Quote:
Originally Posted by Superman
I once spoke to an insurance company representative about insurance for my 911. 1978 SC. Lightened. Weighs about 2450 with 1/3 tank of gas. Excellent, wide tires (Kumho). Four disk brake rotors that are about 11" in diameter. She asked whether it has anti-lock brakes and, of course, I said No. Had to chuckle, though. I'd be delighted to have a braking contest with any modern car. This 911 stops just fine.
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You would lose badly, especially against an ABS-equiped Porsche. And especially if the contest involved braking and steering at the same time, such as around an obstacle, (think child running out into street for a ball and car coming the other direction at same time).
This was demonstrated for me at a Porsche sponsored event at the old Riverside raceway in 1986 when I worked at the dealer. Even with pretty good factory drivers from Germany who knew how to modulate a 911 pedal better than anyone here, they could not perform the simulated *child running out+ car coming the other way* at 50 mph w/o hitting cones. When we mortals tried it, we killed the kid AND ourselves by going head-on into the oncoming (imaginary) truck. I still remember his thick German accent in the passenger seat, "you are on your way to the morgue".
In a 928 or 944 w/ ABS, every single one of the mediocre drivers from the dealers could do the maneuver. It was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my driving life. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I could probably outdrive well over 99% of the general public on snow and ice. I learned to drive on a frozen lake and grew up in Minnesota, a state that is quite literally covered in ice a lot of the time. I used to drive a Crown Vic taxi 200 miles a night in the city all winter and never got into so much as a fender bender. Driving as fast as humanly possible on slippery surfaces is my idea of fun.
That said, you would be a serious fool to disconnect the ABS on a street car. It's a tool, and a great one. The trick is to learn to use it, including out-driving it when you want to. There are certain, very limited instances where it's a hindrance, such as situations where wheels leave the ground for a nano-second, but even then a good system figures it out and works well. The ABS on my 996 w/ coil-overs was fantastic. On a street car driven in the winter, it would not be wise at all to disable it.
Also, there is a big difference between ASR or traction control and ABS.
