Today, I joined up with my dad (2002 Carrera) and his Porsche club in order to race our cars. Other then one guy in a Ferarri, I was the only non-Porshe owner there. We set up a track in a huge empty parking lot with plenty of tight turns, sloloms, and short straight aways. I went expecting to be blown away by these guys.

We set up in two heats, and I was selected to be in the second heat which gave me a chance to see cars run the course and figure out the fastest lines to take. Some of these Porshes flew through this course fish tailing, spinning out their tires etc. I still didn't think I had a chance to hang with these guys.

Finally, it was my turn to go. Being my first time, they had an insturcter jump in my car for my first couple of runs just to make sure I wasn't going to do anything stupid. After these runs, my times were close to the end of the field...I guess I didn't like someone telling me what to do every second of the race...I just wanted him to leave me alone and let me race.

When he finally let me go on my own, I ripped through the course. Somehow I managed to slid perfectly though the 90 and 180 degree turns on the course and fly through the slolom course. This continued through the majority of my runs only knocking down three cones by the end of the day.

Rusults- Overall I came out 7 out of 32 cars. This was ahead of my dad in his new carrera, ahead of the ferarri, and obviously beating many of the Porshes out there. You should have seen the look on their faces as the day went on and my splits only got faster. It was the best feeling!!

Chad

 

Dude , thats awesome.

A lil hard to beleive but awesome nonethe less.

Congrats .

 

I still can't believe I beat any of those cars today. I know that all the cars there today are incredible when it comes to handling, but I guess they just don't know how do drive them. My dad for sure doesn't come anywhere close to getting max performance out of his car.

 

Ha, ha! Good for you! I don't find it hard to believe at all. This just goes to prove how ridiculous "magazine racing" is. The driver is far and away the most important variable in something like this, and I would suspect that a young guy would have a HUGE advantage over a bunch of middle-aged fuddie-duddies. For one thing, you're still young enough to adapt to siutations and learn (as proven by your improvement with each run). In addition, today's kids grew up with video games and I honestly think we have much better hand-eye coordination from the get-go because of it. Of course the capabilities of the car play a role, but the GS is a tremendous performer.

I wish I could have been there to see all these rich old guys with their fancy sports cars getting upstaged by a kid in a luxury sedan!

 

Yes, kudos to you.

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought "oh no, not another 'versus/what if' type thread".

Sounded like you had fun. You should have ran the course again in your Dad's Carrera and compare the times. IMO, if you learn to drive well in a not so hi-perf vehicle, and step into a hi-perf car like a Porsche, you should be able to kick butt.

Not to take anything away from you, but it sounds like your Dad's Porsche club should go to a driving school.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

Being a long time Porsche owner I can clear up something here. It's great you went out and had a great time. I recommend it to everyone. But keep in mind that many people do not go out there to race their 50k+ car to the limit. THey go out to just have some some fun and shoot the shiet with other people. Not to blast the GS or yourself at all. The GS is very very capable on the track ,especially with some mods. Porsches are great on the track straight from the dealer. When I used to go out with my Porsche buddies, we were not interested in seeing who could wrench the hell out of their Porsche or who had the biggest *****. We just did it for fun and did not care too much about 1st or 100th place.
Like I said, like driver, a GS would be very very very strained to keep up with even a stock Boxster on a track. Those slow little cars are very capable on the track. Of course straight line the Boxster will eat GS dust. The GS will even outrun many of the older Porsches on the track.Maybe a bunch of us So Ca folks can arrange a track day.

It is good that you had some fun out there,. More GS's should be out there.

 

Congratulations on beating all those Porche's and the Ferrari !
Few people realize just how fantastic the GS400 is. I owned a BMW M3 for awhile and there is a messageboard comprised mostly of extreme M3 inthusiasts, shop owners, BMW mechanics, and quite a few professional drivers. Every now and then an M3 owner would report that he had raced a GS400 and was surprised that it was able to stay with an M3, especially on curvey roads.

When you get to a high performance vehicle as fast as a GS400, BMW M3, Porche, or Ferrari, one factor will decide virtually every race. The quality of the driver. A better driver in a slower vehicle will usually beat a poorer driver in a faster vehicle.

One thing that is true of nearly all of us, myself included, is that we think we are better drivers than we really are. I learned this the first time I attended a BMW driving school. BMW holds them every few months at Road Atlanta. A professional driver sits in the passenger seat and coaches you around the course at Road Atlanta. Nothing beats practice and training!!

If you like to drive fast and or aggressively, like I do, make sure you attend as many driving schools, autocross, slalom, events as you can. You'll be amazed at how fast a GS400 can go with a good driver behind the wheel !!

 

UTGS400: way to go man

 

Dude. awesome write-up!

I dunno, I think he just beat a lot of guys. Ego comes into play. Imagine a "Lexus" at a track with some Porsche owners. I am sure they could all be 100% cool, but I am sure someone will be like "let me show this Lexus who is boss".

Your a great driver, must be very tuned to your car and it's capabilites.

 

j/k



Gigem

 

Whoop!! That is for the track performance as well. Where were you racing?

 

I saw a few porsches around town this weekend.

 

There was a Porsche event.

I was going to go up there but my dad's 930 was burning some oil.

 

Very true. I have encountered ALOT of BMW,PORSCHE,FERRARI, and VIPER snobs on the track, as if a Lexus does not belong. However, most are very receptive to other makes . Those are the true auto enthusiasts.

 

I'm not surprised at all that you did it. But I want to add that for a starter, you have a GREAT potential and should pursue this more if interested.

Having experienced the tracks before, I found that a car's power -when harnessed by an experienced or skilled driver - is the formula for fast laps.

Some of the rather unbelievable, but ordinarily true facts in autocrossing:

1. A bunch of teenagers in fast Civics/Integras driving first time and hot on the track would more than likely get slow laptimes. Fast laptimes are achieved when the car is more straight, not sideways on curves.

2. When I was a newbie, I thought I have something to prove to experienced men with gray hair or the lady drivers. After all, I have some Pro-Rally experience in the past where drifting sideways is the key to making fast turns. Was I totally wrong. Asphalt is different and changes a bit some of the things that you know. Seat time is one of the secrets of this sport just like most anything.

3. Stock Miatas and Neons, when driven by a seasoned autocrosser can "easily" beat just about any production stock car driven by an average driver. You don't believe it? Go to the SCCA event in your neighborhood and sign up this weekend.