Over the weekend I participated in a driver's education that the Maveric region of the Porsche Club put on at www.motorsportsranch.com. I had an interesting chance to compare my two cars. The first day, we rented out the 944 to a guy who needed some seat time in order to get his Club Racing license. He wasn't able to make the second day, however, so I drove the S2000 on Saturday and the 944 in his slot on Sunday.

I don't know much about car setup, but I do know that with the Hoosier race tires and the racing suspension setup Istook has put on the 944, the Porsche handled much better than the S2000. Plus, and I'm still second guessing myself about whether this is truly an issue or if I'm just imagining things, there's that big-off track excursion I had a TWS last year that I've told some of you about. Lots of messed up camber, a steering wheel that needed to be turned about 25 degrees to left for the car to drive straight, and a loose lower ball joint on the rear - it can't be all good for the suspension, right? It's that ball joing that worries me the most - I had the tighten the crown nut about a half-turn to keep the wheel from wobbling. That's gotta have some sort of effect on the dynamics of the car.

What is feels like is that the car isn't nearly as planted and stable as it felt the first time I took it out on MSR. (Of course, yet another variable is the non-EOM S02's I have now.) For example, coming out of Big Bend, a fast left sweeper with plenty of turn out room, there's a little undulation in the track past the apex. In the 944 the whole car seems to just jump and bit, twich the steering wheel, and nothing untoward happens except a nice drift to the track out point. In the S2000, however, the rear feels really floaty and light, not at all confidence inspiring.

I'm thinking that if I spend the money for someone to take apart the suspension and get a really good look at it, I'll try to get something out of it by putting some hard bushings in to replace the stock rubber ones. The ones available from King seem awefully expensive, though. What other options are there? I'll have to check Spoon...

While the 944 is actually a bit heavier than the S2000, with its race tires I was able to be quite a bit faster through the corners. Along with the bushings, I'm going to look for a set of light, inexpensive racing wheels to put Kumho race tires on. I'm thinking 17", with 8" front and 9" rear.

I had a great weekend, really. The weather was perfect, except for Saturday morning. Have you ever seen one of those underwater shots of a wave rolling over the camera? When the front moved through, the clouds looked just like that. They were seriously rolling over like that. I thought I was going to see my first tornado. The temp dropped 15 degress in literally 10 or 15 seconds. But after an hour of rain and clouds, everything cleared up and we had cool tems, low humidity, and clear blue skies. It was beautiful. Quite a lot of motorcyles came out at various times to check out the action - maybe 40 total.

[Edited by Elistan on 02-27-2001 at 04:30 PM]

 

Going from the 944 to the S2k as a daily driver I have always thought the 944 has much better handeling.
The S2k is faster but the car doesn't feel as secure as the 944. Both of my cars are on street tires. The 944 has the cheapest tires I could find at Discount tire in the size I wanted.
For all of those who think that the Honda is neutral they sould try a 944. Now thats neutral.
Or maybe that is why they are selling all of those front swaybars for the Honda.

 

This is interesting stuff. You want to share this with the Racing/Competition and/or Under The Hood forums too?

 

Elistan,


This is a very interesting report and I remember your big agricultural excursion last year. I have driven a number of 944's and 944T's in various Porsche club, Corvette club, and SCCA autocross schools where I've been an instructor. The speeds in these schools range from "normal" autocross speeds to roughly 100 mph in the Corvette schools.

From the way it sounds I suspect that you may still have some minor suspension damage. On the other hand you may not as I have found the 944 to be a much easier car to drive fast and with the race rubber on the 944 vs the S2K it would have made a big difference. I have come to the conclusion that the S2000 does handle better than the 944 but only if you do everything right. The 944 is much more forgiving and thus more confidence inspiring. You may have seen a post by Tedow (First lap) in the racing forum where he wiggled the tail at over 80 mph with me in the passenger seat. What unsettled Tedows S2000 was a slight dip that caused the rear to get light. I've been through this same turn in 944's and have felt more body motion while the tires remained glued to the track. In a race prepared Alfa in the same place at about the same speed I spun the car.

I think that in the hands of a very experienced driver the S2000 is the better handling car. In the hands of the average autocross drivers the 944T and almost definitely the 968 would win the day. The Porsche is a great handling car that is easier to drive. Of course all of this is just my opinion and what do I know.

 

You were there? Heh. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was very scary - Jay Lopez was behind me and said he saw a fair bit of sky beneath the car. <shake head>

The basic nature of the 944 is true neutral. It'll push at MSR in Horseshoe, but you can get the rear end to rotate around a bit and catch it easily. In all other corners, there's no indication of either over or understeer. Ricochet, Boot Hill and Tombstone are all taken flat out. Another difference with the 944 is that the steering ratio is a fair bit slower than the S2000. I wouldn't be surprised if its LSD operates different either, although I have no reason to suspect it does.

As for which car has the potential to go fastest - hehe, I have no idea. Currently I'm faster in the 944.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elistan
[B]You were there?