I've put side by side CG' best lap and mine. He had a smoking 1:44.3 vs my 1:45.9 but what's interesting his how the time is made up.
Obviously neither car is stock and both are on R-compund tires, Pirelli Corsa for the MCoupe and Toyo RA-1 for the Porker.
If you look at the cornering speeds they are essentially the same. What's striking is how much more stable the 997 is suggesting even higher corner speeds might be achieved. The M Coupe is like a bucking bronco, bitching and yelling as it gets the job done...somehow.
Now to the obvious, the 997s just LEAPS out of the tight turns. In the tight right before the back straight it must pull a 3 car length advantage before the MC is even out of second gear....stunning, what a car!
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Nice, but you have the wrong LSD ratio in the MCoupe.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have the one that BMW in all its wisdom decided to saddle the s54MC with....
ReplyDeleteYou also need to play along with shocks and setup. Smooth means faster and unstable is not good. It's all about nailing that smooth drift and gentle transitions. most of the time less work in the cockpit is the faster way around
ReplyDeleteWell, BMW wanted you to have both efficiency and performance. You just want performance, so you have the wrong ratio! Stop acting like a Roadfly user and blaming BMW (oops!). Change your diff! :-)
ReplyDeleteOK, I think you just put yourself in line right behind Jacques Villeneuve for an Assie with that remark. Put the kool-aid down and let's ask the marketing guys why they made sure the MCoupe was slower than the M3....;O)
ReplyDeleteI saw you using the "Kool Aid" excuse on Roadfly (oops) too... it doesn't help anything to focus on a decision made 6 years ago, because you still have the wrong LSD ratio for best performance! I bet the 997-S is geared much better! Out of curiosity, how do the power-weight ratios of these two cars compare?
ReplyDeleteTell you what, come over for BBQ next week end and bring that 3.38 rear end you have gathering dust in your garage and let's see if I can bitchslap the 997 with it installed! How's that for marketing?
ReplyDeleteGive some credit to the driver too! :^)
ReplyDelete911s are by design unstable. Their weak point is sweepers and long corners, where the 50/50 BMW Koolaid works better.
You have to adapt the line and driver's inputs towards getting the best out of the car. Twitchiness under power, or where there's wasted unnecessary rotation makes you loose time (either have to lift, there's minor wheel-slip or just requires more thna optmal distance). Sure its fun, but not THE fastest way around.
You can see in the 997S a nicely balance drift through every corner despite having most of the weight in the rear. A lot of work is being done with footwork there to make the car do that and keep the steering inputs to the minimum in the most efficient way.
I think the performance envelope of the MCoupe at that track is a bit tighter... and for sure the car was smoother without the rear swaybar. It would have been interesting to drive the North course and compare the times. I'm guessing the "twitchy" setup is a bit faster if you get it just right.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any times to determine whether the car was faster or slower without the rear swaybar?
ReplyDeleteYou have to drive the car differently wiht the stifer bar in the rear.
ReplyDeleteMake the twitch help where it counts: corner entry. That forces you to change your line approach, get more rotation done before the apex and have less steering npt on exit to put more power down and prevent a sudden twitch that kills forwad momentum.
As I told you before, you also need to play ariund with the shock setting to compensate for the stifer rear.
I think the new setup should be faster as it heps the car to increase yaw rate (change direction faster). Other variables are the same (tire size, grip, etc.), just need to comepsante driving and shocks a bit to make it more fluid (i.e faster)
I don't really know if the previous times were set with NO swaybar (fully broken) or just a soft sway due to the tab flexing....I guess I'll never know for sure. certainly the last TT on Pocono north was with NO sway attached. That was slower by almost a second from my previous best, but it was different tires too, so it is not a fair test.
ReplyDeleteIf I go to LRP maybe something might be learned, though I wonder if the reason why the car was so good over the downhill turn bumps was in fact that it had a soft roll rear...
LRP has gotten so bumpy I would be tempted to disconnect the rear swaybar altogether, a-la TC Kline.
ReplyDelete