Calling all big hp 996 turbo owners.....

A serious question if I may? How the hell do you guys drive one of these thing with more than 500 hp?! Have been out today and emptied 1/2 tank in a little over an hour, with the great low air temperatures giving my car oodles of speed. It was at this point that it crossed my mind about the question above. Seriously, anybody rocking 650 and up must have their hands full just driving in a straight line down a country road, :cop: and other road users dependent obviously. I would estimate that my relatively weedy car was putting out over 500 today with the low air temps, and even at this number the car was just ballistic :worship: So 'fess up, do you guys save full beans for vmax etc, or do any of you bury the pedal on the road (whilst obviously respecting all speed limits :hand: ) Fire away boys and girls....

I had this thought on Sat on an excursion into Derbyshire. So mines got 400 if you believe Tubi that it releases a couple from the standard 385. As I pushed on I thought how do the boys with 500bhp cope with it :dont know: Didn't stop me having a blast. I was on vapours getting back to civilisation to refuel. It was a sphincter clenching experience hoping to make it back. 12 miles left in the tank according to PCM. Not good for the injectors

I know in Dinslaken Faried was bouncing happy after clocking 216mph on the autobahn :grin: :grin: thats 348kmph scary fast on a public highway :thumb:

rock on Dinslaken 2018, cant wait for those Autobahn's :floor: :cop: :floor: :thumbs:

Having not driven mine in anger for nearly a year whilst it was having the motor built, i was frustrated at driving 1k miles at 3krpm. However, even at that level the top speed was 97mph and some would say that is quick enough. However after the running in period, when I started putting the boot down I got a massive shock about how quick the car is! The more you drive it though, the more you get used to the power, when and where to use it. You certainly have to hold on when you bury the throttle from a low speed as the front lifts up and steering goes very light! This kind of power is best left for straight lines such as motorways or autobahns though, the turbo isn't the best at carrying speed through corners due to the understeer and weight, so its very easy to get it wrong if you're being a dick. PS: I can't wait for germany this year either! I had a speedo'd 203mph last year before my ring started to swallow up the seat! :drive:

:agree: I don't drive mine much, but whenever I do it is an event. On another level compared to my other cars, the next most powerful one has 517hp. It is now off for 6 months or more for the next round of ugrades. Still love it, even as it gets less usable. MC

MC and Raggamuffin, the cars are just ridiculously rapid once the number 500 has been reached or passed, mine was spinning tyres in the dry today due to the dusty roads etc, so the power you two are running must be mental I totally agree regarding a drive being an event and as such, I'm pretty glad that mine is not a daily. Today was the first time the taps have been fully opened for 6 months for various reasons and it was quite a shock to the system. The NA guys are pretty much right, perhaps 400 NA is sweet enough :?: Can't wait for the annual pilgrimage to Anglesey to stretch her legs though 8)

I am very happy with my 300hp C2 and 360hp M3 CSL for daily duties, they are much more usable as performance cars. The big HP stuff is 'just because we can' rather than any justifable reason. After a good drive I looked at the data logs on my turbo and saw I was on full throttle for 0.9s at most. If it wasn't for putting a lot of the stuff through work I probably wouldn't bother. Just for shits and giggles really. MC

Just remember the unrestricted bit doesnt start on the M25 :grin: :grin: or does it :?: :dont know:

Interesting thread, Ive often wondered how much power is too much for the road. Do any of you guys ride bikes? How fast is a tuned turbo compared to a modern sportsbike as they are putting out ~200 bhp and weigh about the same in Kg. I would imagine that they are also too much for most roads. I've got a tweaked KTM RC8 that makes ~160 bhp and has been down geared for acceleration at the expense of top speed, I like its mid range grunt but it doesn't often spend much time at WOT and that too makes an event out of most rides for me. The C2 feels slow in comparison afterwards but I still love it, I think 350-400bhp in a light weight Carrera would be perfect - calling ELA!

You can use it. For sure. Just gotta be careful and respect the engineering and capability behind it all (car, physics and my slim ability). I was out for a drive out to Rye yesterday and had some real fun. Roads were dusty,,,actually thought it was salt DOH ! Did I use all the power NO. Did i have it at my disposal YES !!! Did i plant is YES, Did i have a hairy moment, YES - a few, but hey thats life. Was i safe YES. Did i enjoy it - OH YES, Did my wife NO Was with shmbo and boost turned down on the controller to poodle mode most of the time. Still the power was immence and had some fun with a load of Belgian number plated cars that had been on or going to track somewhere (all caged up and a support van - M5, M3, Megane RS, etc) Thumbs up to those guys, they were fun It's just a matter of fact when you wanna floor it or press on a little. It's relentlessly fun and so quick it makes you so so happy to be a part of it,,,,USEABLE POWER that is. There is no point in spinning the wheels and wasting your rubber When some folk state that the turbo cannot corner (i appreciate it is not a GT3 or focused track weapon etc) I dont get it, i can press on into (load up the front etc) and out of corners, bends what ever (i am no racing driver) and really both carry some speed in and out of the corner i do have the power to accellerate out of the corner a warp speed (read catch a better car or driver). This fun only enhanses the enjoyment So this is where i can use the power, keep it (turbos) in the sweet spot and well over 100mph is there in less that the time you can blink ! This is the down side possibly !!! - getting to silly speeds is so quick, you can catch yourself out. I actually drive on cruse control a lot of the time on motorways etc You can blip the throttle at say 100 and before you know it you are at 150 and smiling like a cheshire cat ! For me, its 100% about the event for me. Dont call me a W"£$%"er Getting the car out, warming it up Getting into the buckets putting on the harness Grabbing the cup steering wheel resetting the vbox plugging in the vbox video hd Hearing the engine volume increase The whine of the straight cut gearbox Turbos spool Meth engage/activation lights start to flicker (visible from the corner of my eye - bright blue!) Feel the car fight for traction every now and then the push as it all starts to happen Sometimes hearing my WIFE scream in fear !!! In summary, can you ever have enough power ? Not in my book The Dinslaken 2017 adventure was a total hoot, 209GPS and 217 indicated really made my day. I had to lift for safety reasons as could not see ahead perfectly as the road started to have a curve in it and a slight crest...SAFETY FIRST ! It was also scarey in the fact that when you hit a bump the car might move a few feet to one side (Hairy brow pants) and the wind noise was horrendous Just wish i was a better driver and there were less cameras LOL

You cannot just take a 500hp car and double the power without making significant changes to the suspension, drivetrain, set up etc. The biggest single difference I would say is the custom diff we put in these turbos and how we set that up. It transforms the ability to put the power down. K

FRP, that was an awesome write up !! :worship: Ken, that is a very good point and was kind of where my mind was going when starting the thread. My own car has had a great deal of money spent on suspension set up but I'd hate to add another 150 horses to it without further chassis and brake work. My car is a 'tip, which is a lot better than most people give it credit for, so that makes 'gear changing' a doddle, driving a manual with over 1000 horsepower must be incredibly difficult even in a straight line. Interesting re the diff.

Yes I should mention the DIFF....sorry Ken ! This is absolute Night and Day Before the DIFF, the power was useless, totally unuseable when really giving it the beans ! After the DIFF, OMG how you can apply the power, installs confidence when pressing on and totally transforms the ability of the engineering package, can and its ability to put the power down....not cheap tho !

My 996 is now almost double the HP it left the factory with, converted to RWD and no PSM or traction control of any kind. The PSM is still there but when you get past 650hp ish the traction control will prevent you from driving at full chat. It basically just says WTF every time you mash the throttle. As a result I turn it off as soon as I get in the car. To make a big power 996 you generally need a pair of big turbos. Faried mentions keeping the turbos in the sweet spot. Essentially they are quite laggy. Prior to going 3.8l and big turbos etc I was running k24 hybrids and the car did 0 - 60 in 3.1 seconds fairly consistently. It is a tiptronic, the procedure was 1st gear, left foot on brake, build revs so it is on the edge of the torque converter engaging, then left foot up / right foot all the way down. In this spec the car was still fast (190mph at woodbridge). You could leave the traction control on all the time and it was more than happy. Performance wise it would have been similar to a 9e30. This has to be the ultimate balance of cost vs performance vs reliability vs practicality. Having said the above now that it has a lot more power it is a lot faster. But the bigger turbos are more laggy so by the time the turbos are in their sweet spot you are already moving fairly quickly. As a result 0 - 60 is compromised as turbo do not come on full boost until 50mph ish. 60 - 130 is insanely fast!! I had mine at 207.8 mph at bruntingthorpe last year. The car is incredibly stable at those speeds. As Ken suggests though it is so important to get the suspension right and brakes too. My ohlins are geared for high speed. Normally driving the car is like stock, in fact if you jumped from a stock turbo to mine you would not notice a difference until you fully open the throttle. I still take the family out in mine, it always has kids seats in the back, even at vamx, although I did remove the kids lol.