996 Handling

Took my 996 for a drive on one of the best roads in the area. It is designated as Park Road 4 and is in the Texas Hill Country. Very twisty and some nice steep grades. I have driven numerous cars on this road and I have never seen anything handle like the 996 with new Michelins. Could not get the back end to slide out (has TC) and never heard even the slightest tire squeel like many other cars. If I ever get into a chase with a Porsche with a fairly skilled driver, it is all over. Our patrol cars don't handle anywhere close.

I'm glad you have something close by to exercise your car. Yes, the 996 is not the tail happy car that people snicker about. The car is very easy to drive very quickly as you have found out. I wouldn't chase a 996, I'd call in some rotary help

Go faster and more aggressive and you will be able to break traction and get the front end to push. Also the rear will slide around a bit and you can have some fun before the Traction Control will kick in and try to save your ***. I've only have mine kick in on a below freezing road surface with summer tires, glad it did,

The Hill Country is all well and good but what about the flatlands? I am still seeking out that long, straight, and flat road in Texas and somewhat close in time and distance from Houston. My goal: to set out to locate the maximum speed. Minumum distance should be 5 miles of straight road.

Try out park road 37 off of highway 16, you will never forget that road, 5 miles of 15/20/30MPH turns. Once you get the rear to break free, you will think it is going to recover like any other car, but it doesnt. You will start to realize that the engine is in the wrong spot like everyone says when you feel the "pendulum" effect. As it slides it will want to keeping coming around and trade ends, it is scary the first time. Took me about 5 times before I got used to it, of course all under the speed limit.

Could have pushed a little harder, but most of the turns were blind and narrow. What was amazing is the speed I was able to attain going through the turns w/o much effort.

[QUOTE=Tippy]Try out park road 37 off of highway 16, you will never forget that road, 5 miles of 15/20/30MPH turns. [QUOTE] What county is that in, so I can look it up?

Only if you promise not to patrol it

First time I REALLY drove my car was about 2 weeks after I bought it. I went out toward the Julian area and explored all sorts of windy back roads. I actually scared myself, because I was feeding in more and more power and really going for it. I never thought I would actually scare myself, but I did when I realized what I was doing - it was like I was in a desperate race and trying everything to go as fast as possible. I went for it for about 5 minutes or less, and determined that I wouldn't do that again - on public streets. The limits are so far above what is safe/sane on the streets, that anyone that loses it on public roads must have been driving like a complete jackass.

Low/Mid speed handling is great. Today, I showed a 745i the difference between a sedan and a sports car in a double right hwy entrance ramp near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

I have slid the rear pretty easily, then again i was on 265/40/18 Kumho tires. I dont have stability control, so i was def. scared.

TC, Traction Control, is "reserved" for preventing wheelspin/slip resulting from (too much) engine torque. It is also used to provide a "virtual" LSd functionality. Stability control activates upon detection of under/overstearing. On my 2001 AWD RX300 VSC activates instantly, long before my seat of the pants sensors are even aware of the event. In my Porsche "VSC" activation is delayed somewhat in order to give me time to react properly first. I find that if I sense a bit of over-stearing and quickly counter-stear then my 996 C4 VSC "knows" I've taken corrective action and goes immediately back to "sleep".

Today, I showed a 745i the difference between a sedan and a sports car in a double right hwy entrance ramp near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Or the differance between a 4K+ lb and 3K lb car. There's just so much you can do with the suspension to compensate for all that weight. I've owned three 911s. I bought my first one in 1970 and my last one was a 993 that I bought in 1996. Although I've never owned a 996, I have driven them quite a bit, since one of my sons has an '04 C4S. The 996 is much easier to drive fast than even the 993, and far easier than the earlier iterations. On the other hand I took a great deal of pride in developing the skill sets necessary to drive my 911 hard, since almost everyone was intimidated by its oversteering tendencies at a time when there was no PSM to rescue the driver.

That's because you were driving correctly. When going through turns, one should not be braking or accelerating much. A 996, with all that power, will lighten up the front end quite a bit when under full power. So if you're trying to turn while under 100% power, you'll get a noticeable understeer. The only way to get the rear end to come around are to do the following: 1.) You are on the gas 100% in a tight turn and in a low gear 2.) You suddenly lift off the gas in a tight turn 3.) You brake in a tight turn

Sure, it is out of my jurisdiction anyway.

1 & 2 have been the only times I've come across oversteer but I did 1 & 2 on purpose.

I'm curious - are you more likely to let a Porsche off with a warning than say, a hopped-up Mustang or ricer? I think I would.

I see your running 17" rims... which michelins did you put on it?

[QUOTE=996 Cop][QUOTE=Tippy]Try out park road 37 off of highway 16, you will never forget that road, 5 miles of 15/20/30MPH turns. I think Bexar, but could be Medina or Bandera also

Yeah, they get better lawyers (if they are not a lawyer). Actually don't get that many out this way. I am not big on tickets unless something totally reckless like running a red light. Only average about 6 tickets and 7 warnings per month. If I was a State Trooper the numbers would be much higher, Their supervisors really push for numbers.

Michelin Pilot N2

yes... the "RIB" design... nice...

Drove on another back road today and pushed the car pretty hard. I could get the back end to slide, but with the traction control I never felt like I was about to lose control. These cars handle very well.

I think the days of the infamous "hammer coming 'round" are over, even as early as the 3.2 cars. My 88 Carrera on the track started to get loose once, but that was because I mishandled it by braking hard in a turn. Even as the rear started to come out, it was easy to put it back in place. I think driving an early 70's 911 would be another story

Yeah, the limits on these things are waaaaay beyond what you should do on a public road. On onramps, I just floor it and turn and hold the hell on for dear life, and off we go - it's insane, really. My brother, who lives in Nor Cal, had been talking big - "wait until I get a chance to drive that thing, I'll show you how it's done". Takes it out with me in the passenger seat, drives like a grandma. He says "How was that? Impressed?" Hahahaha....

I used to race motorcycles years ago and heard some say that if you wanted to be competitive you were almost crashing every turn because you were going "all out". That may be true with some, but smooth consistent laps often produced winners. What I am getting at is even though it looks good sliding around turns (and is a lot of fun) it may not be the fastest overall on a race track. Some of the concepts are the same in motorcycle racing as with auto racing. Most important, you have to know your capabilities and those of the car you are driving. A lot of the pursuits I have been involved in, I could tell very quickly that the driver was not skilled and would keep my distance until they wrecked out. I believe the autocross and DE schools are a safe place to try out our cars. Also we have the Big Bend Open Road races in Texas and Nevada. These Open Road races allow you to drive your car at full speed (with proper safety equipment and driving experience) on a state highway (59 miles one way at the Big Bend race).

Very true. One famous race car driver said that you should drive at all times "like you're taking your girl out on a date. That's how smooth you should be whether you are driving on the street, or trying to take the pole in a competition." This is what I tried focusing on while doing my last DE event. I might have been slow, but I wanted to get that technique down.

hehehe Did you eventually take him out for a ride with and REALLY show "him how it's done?"