Swapping cars

[expat]

Do any of you entertain the idea of other Porsche drivers driving your car?

eg at a club rally/meeting/race/cruise - will/would you be willing to swap cars to make comparions or simply experience a different model?

Do people offer you a drive of their car, do you take them up on it, do you drive it hard (not insane) to give an accurate comparison with your car, or do you take it softly softly....

Curious...

[HarryD]

I have swapped cars at Autocross. I traded my stock 2.4L for a trip in a 996. I gained 3 seconds on my lap time. Wow, ABS brakes, low end power galore.

The other fellow reported he lost a few seconds and reported my car was "a lot of work to drive".

I am now trying to wangle a drive of a '66 with a 2.7L and decent race rubber. I have kindly offered my humble beast in trade for one fun run.

[Victor]

Hi Expat,

Yes, I have let an instructor drive my car around the track to observe on two occasions. I will be swapping cars with pelican StuartJ who has an '86 3.2 to compare (although this will be in transit on the way to Winton Motor Raceway where I will KICK his lardy arsecheeks). I have driven another Pelican's (DDR964) C4 on the road and he has also been kind enough to let me drive his RX7 Targa Tas (rally) rocket for several unsupervised hot laps on the track.

All in all, bags of fun. Oh yeah, and my brother let me do burnouts in his corvette pimpo mobile, thrash the tits of his buddy's Ferrari 308 and my uncle allowed me to run 300Km/h on the Autobahn in his hipo V12 S class Merc on the way to work every day of the week for a couple of months.

Forgot, then there's my boss who gave me an SLK for a couple of months and a Boxter too. Girlie cars, but not mine. And you can imagine what fun that can be............

Thanks for the bragging opportunity!

[Joe Bob]

If they crunch it, that's what insurance is for.....if they break something mechanically....the driver pays to fix it.

[Slider79SC]

That's what happened on one of our open days. 2nd to 3rd was actually 1st and boom....good by turbo motor. Cost the guy driving 5 grand or more........

[epbrown]

The Rolls-Royce Owner's Club does this. At meets, there is sometimes a lot where you can park your car with the keys in it and drive any other car on the lot. This is just around the lot itself, but it gives you a chance to drive a car most people will never even see. Mostly I've ridden in other Shadows to see if mine's "supposed to do that."

Emanuel

[kcope]

Sorry but I just had a weird thought... A Rolls Royce Autocross.

[epbrown]

They have them in the UK (mostly Bentleys), as well as a few rally cars, but I've never heard of it done in the US.

Emanuel

[DByers]

I am pretty open with my 71. I have had limited experience in any other Porsche. Actually only one other Porsche have I driven (thanks mikez). I have let no less then a dozen people drive my 71 in the last 6 months, and most of them dont even own a Porsche. 2 of them are now trying to figure out how to get one in their garage. I guess I am pretty laxed about letting people drive my car but for some it may be their only chance, even if it is only a 71T targa.

[Joe Bob]

Dan was being nice.....he had a hard time getting in mine.....fixed seat, my short legs and his 6 foot 4 ish frame.....he was driving all scrunched up.

[Zeke]

Does "other people" include menbers of family? When I had the '77 Targa, my stepson was living at home. Now, I had bought a 914 for him to drive primarliy, but the 911 loomed large in the garage in his eyes. He wanted it for his high school prom. What would you do?

My answer in a few posts.

[pbs911]

The only other person to drive mine is Mike Marsh around WSIR. I'd be very leary about letting a non-Porsche owner drive the car, especially since it is 700lbs lighter and 100 hp greater than a stock SC. It's just so different and different in a difficult way.

Before the 3.6 I let a valet park the car. I stood watching him stall the car no less than 4 times after moving only 2-3 feet. Enough was enough and I took the keys away.

Even with the 3.6 the car is my daily driver. Occasionally I have to go to LA and park in garages where it is mandatory that an attendant park the car. At one place I politly told the guy the car is very difficult to drive and I should park it. He wouldn't listen, and I was late, so I gave him the keys. When I came back they had pushed the car into a parking spot about 10 feet away from where I left. The same thing is true for 2-3 other parking garages. Now I have a "reserved" spot where I park my car at these locations.

That said, there are those who I would toss the keys too if they asked.

I think Thom let a friend drive his car once and the experience ended the same as Slider79SC's.

[MMARSH]

Originally posted by pbs911
The only other person to drive mine is Mike Marsh around WSIR. I'd be very leary about letting a non-Porsche owner drive the car, especially since it is 700lbs lighter and 100 hp greater than a stock SC. It's just so different and different in a difficult way.

I thought it drove great before, I hope I'm one of the guys you'll toss the keys to again sometime.

[Drago]

The Carrera?

If they ask to drive it I toss 'em the key. I've offered the keys to every one who has ridden in it, even my boss.....who proceeded to lug it all over town (he drives a Jeep).....some people won't get a second shot.....

Now, if I had an early car, or a highly modified one....or one with a 915, I'd have to think twice....but the G50....easy.

The 944? The next person who drives that is not bringing it back

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by mikez
If they crunch it, that's what insurance is for.....if they break something mechanically....the driver pays to fix it.

Ahhhh, if only it always worked out that way...

[jluetjen]

Yeah; Chris Bennet and I swapped cars once on a run down to the local Pizza shop. My conclusion: 20 years of development and it still felt and sounded like a 911. Sure his Carrera 3.2 had more luxuries and was a little quieter. And as far as driving on the street is concerned, his car's extra weight pretty much offset most of the advantages of the bigger engine and more HP compared to my 9.8:1 CR 2.0E. In general I suspect that in my car you'd generally be using about 500-1000 more RPM's for a given situation then his.

But at the end of the day, 95% to 97% of the sensations were the same. The Carrera was more refined, and the 2.0E was "Frisky like a teenager" to use his words.

[tryan]

i gave a long time ( 30 years ) buddy a 911 driving lesson one night on the roads around his house. he's a cruise control kinda guy.

then i let him drive. he knows all the roads and was getting pretty confident, but he was the lug it king. i took my left foot and firmly planted it on the go pedal from the passenger side. pretty stupid move, but he finally got the feel of keeping it between 3 and 6 k. not 2000 rpm.

when i drive his rover, something always breaks. his mb 300 gets to see premium fuel and the redline when ever i drive it.

the 930 gets a total preflight inspection before the key is turned. i do not want to buy that motor.

[Adam]

I let a good friend drive my '76 a couple of times. The first time he drove it, he was luggin' it at low-rpms. I assured him it was ok to "give it a bit" and next thing I know, he's whoopin' & laughing and we're pounding along at 90mph. We cruised around town (me as passenger) for about an hour and a half and when we stopped, he was grinning like an idiot.

"I've gotta get one of these! It's like a friggin' go-kart"

I think sharing the Porsche Experience is good karma.

[Tim Walsh]

I've only drivin' mine for less than 2 weeks but I wouldn't mind respsonsible people drive it. Granted at this point that's just my dad and dtw (he hasn't driven it.. yet).

Dad's driven it since I couldn't possibly have done this without him.
dtw'll drive it since I know it'll be awhile before he gets his on the road and he's had a 911 as a daily driver before. I know he'll be responsible for it.

I would be really leary of anyone driving my car who hasn't driven a 911 before because of the tendency to have a heavy left foot and the throttle lift oversteer.