Was working away painting a 997 Cup car for rFactor last night and got to thinking about how practical driving a 997 GT3 RS on everyday Australian roads would be? Not so much in terms of security but just physically being able to negotiate our poor quality roads without destroying it? I know a few of you have driven some very high priced exotica and there was that segment on Top Gear of the guys trying to get through London in various Supercars with little success. Would a regular 911 be much easier?
How would a new DB9 or Vantage go? Obviously still low but it looks like it has a least some chance of getting out of your driveway.
So if you had to have one Supercar to drive to and from work everyday, what would it be? The BMW M3, especially the 4 door, must start looking very attractive from this point of view though its not quite a Supercar. Maybe a Range Rover and a trailer is the easiest!
Living with a Supercar
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Jiminee
- Posts: 2337
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- Location: Whyalla Proud
Living with a Supercar
XLV SPORT
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VTRacing
- Team Pedant (c)
- Posts: 4651
- Joined: Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:14 am
Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.
If I could afford that, then I could afford to keep a stock of spare front splitters.
As an aside, one of the most impressive reverse parallel parks I've seen (if such a manoeuvre can be impressive) was done by a guy in a 360 Modena in a busy Brisbane street. Straight in, perfect.
Supercars can be everyday cars, but some thought is required.
If I could afford that, then I could afford to keep a stock of spare front splitters.
As an aside, one of the most impressive reverse parallel parks I've seen (if such a manoeuvre can be impressive) was done by a guy in a 360 Modena in a busy Brisbane street. Straight in, perfect.
Supercars can be everyday cars, but some thought is required.
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Exar Kun
- Sensible Mick
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M3 isn't quite a supercar but of the cars in that performance/luxury bracket I guess you'd say it's the most practical. The Audi RS4 is up there too. The trio of German super sedans would be up there, E63, M5 and the new twin turbo V10 RS6. For a daily driver with insane performance probably the 911T. Actually, the new GT-R would probably slot in quite nicely there too. Besides the M3, which is my dream car, of all those I've listed I reckon an M5 with a proper manual would be my pick. Might have to wait until the face lifted 410kw version with DSG comes out in 2009 before I pick one up. 
"If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"
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Jiminee
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ashsimmonds
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You just have to be sensible and alert in your driving - and you become even more aware of just how many people are not!
For pure speed, class, and usefulness - it's hard to go past a Porsche, the turbo and GT3 are weapons, I haven't spent time *in* the 997 GT3 but I've spent time with them around, and they are the best sounding factory Porsche this side of a CGT, but as usual, pretty bland to look at after a while.
Just last Saturday I did a trip with a mate from the Gold Coast to Sydney in a Ferrari 308GTS Quattrovalvole surrounded by 4 other Ferraris. The owner is a bit silly in that he insists on using the Euro spoiler which has more overhang for the better roads over there - Aussie delivered cars had a more practical spoiler. So, he'd replaced this spoiler 5 yes 5 times in the last year at about $500 a pop, the latest one on the Friday at 4pm he picked it up, after ~1000km of uneventful country motoring, we got into Sydney at 5pm Saturday, didn't see one of those stupid black speedhumps and bang, spoiler's gone again. :\
The modern stuff like Gallardo and F430 etc seem to have better clearance, you'll still scrape them and have to approach most driveways on a 45 degree angle, but it's not often that you full-on bottom them out and smash stuff. The places where you need to be most careful are when you are on a spirited drive and you go through a creek, quite often it's hard to tell just how much of a dip there is until you're right in it.
Here we are in an NSX on pretty good quality Tasmanian roads, but listen how often we hit the skid plate
---> http://aussieexotics.com/videos/nsx-in- ... sties-9883
For pure speed, class, and usefulness - it's hard to go past a Porsche, the turbo and GT3 are weapons, I haven't spent time *in* the 997 GT3 but I've spent time with them around, and they are the best sounding factory Porsche this side of a CGT, but as usual, pretty bland to look at after a while.
Just last Saturday I did a trip with a mate from the Gold Coast to Sydney in a Ferrari 308GTS Quattrovalvole surrounded by 4 other Ferraris. The owner is a bit silly in that he insists on using the Euro spoiler which has more overhang for the better roads over there - Aussie delivered cars had a more practical spoiler. So, he'd replaced this spoiler 5 yes 5 times in the last year at about $500 a pop, the latest one on the Friday at 4pm he picked it up, after ~1000km of uneventful country motoring, we got into Sydney at 5pm Saturday, didn't see one of those stupid black speedhumps and bang, spoiler's gone again. :\
The modern stuff like Gallardo and F430 etc seem to have better clearance, you'll still scrape them and have to approach most driveways on a 45 degree angle, but it's not often that you full-on bottom them out and smash stuff. The places where you need to be most careful are when you are on a spirited drive and you go through a creek, quite often it's hard to tell just how much of a dip there is until you're right in it.
Here we are in an NSX on pretty good quality Tasmanian roads, but listen how often we hit the skid plate
---> http://aussieexotics.com/videos/nsx-in- ... sties-9883
because you can't drive a house
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DJglass
- Posts: 83
- Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2004 8:16 pm
- Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
If ground clearance is your only concern then it is hardly limited to supercars. All my previous cars have been lowered with beefed up suspension and not by much but it is enough to scrape things.
In fact, we regularly scrape the front of our new Citroen C4 Picasso family car. Its the spoon drains going through driveways, or negotiating basement car park entrances where you don't always have room to approach at much of an angle.
In fact, we regularly scrape the front of our new Citroen C4 Picasso family car. Its the spoon drains going through driveways, or negotiating basement car park entrances where you don't always have room to approach at much of an angle.