sat in the passenger seat.  To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I had never ridden in a Porsche 911 before, let alone driven one.  I had read review after review of them though, and the 911 Carrera has always been one of the most highly regarded sports cars out there.  To be honest, I don’t think any of those people who reviewed the 911 had driven a C4S.  A turn of the key, and the engine roared to life.  We were in their covered parking area, so the sound of the sport exhaused filled the room with a very attractive metallic growl. We slowly rolled the car out of the garage and puttered out to the main drag.  The engine was cool, so as we pulled into traffic, my brother didn’t accelerate too hard.  At low speeds the car felt just about like any other car.  He continued to drive slowly for the first 10 minutes or so before cracking the throttle open.

Interior: The Porsche C4S was certainly appointed nicely.  Like any German car, the soft leather adorned interior featured subtle stitching and a very solid feel.  The doors made a nice heavy “thump” when you closed them, the handles were made of aluminum, and the switches were all solid plastic.  The shifter felt a little odd in my hand, but was definitely solid and obviously of high quality craftsmanship, while the Bose sound system pumped the tunes out with a great sound.  Of course, the orchestral exhaust note was much more pleasing to the ear, so the stereo was quickly turned off.  The leather-wrapped steering wheel felt nice in the hand, but was noticeably more skinny than the steering wheel of my M3. Still vastly better than the average Dodge Caravan though.  The dashboard display was fantastically put together.  Consistent with Porsche Tradition was the tachometer directly in the center, and the largest dial on the dash by a considerable margin.  White numbers counted up to 7,000 RPM where the redline kicked in.  The Speedometer clocked up to a healthy 200 mph, which is always fun to see on a Speedo and made me feel a little jealous that the speedometer in my M3 only showed a “180 mph.”   You sit down very low in a Porsche Carrera.  Even compared to my M3 it felt low, with the dash seeming to loom almost above your head - but visibility was still very very good.  All the switches and knobs in the Porshe C4S were in the right places.  The seats were adequate, but they weren’t the sports seats, and had about as much support as your typical 3 series BMW or C class Mercedes.  Hard corning in this car definitely sent you sliding around.

Steering & Feel: It’s hard to deny that the steering wasn’t sublime in the Silver 911.  But would I say it is significantly better than in my M3?  No.  Better than the steering in my dad’s 330ix? Yes.  I noticed immediately that, although the soft leather and curves of the Porsche steering wheel were incredibly comfortable in my hand, I did not get nearly as much road sensation communicated to me as I would have expected from a car that had been hailed to be such a masterpiece for longer than I’ve been alive.  The other really irritating thing about this car was the fact that the clutch was completely numb - and I mean absolutely totally numb.  There was zero feedback to my foot through my driving shoes that the gear was engaged or disengaged.  So bad was it, that when I did a hard launch off the line, I made the clutch smell like someone left a rubber boot in the oven while the Thanksgiving turkey was cooking.  The shifter was also incredibly numb.  The shifting motion was incredibly silky smooth - and made the shift action on my M3 feel very notchy - but you couldn’t feel when the gear had actually been engaged without using almost full concentration.  Between that and the numb clutch, I felt like Ray Charles trying to drive an 18 wheeler.

Performance: To be fair, we didn’t have a super twisty mountain road to take the Porsche onto.  In fact, we only turned right the entire time because we were a bit short on time and could only do a large square circuit.  Thankfully there were a couple of sweeping right corners to take at a nice speed.  Once the engine got up and running, my brother did some hard accelerations and corners - but hard to get a sense for how quick it feels as a passenger.  After a lap that was about 2 or 3 miles long it was my turn to take over the wheel.  He pulled into a quiet side street and we swapped chairs.  This is of course when I first noticed how freakin numb the clutch and gearbox were.  I pulled the car out to the main drag and pulled into traffic.  Immediately I noticed a lack of potency, but I was still just getting used to the car and how it felt, and thought maybe I just hadn’t pushed the car very hard.  I came to a stop at a light and prepped myself for a decent launch.  Wasn’t looking to smoke the tires or anything, but wanted to get a good launch in.  I revved the engine to about 2k RPM and let the clutch out.  With about as much excitement as my wife’s 4 cyclinder Honda Accord, the Porsche crept off the line.  “Okay,” I thought,”I’ll give it a bit more gas.” So I depressed the gas pedal further and further as the tach climbed to 7,000 RPM, shifted to second, and then hit the gas again.  I noticed I was really having a hard time pulling away from traffic - so I hit the throttle even harder.  Only to realize the gas pedal was already pegged.  The Carrera 4S was pulling about as hard as my M3 in 4th gear.  Okay, so it’s not the most exciting engine.  I thought the beautiful chassis and wonderful steering would save the day.  As I approached the upcoming righthand corner, I applied the brake, which felt incredibly weak and cold.  Now almost in a panic, I mashed the brake to slow the car before heading into the corner.  I now had slowed down too much and was at the bottom of the RPM band in 2nd gear.  Used to the low end grunt of my M3, I mashed the gas pedal down and the masterful Porsche 911 anemically groaned its way through the corner.  About 50 yards after the corner exit, the 6 cylinder engine finally found its guts and accelerated reasonably hard from 5k to 7k RPM, before I  hit 3rd gear and again found myself pining for any kind of acceleration.  It was at that point that I turned to my brother and asked

“Is there a sport button in this thing that I’m missing?”

Which pretty much summed up my experience in the 2002 Porsche Carrera 4S.

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• Cool Willy Racing Brake Pads: $157.95
• Motul RBF 600 Racing Brake Fluid: $19.80
• Turner Motorsport Stainless Steel Brake Lines: $99.95

The Damage shouldn’t be too bad overall.  Cost of install and labor might be a couple hundred bucks on top of that, so I’d be looking at around $500.00 to get my car prepped for the track day.  Once I order it up, get it installed, and run with it, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Oh yeah, and I’ll need some new Michelin Pilot Sport 2 Tires, which will set me back about $900 + tax

Michelin Pilot Sport 2

First: I had some old wax build up in some of the crevises … I’ve tried using Griot’s spray on wax to remove it in the past and it takes a lot of work and doesn’t ever really get it all off. Today I tried rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip and voila! off it came! a quick buff with a micro-towel to remove the alcohol and the crevises were sparkling like new. It’s possible that if allowed to sit for too long this may be damaging to the clearcoat, but I’ve heard of acetone being used to remove bug & tar before without damaging the clearcoat. It seems A-OK so far.

Second: S.O.S. pads to clean out my exhaust. less than 2 minutes of scrubbing and the inside of my tailpipes sparkled like new. Of course this isn’t recommended for the outside of the tailpipes, as the steel wool would marr the finish.

Enjoy!

In the 80s BMW decided on a contest between their own development teams BMW “M” and BMW Technik. Both groups were asked to build a new innovative car. BMW Technik dug deep into their desks and came with doors that disappear into the body, a 2-seater Roadster (this is before the Mazda Miata revolutionized the open car market. One of the highlights of the car is that all painted body parts of the car are fiberglass and can be removed and exchanged for a different color. Separate body kits were made available in all colors.
The car is loosely based on the 325 model with modifications to the frame. Many of the modifications and innovations that came from the Z1 design and project were later implemented into the BMW series of the 90s and into today.

The car was never made available for the US market. Only 8000 total units were built. Waiting lists in Europe was 2 years plus. Since the car was never federalized and properly tested the car is not eligible to be imported under the regular import rules. With the special exemption any buyer will have to verify that the car is not being driven for more than 2500 Miles per year. The car is considered a historical significant car.

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By March 3rd, the track had started to dry out.  In the morning it was still damp, so Kubica was back at the set-up work with the BMW Sauber F1.09 running on wet tires.  They took a lunch break and continued the program development on a dry track.  The main focus of the track day was evaluating different solutions for the car’s aerodynamic set ups.  Kubica was able to complete 98 laps during the day, even though a faulty engine sensor paused them mid-afternoon.

“Overall it was a good day”, Kubica said after completing his third day of testing in Jerez. “We were able to make up some of the time we lost yesterday when rain meant we had to change our schedule. I started on extreme wet tyres, changed to wet tyres and finally drove slick tyres. Together with the various different set-up solutions I tried that helped me get an even better feeling for the car.”

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source: BMW Motorsport News