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RB's 930GT


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Fingers crossed, should be collecting late this afternoon. Its MOT'd and new tyres on.

 

Confirmed this week no heating in the car - will take photos if fingers are not frozen.

 

Whooohoooo! Nice crisp dry day for the first boosted drive home - enjoy!

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I picked the 930 up this afternoon and drove back from Birmingham. Andy Tatlow has been a great help and had the car MOT'd and on new tyres. So ready to rock and roll. Words of warning were along the lines of very on/off clutch and very on/off throttle. True words.

This is likely the hardest car to drive that I have ever sat behind the wheel of. It is either 5000rpm or nothing. By the time I got home I had a strategy but it's not elegent and borders on the aggressive. It has a light flywheel for sure and feels like a light free revving engine. If you think 3.0s are zingy, well you need to think again. Andy said its just very throttle sensitive - well, it is. In a way say the 996TT isn't. I caught myself thinking it was not as quick as the heavier and longer geared 996, but then I found the rest of the throttle travel. Hmmm.

So, summing up. It feels in many respects like a turbo version on my 3.2, but with no real lag. It only runs 0.7 bar (though the 2 boost gauges don't work). The ride, the front end bobble, the sound, the turn in, the damping rates, the steering. All spooky familiar. The gearbox is mega. Six speed, short gears, with 6th feeling a fraction lower than 5th in the 3.2. The gear-lever is a tad closer to the driver and snicks from gear to gear with each gear feeling almost stronger than the last. It really is a very lag free turbo. Whether I can feed in the precise throttle control like an NA is yet to be determined but it is very un-turbo like, except it has the wastegate flutter etc like a real turbo. So sounds a bit 935.

So many thoughts. There is so much to explore in this car. So much to tell. I am just beginning (one corner) to feel the higher speed balance. It doesn't dig in and go quite like the 3.2. It sits flatter and the diff feels tighter and throttle gently rotates the car at 3rd gear speeds. I think this is what road testers write about and mere mortals seldom understand. Super exciting.

Not without a few challenges though - mainly electrical gremlins and brakes are grabby, but onwards and sideways!

post-3-0-23166200-1456520168_thumb.jpeg

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6th seems a fraction lower than 5th on the 3.2 g50. I would guess 1st is standard and regeared from there up. Maybe 2nd is standard too. It's supposedly a 993turbo box [edit 993 box]. I have the contact in Australia who built the engine. Much to reveal and understand.

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Sounds quieter than the 3.2 from inside and its a turbo with a decent though small muffler, so it should in theory be trackday possible.

 

It is very throttle sensitive. Given its on motec, yes its somewhat adjustable, but its clearly a light clutch/flywheel and its possibly on cams - something like GT2/Supercup/GT2Evo - so it idles about as well as my 3.2 when cold. Suspicion is that the crank/rods may be light, but that is speculation from Andy T. It is nothing at all like the lazy 930 style turbo or even the 996TT. The slightest throttle blip sees the revs soar. More quickly than the 3.2 and that is pretty sensitive with its light clutch, light pressure plate and cams. The turbo is in the middle of the rear bumper not the LHS with short pipe work into the hot side and short pipework to the intercooler, hence little lag. So more zingy than a good NA engine and with a light flywheel, the revs die just as quickly, Couple that to an on/off clutch and its tricky to get the car moving smoothly. And on the go, it just strains at the leash. Holding a steady 30 or 40mph and it just wants to go on the slightest hint of throttle.

 

I took video at the weekend, but struggling with getting iMovie to share the movies last night. Soon as I can I will have some up on youtube. Carrying on with the written word, it is a serious piece of kit. The close ratios are great - you hit 7000rpm in second, change to 3rd and the revs barely drop to 5000rpm, same again changing to 4th. Once you are on it and above 3000rpm there is no lag to speak of. Feels more like the 996TT on boost, but so much lighter. I am guessing at 1100kg, but it could be lighter. The doors are plastic/carbon, the front fenders are carbon, same with the sills and rear fenders, the bonnet is featherweight, plastic windows, no sunroof, no real soundproofing to speak of.

 

For the UK and its narrow country roads, 0.7bar feels like its almost too much. Its silly fast - quicker than mapped 996TT fast. Would I ever want more power. Never say never. Jeremy (ex-owner) says the engine really came alive with higher boost. Maybe so, and maybe on the big tracks like Spa that would be what you want, but it would make it a car that demands sticky tyres and probably limits its playfulness at other times and places. It feels overly stiff right now and lacking suspension travel. Again, probably works on a track, but I think its needs a fraction more ride height and travel and softening of the dampers to work better here and make it more progressive. The tail is keen enough to rotate under second gear power, but it just smears across the road, there is no real progression or feeling of weight transfer before it goes. You almost see the direction of travel change rather than feel the slide. Still seems intuitive enough to catch though.

 

A good weekend really. No big surprises, the big bits - engine, suspension, gearbox, brakes - seem really well engineered, the usual 911 suspects like electrics need attention.

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Remember its 6 gears topping out at maybe 165pmh not 930 4 speed gearing, but yeah its not slow. I only gave it full throttle once settled in 2nd and you can see I have a tiny steering correction as the wheels spin a little at say 5500rpm. Lots of fun.

 

youtube has failed on every upload, so I am reduced to short vimeo uploads - more loading now but its taking forever.

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