Mazda 6 MPS - 4,500km in (Dec-09)

Some of you may have read my purchase & initial impressions on my Mazda 6 MPS in October

4,500km in and I said I’d work on an update, prompted by an unsatisfactory drive on Sunday night. So make a cuppa before starting into my meandering thoughts!

The previous 4,000km had been 100% office-bound commute stuff – 48km/h avg speed, deep floods, manky rain, in the dark, pressure at work etc etc… no motoring joy was had at all. To compound it, I’d been sick the previous week and cabin fever reached a pitch as my wife had gone to a spa for the day. So Sunday night came and I said I’d take the long way for a litre of milk & some bread.

What a joyless experience – caught behind traffic for alot of my local route, including the best bit being ruining by having a garda Mondeo in front doing 20km/h below the posted limit and stabbing brakes randomly. And on the bits I did get clear road for I found the car not flowing at all, with two stabs at the wheel, turbo lag, jumpy downshifts, running out of gears too quick ... my own inputs just not getting the car flowing basically. I came home with milk, bread, and a Galaxy bar as comfort food for the let down.

So Monday I’d to go to Kerry for some work. The previous night was fresh in my mind so I decided I’d take the marginally longer, but infinitely more satisfying, route and concentrate on driving the MPS with a bit of brio – something I hadn’t actually done since my drive home in October. I hit for the hills…..



There is definitely different driving techniques required for these turbos, isn’t there? Most of it is me, some of it is MPS-related, but some I am guessing is generic 4x4 turbo. So I’ll go through how I was dissecting my drive, as I think it is of general benefit. And please Scooby & Evo owners I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts on my general observations too.

Steering
When you up the pace and input, the Mazdas steering wheel is a very sharp device to use, despite 2.6 turns lock-to-lock. I noticed I was putting in too much elbow, and as a consequence the car was darting into the bend and requiring a slight wind off of lock & invariably a re-application again. The 2 stabs meant the corner was a bit messy before you even really began, but it did teach me that there is a lot of front end grip in the MPS. In fact, unless you were flat out mid-bend under power, I don’t think you would sanely discover what would make this car understeer on a public road. I’m still trying to figure out how I was making this over-input mistake, as I’ve jumped between 5 series & Elise for the last 3yrs no problem, have done 4k in the Mazda smoothly whilst pottering, and it is such a basic component of driving. I think the nature of the power delivery made me subconsciously drive more aggressively with steering, brakes & throttle or something, but there you go. Lesson #1: The car needs measured and accurate inputs to get the most from it.



Throttle
Turbo Lag is thy enemy to a nice flow. I found myself having to slightly modify how to heel & toe, specifically the timing & amount, to suit the engines characteristics. This was a slightly fluid problem, but I’ll come back to this point further down. I also found I’d to concentrate much more on upshifts. Turbos go BWARP-shift-pause-BWARP, and there is a lot of fun to be had banging through changes flat out if you’re into it, but I’m not. No problem when you’re schmoozing, ignorable if a person was into V-maxing, but kind of frustrating when you are making ‘safe but efficient progress’© which I like to do. So I had to speed the shift up a tad, soften the lift on change and reapply earlier to smooth this out – it doesn’t remove the problem but does enough for it not to be a problem, and matches road to engine speed better. It also speeds up the gearchange & the box feels happier. Lesson #2: Feel what the car is telling you; it’s trying to make you drive it better

Cornering
So many elements here, but I’ll keep it concise. RWD has given me a slow-in, fast-out approach, thereby taking the rear axle on in my own terms, rather than hoping there’s enough grip there for power transfer & cornering. Bends don’t suit the MPs as much if you take them in that style as you’re somewhat back to jerkiness. So after taking the steering and throttle characteristics into account, I found myself braking earlier, and getting on a steadier throttle into & through to apex. 4x4 means you have more confidence in doing this as you’re not going to be grappling with a rear that might go out. And the car is pretty immune to bumps, lumps, & cambers mid-bend (if not under braking), as well as having an aversion to understeer unless you’re mongo on the power. Plus you have the throttle well hooked up so there’s minimal lag.
Lesson #3: You’re not a driving god, there’s always more to learn if you pay attention. And ignore the cars apparent encouragement to be an aggressive 4wd-turbo-nutter-barstward – smoother is better.



Technology
I mentioned heeling & toeing, & how it was a movable problem. I need to do some technical digging on this to understand exactly what the parameters are for this stuff in the MPS, but my thinking is based on the fuzzy logic in modern cars – you know where the auto box monitors driving style and if you’re light on the throttle it’ll upshift early, drive fast and it’ll hold on to gears and downchange more aggressively etc. I’ve been driving like a nanny in it for quite a while, and I definitely think it has had an impact on throttle response and drivetrain. The throttle was much softer and less inclined to go full-lepton if you floored it – measurable only in length of movement and a second or so more between instruction and response, but never the less there. So did I get into the groove yesterday, or did the car get into the groove?

Similarly, there is a water-cooled transfer unit and electronic torque coupling before the rear differential, with 3 set programs (normal, stability, sport) it moves between automatically, depending on a whole raft of inputs: speed, revs, gear, throttle, steering & handbrake position, stability control, abs, brake pedal position & fluid pressure, coupling torque requests, yaw rate, lateral g, & rear LSD oil temperature. It goes from 100F:0R to 50F:50R with a rearward input in most situations. However, I’ve noticed it has been slower to put power to the rear, so on a junction take-off on my commute I was noticing some front wheel slip on gravel where there was none before. Again, just a second of slip, but enough to make me notice. So had the car decided it was in Driving Miss Daisy mode, softened throttle response, and reduced rear torque for less drivetrain losses (mpg did improve slightly for a tank)? I need to do a bit of digging on this, and also what parameters the torque coupling works within for each of its programs. It isn’t allowing any front wheel slip today



The technology in these cars is a bit dizzying, and as someone who tries to pay attention to what the car is doing, the bits and pieces going on are hard to assimilate at times! For example into one bumpy braking area that had a small diagonal rise and fall (<1ft) across the road, I felt a little ABS kick of sorts, but the pedal raised up a good inch underfoot, and I saw the DSC light flash just for a moment. I couldn’t figure it out as I didn’t feel I was braking hard enough to activate ABS, or getting the car loaded up enough to warrant a DSC intervention. Turns out it has BAC – brake assist control – that monitors inputs from the car and assists braking by building additional pressure using the ABS pump. So the pedal feeling wasn’t modulating a wheel lock-up, but boosting pressure. What the DSC light was doing I’m not sure – perhaps as it controls braking on individual wheels it needs to compensate for a moment for the differential brake pressure across the 4, or maybe the BAC control is ran through the DSC sensors and control module? Another one to fathom.

I’d really like to bring it onto a wet circuit where all the systems can be explored thoroughly and knowledge gained of how they react to inputs, rather than snapshots of them through the handful of corners safe to explore the car on. And after a session I’d imagine DSC would be left ‘Off’, so I can understand how the 4wd and active coupling works, not to mention its balance under brakes. That will all have to wait until the 1yr Mazda warranty runs out though of course!

Cars – don’t you just love getting to know them? I wish I could change them every 6 months and keep learning.

PS my lessons turned out to be more relevant to my own driving than any discovery on 4wd turbo dynamics! Which is good too.

Mazda 6 MPS - I bought one (Oct-09)

I bought a Mazda 6 MPS.

Having been inundated with a single request to put a post and some pics up of it, here are my 2,250 words now that I’ve had some time to contemplate and reflect on my move back to a JapLand Jalopy for the last 1,000miles.

A lot of friends & family did question what the hell I was at, after owning 7 BMWs over the last 8years and 130k. But that was the problem; I’d set budgets, made spreadsheets, did shortlists and for my money I just didn’t have the heart for another E39 or the ubiquitous E46, and the E60 wasn’t floating my boat interior-wise. Plus I hate to be typecast.

The complete spreadsheet list of cars I checked for price, VRT, & running costs is bizarre – my criteria related to price point, performance & sleeper status, economy, 4 doors, ride and handling, and the fact I have an Elise so something like an E46 M3 wouldn’t make sense. They included:
• E46 330i / 330D
• E39 525D/ 530D / 530i
• E60 525D / 530D / 530i
• E65 730D / 735i
• MG ZT 4.6 V8
• C6 2.7 Hdi (waaaaay above budget!)
• S-type 2.7 D / Type R
• S60-R / D5
• Avantime
• A3 3.2
• MeganeSport 225
• Focus ST
• Octavia vRS T / TDi

So a weird list, but I was open-minded/confused (delete as appropriate). Out of all of these the RX-8 had been in my thoughts the most for the last 9months. I had test driven several including wife & babyseat installations. I love them, and all the special engineering that has gone into them. But with my 50mile round commute each day economy was proving a difficult hurdle to mentally surmount, particularly with the 40mpg+ from the TDS. And the boot is small, which meant that weekend trips away, with some tasty early morning solo time on surrounding roads, might still be precluded due to packaging.

Then I came across the MPS. 2006, 67,000km, black with black leather, 18” rims on 215/40s, 2.3L direct injection turbo petrol, 260bhp, 280lb/ft and 4wd with an LSD on the rear. Xenons, cruise, glass sunroof etc etc..

It ticked most boxes, the only obvious hurdles being
1. not rwd
2. turbo
3. image / kudos / desire

The first 2 were quickly rationalized out from previous pondering – I hadn’t done the ‘4wd turbo’ thing yet (just like I now haven’t done the Rotary thing ), primarily because I’d no interest in the usual full-on Impreza/Evo approach. The MPS provided, at least on paper, a balance between subtlety, performance, comfort and quality that really appealed, much like the S60-R did. The Legacy was also considered but it just didn’t pull on the heart strings despite its abilities.

The third issue didn’t bother me massively either. My wife pointed out that I’d talk RX8 each time one passed us in the last year, but she never heard a peep about a Mazda 6 before (because you never see them!!). But I figured I found them interesting & desirable, and always conferred some kudos to the owner of one I would see. I had gotten over the phobia of “I’m a petrolhead, but that other petrolhead doesn’t know because I’m driving something ordinary” when I got my E39 & had the Elise in the garage. So mentally I was prepared for joe-soaps perception, or lack thereof, to my JapCrap. Personally I love the looks overall, except for the grill area which is a bit bland.

So brains were picked, forums surfed, sanity checks conducted (thanks Trudy, Kingers, & JPW!), money was found, the trip to Dublin was made. The car appealed greatly on driving, a deal was struck with the Mazda dealership, the tank was brimmed, and I slotted myself in for the drive home to Cork!

Pics aren’t great as it was dusk and the car isn’t clean, but you get the jist.





First impressions were that it was a quality item. The paint impressed, as did panel gaps and general fit & finish. It felt solid but rode really well, and the interior was a lovely place to spend some cruise-controlled motorway miles in, with comfy seats (elec & memory on drivers side), nice clear instrumentation, and a kicking factory fit Bose sound system incl 6-Cd in-dash changer & subwoofer on the parcelshelf. The sound system was important to me as I likes me tunez, aiii. It just felt a quality item. Yes, it was Jap to the core with light doors, generic column stalks, light controls, and beeps when I pressed stuff. But it stood toe-to-toe with the 159 I had driven up in all respects and exceeded on several, including ride and how the climate knobs rotated (such a lovely, damped click on the Mazda … I still adjust the fan & temp for the hell of it)

I sat on the motorway, mentally converting the OBCs 9L/100km in my head, thinking about what I’d done. Added about €90 a month to my fuel bill for a start! The spectre of 40mpg had really put a downer on my car shopping thoughts the last while, so it felt really, REALLY good to have broken the diesel chains that had begun to shackle my freedom of car choice. I loved 6,500rpm, and silent cruising. Diesels are good, but I concluded people had forgot just how quiet a modern petrol is in comparison; the answer was ‘Very’.

So off I schmoozed down to Cork, family 159 SW ahead, happy out getting 31-32mpg with some Tosca over the stereo soothing the miles away. Then 100miles into the trip, the Knockmealdowns started looming into the view. A quick call was made ahead, and my left indicator was thrown on. Well come on, it’s a 1,665kg 4 door saloon with all the toys, but it also had some go and a chassis that impressed so far – what would you do???? The Vee drew closer, the climb filled my windscreen, I dropped from 6th to 4th on the lovely snikkity ‘box, and made use of that torque. A brief lag, and it surged forward.

Most people here are familiar with the Vee. It climbs from the north side on lovely, smooth flowing surfaces with open to 45deg bends coming at you regularly. The MPS is softer than you might expect, and on these gentler flowing corners there was a smidge more roll than anticipated that took a fraction longer than you’d expect to settle. Initially that dented the confidence as I wondered is it the steering or grip that is giving me doubts but, once understood, it became immaterial. What it does do, once you adjust, is add to the lovely loping gait the car has with that engine – it has buckets of torque with 280lb/ft @ 3,000rpm and 90% of that available @ 2,000rpm.

So I eased myself into the climb, using 4th and that torque to feel how the cars natural balance felt, and covering ground at a pleasant pace with little effort. Soon the double apex left over the bridge came, so I heel & toed down to second (pedals are well set up for this), and turned into the sharp 90; roll checked, torque down, car just goes – little torque steer, total traction. I was on the opening uphill left that completes the corner immediately so turn again, bit more roll, second is gone, into 3rd on exit. It was then I realized that second it quite low; it seems the car is geared quite low from 1st-4th, perhaps to make use of the torque as you are further up the box. So up the box we went, and the slope was gobbled up.

Traffic was met up toward the hairpin viewing area which gave me time to reflect on my first few backroad miles. I wasn’t blown away I have to admit – solid and competent sprung to mind, but lacking that nth degree of involvement. As the traffic pulled in to view the view, I continued up onto the undulating sections that open out toward the lake and the Vee itself. The bumpier the road got, the more impressive the car became; it seemed to get a happier rhythm with itself now, and the lumps and bumps took that initial softness away so that it tracked straight and true through bumpy bends with spot-on body control, and the car feeling a lot more dynamic through steering and seat. It was hugely confidence-inspiring and I imagined you would want in excess of 1.1 leptons to feel it was truly floaty or lacking in body control. Most importantly, it started to engage me which it hadn’t on the earlier section.

As you go through the eye of the Vee, the road condition deteriorates further. The undulations are bigger, the surface really choppy, the bends tighter and more frequent, the cambers cruel in braking areas. I love it, as it really asks as much as you could want from a chassis. These are where the tough questions were asked, and the JapCrap delivered. A touch of float was noted, but was gathered up quickly which was all I could ask for here. Through bends, I started to feel the 4 wheel drivetrain jiggle a little power front to rear. Similarly, under brakes it was as though the drivetrain was deliberately shuffling power to the rear to give an engineered reaction, through torque reversal, for that initial turn-in phase.

The brakes themselves have a long travel so don’t give that instantly strong bite, solid pedal, and therefore confidence you ideally want. They are powerful however and performed perfectly, so it was more a matter of adjustment than lack of performance. Surprisingly they have solid discs on the rear, so maybe on a track this could compromise ultimate performance. On these roads the car did tend to shuffle around a bit in the bumpy braking areas – more than say my old M3 or Evads S4 which was my datum for the entire drive – but also a perhaps a bit more alert and lighter on its feet than the S4.

The steering was nice to hold, precise in its guidance, and gave a modicum of feedback and a lot of confidence into the bend. If that sounds like damning with faint praise, it isn’t. It has nice steering, but I also drive an Elise which skews things a bit. The turn-in itself was very incisive and the whole car quickly let me know it wanted all torques summoned so it could get on with the business of going pop out of the bends like a champagne cork. It does that really, really well. The steering tended to go light and uncommunicative if you did this, which I didn’t like. There was the barest smear of understeer if I was to give it the full monty out of a tight, well-sighted second gear corner for example, but having said that you can feel the rear really contributing as much as it can to neutralize that. I’d imagine on a wet trackday, where you could explore the cars balance at the limits and beyond, the back end could be made to contribute quite usefully.

So on and on we went, MPS and I, ducking & diving along that scrappy sinuous bit of road toward Lismore. Ultimately, as with all modern cars, it wasn’t the last word in driver interaction – modern cars limits and road conditions dictate that reaching this nirvana is now a fleeting moment rather than 30miles of motoring mecca. But it was engaging and fun and, as it slipped once again into the role of comfy fast cruiser heading out of Lismore toward Midleton, I began to really like this cars duality. However, I did reach the conclusion if you were a one-car person it would be worth looking harder at the Scoobys/Evos/M3s of this world which would have more dynamic edge. The spin home was uneventful, and it got another wash when I got there.

That was over 2 weeks ago - I’ve 800miles of the mundane commute done now in it. The boot is big, but the seats don’t fold as the MPS got some body in white changes to front & rear bulkheads that increase torsional stiffness by 50%. Apparently you can get the seats folding if you remove the boot trim and stick you hand into dark places to get at the button, but the aperture is smaller. The interior is roomy with more leg room behind me than the E39 5 Series. The doors open wide to let me put my 19month old into her car seat etc etc etc so it is fitting in with day-to-day life really well. Except the gangster tint on the windows makes my daughter think it is dusk 24-7, and also makes pedestrians and other drivers very slow to make a move across crossings or junctions as they can’t make eye contact with me. It shall be replaced with something lighter! The sharp clutch uptake makes smooth driving more tricky than it should in traffic. The gearchange itself is lovely with a quasi-metallic action (Kingers has compred it to his S2ks), but the gate is quite tight and when you have your hand on it you don’t know is it 1st or 3rd planes it’s in.

It is giving 27.1mpg average from its 3 tanks of go-go juice (which is my entire milage in it including the Vee), which is perfectly acceptable to me and exceeds its OBC calculation by a couple of tenths. On one spin home it gave an indicated 34mpg so I must put the head down some journey and see what I can eek out of it for the craic. Maybe on a round trip up to Mayo to do the challenging Maam Cross - Lenane - Louisburgh road – it’s that kind of car. I’ve already resurrected my plans to do Mizen-to-Malin in one day once the days get longer again.

Good idea, bad idea.

Brace Yourselves

I'm Ssssuper Thanksss For Assking

Just to offset the Porsche love on here for a moment, I have been the owner of a black Mk1 (Japanese Import) Eunos Roadster/MX5 since November 2010.

 

Truth be told I only bought one to see what the fuss was about, and to channel a few bob into in the hope of cashing out on it further down the line. I looked at dozens to find the right one at the right price and found that the vast majority were in an awful state and that even the pricey, enthusiast owned cars often need a considerable amount of work. This is normally the case with cars that can run on through incredible neglect – witness the trust Mercedes W124 for example – and so thoughts turned to the bottom end of the market.

I found what I was looking for in Mayo, a scruffy looking English fella in a scruffy house was selling this and believed it to be the most uncredible car ever. It was not. Mismatched Dingdong tyres, leaking in the roof and boot, scored discs, scratchy pads, not running entirely right yet overall, a solid, uncrashed car with VRT paid and a good engine and gearbox. The consumables didn’t matter as they were all getting replaced anyway.

 The haggling was hilarious. He kept harping on about this €200 stereo he’d put in and I said “well take it out then if you love it so much”. If anyone ever watched Team Schrick where Tim is buying the Aston Martin, he doesn’t care about anything except that the car has a solid shell.

 

That was me, and it was awesome. Imagine, there was snow on the ground, the puddle the car was standing in was frozen and this lad was trying to sell a leaky convertible and he wasn’t moving on the price. It was tragic, but I wanted the car badly.

In the end I had to walk away, wait a week to focus his mind and negotiate via text. The price of a tank and a half of home heating oil was exchanged. We were both happy, because both of us thought we had robbed each other.

 

Then a serious amount of work went into replacing consumables on the car with a focus on fast-road driving.

Fast forward two years and 6911 miles later. I had been warned by owners that they are more than the sum of their parts and will click with you a few months into ownership. This definitely proved correct, and the little car is very much part of the family. My wife didn't drive it for the first 18 months I had it but when between cars this summer she used it as a daily for... well, almost all of the summer and still raves about it.

 

It gets €270 tax for six months annual use. Classic insurance over 3500 miles per year for my wife and I is just over €200, fully comp with breakdown assistance. Despite using an engine with its roots firmly in the early 1980s it has averaged 32mpg in my ownership and has peaked at 37mpg on long runs. It is used as intended yet has never broken down or hinted at any kind of mechanical failure.

 

Since the major work post-purchase it has only needed a headlight lifter motor outside of regular servicing. When the time comes to recommission it each spring, it receives an oil and filter change along with a fresh set of wipers and it will then go about its work with ease and total reliability.

From an ownership point of view, it has been flawless. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, fun to drive. Yes, it’s not exactly filled with soul or passion and it could do with another 30hp to make things just right, but those minor critiques aside it is everything an older sportscar should be, plus when it rains it goes more sideways than The Hoff after a few pints. Sometimes the novelty of driving the car on the ragged edge all the time gets a little tiresome but then you can always just punt around in it too.

In the interest of new motoring experiences the coming summer will probably be its last in my hands, and while it will be hard to let go there is no doubt it will run on for many, many years to come.

Driving a 997.2 GT3 RS on Track

Since reading the 3.2L Carrera vs 328GTB tests when I was still a single-digit age, I have loved the Porsche 911. Even then it was archaic in many respects, but when it came to the art of simply giving to the driver, the 911 still punched with the best. Others are more exotic, but there is something about the single-mindedness of the 911, and its unique layout, that captured my imagination then, and now. I read every article and watch endless videos of them and, as the years have passed, a desire to own one and learn its rear-engined dynamic has only grown. And culminated in my buying one. The following experience is what pushed me into converting the dream into a reality in 2011.

"Up to 2011 my actual experience of 911s was very limited. I got a spin in my brothers colleagues 964 C4 back as a teenager. And I paxed in a 2.7 S, Whopwops 993 Turbo, RS4Fans 964 RSA, Finers 996 GT3 and Bunks GT3 RS around Mondello over the years. But that has been the sum total of my 911 experience.; I’d never actually driven one, or any Porsche for that matter.

And then, as I was tying my helmet up to jump into the passenger seat of Bunks 911 one Friday @ Mondello, he asks me if I’d like to drive his 997 GT3 RS. As cherry-popping goes, this was up there with a Great Schema monk getting freaky with Jenna Jameson.

I said yes. I won’t go into the internal monologue.

So Bunk jumped out & into the passenger seat, I slid the pilots chair back a smidge, and dropped myself into the cockpit. Belt found, belt buckle found after a bit, clutch checked, mirrors adjusted – scaffold noted in the backround, neutral checked, neutral checked again, bit of banter, neutral checked a third time, Holy $hit this is actually happening, and the key is turned. I watch the needle rise on the central rev counter, so innocuous with its yellow needle on grey backround – with that unmistakable fast-Porsche typeface in the middle.

I trundle down the pit lane, raise the drivers window up, and immediately the car just feels so right. Simple stuff, but the suede wheel with centre strip, matched by the gear knob. The seat hugging me, knuckley change into second, clutch bites solidly, no drivetrain backlash or grumble - it is just so tight, but so flattering for a noobie like me. This is a 409bhp, 4.2sec to 60, 190+mph car; it is one of the definitive performance car/supercars of my generation. It shouldn’t be confirming this in 100m of pitlane, should it? We flash our wristbands, and are waved through onto the track.

The car has grunt alright. The throttle response is right there – instant, linear, relentless. I short-shift on my first lap, yet we still hit speeds into turn 3 or dropping down toward Tarzan that are close to V-Max in the Elise. Other things that quickly came apparent on the out lap were:

Steering feel – light but amazingly chatty. If all modern 911s & Boxsters are like this I am very impressed.

Brakes – I find myself pulling up way too early. They don’t feel over-servo’d or anything and are lovely to modulate, but they just have me stopping way earlier than expected even when just covering the brake.

Pedals – perfect in position and weighting. I was heeling & toeing from the very first turn, without even thinking about it. Instantly they provide the perfect platform to start pedalling from. Everything does actually.

Traffic – I feel like Moses at the red sea. Stuff just moves out of the way.

And so Dunlop is exited, Bunk says ‘engage’ and I do my best impression of Sulu...... 2nd becomes 3rd, then 4th is hooked up, 110mph or so is got under the bridge, and I hit the brakes. They inspire complete confidence, a blip from 4th straight to 2nd is made with revs matching easily, and I turn in. The front end feels really light, but with plenty of grip. The back feels heavier, and kind of deadens the cars response in a way that is tricky to describe. Later laps, and other corners with more pace, show that feeling goes somewhat, but the sense of delicate (front) brutality (rear) doesn’t. As I said, it’s a hard one to describe!!

Pulling down toward Turn 3 now, and that benign rev counter suddenly becomes dominating. I actually can’t remember seeing any other instrumentation from here on in, or even the process of looking up or down – you or either looking out the windscreen, with steering wheel centre-strip in your peripheral vision, or else it’s that rev counter like a fecking Eye Of Sauron - watching that yellow needle bear down on 8,000rpm is like slipping on The Ring at the gates of Mordor or something.

Coming into the faster corners, you become much more aware of the weight in the back. Once you are on the brakes, the steering starts throwing information at you – grip & camber and lateral load up front, but also how that is ebbing and flowing because of the weight at the back. It is an incredible conversation, and for my brief time in it a one way conversation - this car spoke a language that was completely foreign to me. It is hard to resolve that the front is going through a gentle pendulum motion with the centre point a metre behind you, when you know you are going forward and hard under brakes, and you feel from every bit of experience you have had, that that centre point should be a metre ahead of you.

Mix any sort of direction change into that and the feeling is exaggerated. You can instantly feel the rear end shift, and steering weight change accordingly. I wasn’t balls out, but the car tells you all of it at modest enough pace - enough of it to tell me not to go balls out. All the while I am babbling like a goon on just how wonderful the whole thing is.

And so into some more laps. Exiting turn 1 again, I commit some more, feeling the front end, easing the power in, bringing the car in tightly right to set up for turn 2, and the rear steps out. Not in a ‘smear of friendly oversteer’ way either, a proper 150deg of oppo applied a bit too slowly, with face saved by a better-judged bit of PSM (Porsche Stability Management). It surprised me! Maybe it was a bit too much of the 409bhp, maybe it was driving too slowly with not enough heat in the rear gumballs, or maybe I’m just $hit. I’ll leave Bunk make a call on it!

I continued to build the pace steadily, and started to feel the car really move in a rear-engined way. It spooked me, I have to say. Out in Mings F430 (albeit from the passenger side), when he starts to work the car, you can sense and understand all the messages it is saying. They’re familiar, even if it was the first time I’d been in one. Ditto an R8. The GT3 RS is SO different. I found it intimidating. I didn’t find the SC’d Atom intimidating, just mental. But the Porsche was getting the better of me a little. I was trying to understand everything it was saying, but you need time. The front grips beyond what you think it should from the feedback, but you can sense there is understeer there, and you can sense that you are not doing it right, but then when you try to drive from the rear through & out of the bend it all feels a bit .... ragged.

I’ll stress now the raggedness was me, not the car. I endeavoured to figure out how to get the thing balanced, but I’ve never tried to balance a rear-engined car before. Coming down from speed into Tarzan 1 I try a little to do what they say and use the front braking a bit to get the nose to stick, and get the rear dialled in. Unfortunately I get the abs kicking before turn-in, and miss the apex by a car width as a consequence. Feckin’ heure! Sensitive thing when push comes to clumsy shove. Tolerant too though, like a patient german waiter listening to some paddy trying to order a three course meal poorly in his native tongue. I press on.

Re-setting my approach a little back toward ‘slow-in, fast-out’ and it was lovely to feed the power out of the more open and quicker bends, and have that back end do a gentle digging-in motion and then the engine digging in over the last couple of thousand rpm. Epic lump slung out there.

I work the brakes harder this lap coming off the main straight, and they are relentless. This time I decide to pay attention to exiting with a bit of commitment. Yup - PSM allows a good bit of slip alright. Bunk laughs at the cost of 305/35 19”s. So do I. Bunk gets slightly more serious. So do I. I like Bunk.

Turn 3 is taken and again that weight really makes its presence felt at the entry stage as you brake for the tight uphill apex. Ditto 4, and 5, and so on. I don’t think I am nailing it at all. Anything. Bunk reassures me that technically I’m doing nothing wrong, but therein lies the mystery of the 911. You are forever trying to get properly right. It needs time and commitment. Controlled aggression to get that front end nailed, and the back set up right to catapult you out. It develops great rear grip, but you sense there is more to come if you learn the technique.

I do another lap or two, and then cool down. And babble. It is a car with the engine in the wrong place, no doubt. Clarkson is bang-on with his assessment. But he also drives like a mong. And that’s the magic of the 911 – yes it is dynamically compromised, but the result is a car that is so engaging, so communicative, so alive that you don’t care about any of that. You just get immersed in the challenge it presents you as a driver, and bask in the interaction and joy it gives back as you try master it. And it talks to you as a driver so much. It isn’t about the pace per se, it is the man & machine extracting it together as a team, like a pro golfer and his caddy.

A caddy that’d swing a Ping into the back of your ball bag if you mess a putt up though. I would scheiße ze bett trying to pedal this car around the Ring, and I have a whole new respect for its lap time there, and of the endless smacks you see on that circuit on YouTube. I dearly wanted one though; the love for 911s was cemented."

The commentary that followed my original observations was very interesting, promoting some more discussion on the unique drive of the 911 from myself and its owner:

Quote:

Originally Posted by #1 Is it really that different? really? you're sure you're not letting its reputation or your knowledge of the physics of the thing go before you?

On the road, I would imagine not so much. On track when you start going quick, then yes you do really notice the difference in messages. I went into it open-minded - I've read heaps on them, but how it feels when you are starting to get weight and grip working is actually quite unique.

I'm used to a light front on the Elise, but realtively speaking the rear is light too and the front end tends to behave like the front of most cars except it takes much more to get it to understeer, and the rear moves quicker and with larger angles than with a front-engined rwd car, like say my old M3.

The Porsches front actually felt lighter than the Elise - power steering mainly but also because the rear influences its feel so much more, even when not 10/10ths. I'd imagine you could drive it 'normally' on track, bring it up to the point where it'll understeer, the back would have enough in hand to deal with that, and you would be going very quickly indeed with a degree of safety. But trying to work that safety factor out of the front, and use the unique dynamic traits to make the car truly dance, is where it gets ... interesting. And absorbing for years too I'd reckon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2 You make it sound very alien - is it that different that you can't drive it on to 80% of it's maximum pace within a session? p.s. is getting the front end hooked up proper just a matter of trailbraking (mindful of rear end and over-rotation / weight shift)?

Bunk was popping in 1:57-2min laps. I'd reckon I was around 2min 10sec or so (Bunk would have a better feel, I was mainly concentrating on the driving), so on that basis I was probably floating around nearer to 85-90% of pace. And it is actually very approachable doing that. While I describe the feedback it is giving in as much detail as I can, it doesn't mean that you or I or others wouldn't jump straight in and pop in low 2mins within a session or two. It is how it goes about doing them that is so different. And how going beyond 95% would require a degree of re-learning - both in interpreting the messages it gives, what they mean, and then learning to edge up to the actual limit (as opposed to the initial understeer limit) and how to maximise the benefits and drawbacks the layout gives. Like any car really, except the messages are unique to the rear engined configuration.

I've read an article -Alan- gave me by Mark Hales on the S1 Elise, and how you need to approach it as though it is a 911 as it is almost rear-engined in weight and balance. From the GT3, I'd have to say there isn't the similarity in feedback I thought there would be - maybe when you start really trailbraking or trying to control a slide with the throttle, or there is momentum oversteer during a long bend .... it is something I do intend exploring when I eventually get the bobs together for the sort of 911 I want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3 Re: trailbraking - That was the exact question I asked. I think the answer was... 'Well, kinda but, No'.

Yes, a bit of trailbraking would do it, but it isn't just a matter of doing it. Not for me anyway. Light front, weighty rear, understanding what sort of loading the rear can take and where momentum oversteer kicks in, and what sort of throttle stabilises it without ending up exiting stage left...... it'd take a bit of time and my name on the ownership slip to figure it out

And from it's very generous owner Bunk:

So much of what you have written reminds me of the first time I got the car myself.

I would say to all that despite me saying to Nein!Elf "Ah, give it some fvcking beans will ya!" , he still wasn't totally committed.

And thats where you get the raggedness he describes.

You see, the car's great "weakness" becomes a strength after a while. I came to the RS having driven M3's for 6-7 years. I had a ragged driving style; the M3's were so adjustable and I had given up on lap times etc but I knew how to handle it in extremis; so I'd just plough into any corner at any speed, and know that no matter the slip angle, I'd sort it out somehow later on.

The RS however requires a plan of attack for each and every corner to maximise the slow-in-fast-out nature of it. Now when I say "slow" I don't really mean "slow" as its still fast relative to a lot of cars. But its basically about getting the car hunkered down with the wheels going where you want, and the engine "sitting down" on the back wheels giving you immense traction. Its really hard to describe this, but when you get it right it gives you this incredible feeling that no matter how brutal you are with the throttle, its just going to grip and grip and grip and slingshot you out of the corner.

But this is only achieved with true commitment, and it makes finding it fun because its a double edged sword. Once the car is set with the power full on, theres no backing out (as I nearly found at Copse last year at Silverstone).

And you find the faster you get at this, in a perverse sort of way the smoother it becomes. And its a car that keeps on giving because I don't think you'll ever feel you've mastered it.

@1 yes it is completely different. I was amazed when I jumped into the 360 and 430 the difference in certain corners

@ 2 At the OTD, I was experimenting with Trailbraking a lot more by the way, and just after lunch I hit a purple patch where I ran a couple of sessions that were almost perfect (IMO) before my tires and brakes started to go off. My passenger felt the same. However, that pendulum at the rear means this is not as easy as it sounds. And its very easy to get in bother.

 

 

It's not you, it's me - Part #2

To follow on from my waffling on adjusting expectations for a vintage car, a short while ago I spent a weekend in Wales simply driving the 911. The reasons for this trip were manifold; I needed a good spin to close a year that had been quiet on the car adventure front (Not one trackday! No Ring trip!), I needed some fresh roads, I wanted to spend some more quality driving time with the new car, and it was a good excuse to round up a few people to share the adventure and some beers with too.

So Wales was booked. Preparations were little; after the geometry adjustment (-3.9deg neg front camber reduced to -2deg which is about as much as I can do on the current ride height without camber plates, and that can wait until I replace the entire platform, which will be another 12-18months and another thread) I had swapped the front tyres from side to side to even wear. The tyre outlet had the fronts at 34psi which was way higher than needed, so I dropped the fronts to 26psi & rears to 32psi. Oil level was checked, offside main beam fuse replaced, windows RainEx’d outside and glass polished inside, 2 new headlight bulbs put in, tank topped up and off we went.

I’ve mentioned already that the cars first revelation for me was its touring ability – the night run to Dublin reinforced that, the front boot taking a weeks worth of work & leisure paraphernalia and delivering me fresh that night. It being my first night drive, I did notice the lights are LHD; I got no flashes from other road users as they are set low enough, but something to put right in time. The passenger door is also not sealing right at the top and once past 80-90kph starts to whistle. This seems due to a window frame that deflects outward slightly on putting the window down and up again. Finally, on sustained driving at 125kph @ circa 3,400rpm the exhaust does heat up and become a bit more boomy around the interior; I’m prepared to consider this an acceptable compromise for the wonderful noises it produces the remainder of the time. Other than that it was comfortable and hassle-free.

With the few days work completed, it was off to Dublin Port for an early Swift ferry to Wales. Unlike some of the other exotica on the trip the approach & departure angles in & out of the ferry were fine (I didn’t check wading depth, thankfully!) and we were all filling up with Tescos finest on the other side ahead of schedule and ready for some hills.

Less than an hour later we were on to some more entertaining roads. If you have been reading my other posts, you’ve noted that I had been struggling with the interfaces of the car, mainly the gearchange and pedal box. There were ok in normal use but when you are on more challenging roads that require concentration on line, traffic, bumps and so forth then my driving was a bit scrappier than I’d like. So my big challenge for the trip was to up-skill. Thankfully, it happened fairly quickly much to my relief and yours, as I’m sure you are sick of me moaning about 915 gearboxes and floor-mounted brake pedals. This meant I was now in a position to focus on the macro part of the weekend and then tell you all what it’s like to pedal on an old 911 a bit.

Everything discussed in the following paragraphs is prefaced by saying that the traditional maxim of ‘quite slow-in, reasonably fast-out’ was applied. Not only do I think this prudent because it is a 911 but also because this is road driving; you need plenty of contingency in braking, in mid-corner sightlines, and for the unexpected. The ‘on the limit’ analysis will have to wait until I get it on a track some time in 2013. In terms of tyres it has healthy BF Goodrich all around on 17” rims – 235/45 on the rear and 205/50 on the front.

So into the first climb which is a mix of tight 45-90deg 2nd gear corners, occasionally damp, more technical than flowing, but wonderful all the same! The luggage and a full tank slung out front, along with the reduced front tyre pressures, make a significant difference to how the car behaves on the initial turn-in phase. Combined with the quality of roads it also means a near-total reduction in rack chatter too, which is one of the things that I feel dates it.

All the above meant that one could hit a real sweet spot with the car on entry – in extremis I'm sure it would come down to juggling the lack of inertia with the ultimate lack of grip that light weight also brings, but in the public domain and into the first ‘driving’ road of the weekend that area of operations is irrelevant and I just enjoyed the lack of inertia and how the wheel weighs up telling me how much grip there is, what camber is there, and so forth. It is wonderfully communicative in that respect at any speed, and as I spent more time with the car my ability to read and understand the messages improved. I think the Elise tells you as much and perhaps as the message is cleaner it might be more useful, but the 911 is more gregarious due both to the amount of information transmitted and also because the wheel is bigger and there is more turns lock to lock. It is just wonderful to have a car telling you everything you need to know and some stuff you don’t; like avidly listening to your grandmother about her pre-war school days while politely ignoring the random unacknowledged flatulence that could make an appearance at any time.

You know pretty early in the turn-in phase if you have it hooked up or not. Once you do it tends to stay resolutely hooked up, which means you can concentrate on apex & exit. The long-travel accelerator means you can meter out power with complete accuracy, so as I wound my way up the hill I tended to keep third except in really tight bits, opening up the steering on exit while easing the foot in, letting the torque swell and merge into some proper bhp as I gathered pace up the steep slopes, between the walls of the open, straight-line bends before braking again. It was a lovely climb and what goes up must come down… The other side was bumpier, with less of a smooth surface which allowed a more honest appraisal of grip. It was more Irish, in short. Nice descent though, with some good bends and some wonderful views.

The next hour or so was spent in the valleys enjoying the surrounding mountains, the rich autumnal colours, the winding roads and just letting the car breathe with the tarmac really. It seemed to be enjoying itself too, and was running a treat. My footwork had come together, I was having no issue with the ‘box at all, getting the foot placed perfectly on the brake for the blip on downchanges, a slight throttle blip on the way up too ensuring an easy slip into gear when not chasing the fastest of cog-swaps, and when required I was moving around the ‘box swiftly, accurately, and with little mechanical protest. Awesome.

After lunch we made our way into some more hills. I had noted (nearly the hard way behind a Mitsubishi flatbed in front of me that stopped without me noticing) that the braking was becoming a little inconsistent in terms of bite point. Covering the brake seemed to pile heat into them, and on top of that I think the rears have to deal with a lot of heat from the silencers on both sides right beside them, and on the front the oil lines run on the offside arch – it is amazing to feel the heat that comes out of that arch when standing stationary. So brake bite point was a moving feast and stayed so over the weekend - denting confidence a bit but they delivered when required. As it has fresh Dot 5.1 fluid since April and braided lines I think the unknown pads need to go for a set of FR pads, and maybe a pair of those brakes ducts that replace the driving lights to get some cool air in. Another job to the growing list of 'to do's.

The afternoon mountain roads saw a great mix of technical bits and more open flowing roads. One particular section was so good we turned around and did it again. It started with a steep winding climb including 2 hairpins on damp, leaf-strewn tarmac. The point of slip on the front end under braking is the first dynamic 'blink' in the car so a healthly margin of safety into the bends is always required. This slightly lower limit of grip-to-slip is not mirrored in the rear - the traction out of the 911 is mind-boggling. So you get yourself well set up on an entry, taking your time, blipping down the 'box, revs flaring instantly with the light flywheel effect, into second. Head turns ahead of bend, looking, looking to see it is clear . It is, so you mind the front, now you know the hairpin is opening, so you ease the foot in, then more, then it is nailed to the bulkhead - the rear end is squat, the Mezger is digging in hard and yet still the rear is absolute. No slip, just shooting out of the hairpin. I repeat on the next sighted one, more grunt earlier, no difference. It just squats and goes. Remarkable.

The road climbs up into the trees with more light getting through, and the combinations of lefts and rights become less frequent and shallower. 3rd is the gear now, moving into 4th as the road opens out on to hilltop moorland. Is there anything more exciting to behold than emerging from the conifers to see a landscape of undulating burnt orange spreading out for miles, and a strip of tarmac draped over it for at least a mile, empty, with several bends in between? 4th is hooked and now it is about maintaining momentum. A dotted centre line is an invitation to use the full road, and so you move left to right to centre, setting up the car to chamfer the worst off the bends apexes, feeling the mass move about as it parrys bumps and cambers at bigger speeds, feeling the unique balance a 911 has.

 

911s have a reputation. Old ones in particular. I mentioned the tyres at the start of this because I think they move the problems inherent with the layout so far away they aren't an issue, and they leave you concentrate on what is unique about the air-cooled 911s without (as) much fear. A 1980 SC had 185 15s all round; that'd have the nuances of a 911s balance front & central pretty quick! While it does mean my 911 can feel a bit like the unsprung weight is a bit high or a bit overtyred exiting hairpins, I wouldn't change them.

So 4th gear on the moors. I didn't hook 5th as I wanted the noise and the extra control as we wove our way along. The slightly higher speed means you really feel the natural balance as it manages its mass without it being distracted by 2nd gear power; peel it into a corner, feel the roads crest and hollows underneath, and the front goes into a corkscrew up & down/side to side that is completely out of synch with the more languid rear ends acknowledgement of the same undulation. You would get two waves from the front in the time the rear would do one. If it sounds like the damping on one end is wrong or off, it isn't. The car is really well balanced and approachable. And capable. Staggeringly capable in fact. But you hit combos where it just can't disguise it's layout. It can be interesting! On we run for miles, covering the brakes over crests just in case there's a sheep or something, then digging into the power for the next straight, lift & cover brake on the next crest, repeat for quite a while punctuated by things an opening left into a tightening third gear uphill right with the road clear above.... Motoring Mecca. I will find where that road is relative to my house and pray in that direction every morning.

And then, when you are recovering from the sheer epicness, a giant valley opens with a waterfall , and the road carves down into the mountainside as it descends. Straight, but punctuated by little stabs of second gear left-right-lefts, then opening up. Little protection, sodden from the hill draining across it. It focuses you. And after a while my brakes finally cry enough properly - the travel is just too long, and the response too soft, to progress at any pace. So I gear down and let the air flow over them as I descend futher into some sparse hedgerow and trees.

Turning at the bottom, everyone behind knows they've driven something special. We exchange knowing smiles and few words. And then we go and do it again. Second time around didn't dissappoint. It one of the true greats. I hit back to the hotel for the night, tunes on, relaxing and reflecting on what a brilliant day it was. The 911 switches back to GT mode as it puts away the last of the 200miles of the day, and it slowly registers what it had just done. It had given me one of my seminal motoring moments. Total engagement, honest communication, high objective ability, absolute reward. No caveats. No 'for its age'. It delivered a stonking drive. I wasn't the only one surprised.

 

Day 2 dawned overcast, but full of optimism. We'd another fabulous 200miles ahead - alot of touring, punctuated with some sections of isolated, great roads. A bright, autumnal Wales is a sight to behold. The colours, the contrast of barren slate against lush forests, deep lakes reflecting blue skies, the communities you pass, the good driving, the welcoming towns, the noises of V8s alternately woofling and wailing around you. It was a superb day.

And it wasn't over. Two sections back to back reinforced all discussed above. Technical second and third gear flick-flacks, getting the flow and odd bellow as the top of second was dusted off (it would be rude not to). It was here I hit my first seminal 911 moment. Descending into a left flick, I was trailing the brake into the bend. Don't get too alarmed - this is a good thing in moderation as it gets the weight tranferred to the front tyres and the nose keyed into the bend. It's the big lift-offs or mid bend uncertainties that get you into trouble. So, to my surprise I feel the front wash just a bit on turn-in. I brush the brakes a bit more, and it is like downforce kicking in; nose regains grip and nails the apex. Throttle on, peeyowwwn, out we go. Terrific. As we head out on to more open moorland roads, it get's a lovely rhythym going, front & rear axles communicating the surface, the grip levels, the yumps and bumps and pimples and all the other stuff going on. It doesn't matter than I'm behind a bright green 1.5DCi Clio enjoying the view for a chunk of it.

So. 500miles done in Wales. It barely broke a sweat. Whoever rebuilt this thing back in 2004 I salute you.

I'm not making any more excuses for my Porsche 911. It is just a wonderful, rewarding, capable car.