Why 914's are not faster than 911's

[Superman]

The Porsche 914 is considerably lighter than a 911. Their wheel base is both longer and wider than that of a 911. The 914 rear suspension is coil-over. Its engine is just in front of the rear axle. It is considerably lower than a 911. It has two trunks, one of which is roomier than the 911 trunk. Of course, this does not make it go faster but hey, it's got two trunks. The only thing it seems to be missing is the back seats we never use.

So, why wouldn't a six-cylinder 914 smoke a 911 at the track?

[ZAMIRZ]

only the rear is coilover suspension, the front is torsion bar.

[Superman]

I don't think so. Of course, the driver is by far the most important variable, but no, I think 914's do not generally clobber 911's for some reason. But it looks to me like they should. If they did, then lots of guys would be tracking 914's and they'd be a little more valuable than they are.

[addictionMS]

OK I will say it,

because the most developed cars are 911s, there are a few 914s that are as developed as some of the 911s, but generally the big $$ are spent on the 911s, cause they are just cooler, and have tradition behind them.

Jim

[Superman]

BTW, I was chatting with a friend recently (Dave, the Triad guy) and he told of a 914 with a trick Chevy V8 that had tons of torque. LOTS more power than Dave's 914. Dave smoked that car handily at AX. Why? With the V8 engine, its center of gravity was substantially higher, and it just could not handle well. Porsche knew what it was doing.

[italcarguy]

Originally posted by SoCal911SC
Don't six-cylinder 914s smoke 911s at tracks all the time all around the country?

Out here, it's common to see the fast 914-6's infront of the 911's. These guys are running 2.5's. However, there are a couple 2.0's (Vintage911Racer being one of them) that can hang with the 2.5 liter cars.

[Superman]

I know about the autocross prowess of the 914. On an autocross track, they are bullies.

[Shuie]

DaveB and Grady both drive a 914-6. I dont think too many people would smoke them. In the recent Milt Minter thread he was in a 914-6 also. I wonder how often he got smoked at the track. The guys who really know and race these cars a lot all seem to have considerable experience behind the wheel of a 914-6.

[Wavey]

One reason might be that, due to serious rust problems in structural areas, it's hard to find a really good 914 tub, and it takes a lot of time and money to bring one back.

[RickM]

Originally posted by Superman
he told of a 914 with a trick Chevy V8 that had tons of torque. LOTS more power than Dave's 914.

I wonder how those 2 (or 3) one-off 914-8s would fair on the track. I'd suppose not too well.

(Yes I'm talking to myself)

[Imcoz]

Rick,
A friend of mine, Brian has one of these 914-8s. It is very developed and sorted, everything is Nascar quality. I've been on Pocono in one of my 911s while he was out there. I can tell you that this car is a trip and very fast, looks like it handles very well too.

I'll try to dig up the pictures I took of it.

Originally posted by Wavey
One reason might be that, due to serious rust problems in structural areas, it's hard to find a really good 914 tub, and it takes a lot of time and money to bring one back.

Thats how my maddness started. I needed to rebuild the motor on my 73 914 and decided to buy a 2.7 core. Then I bought a 84 carrera suspension. I decided that I would never get my $$$ back with all the things I planned on doing to it so I bought a rust free 73T for 6000.00 and put the parts on this car. Too much $$$ to put into a 914 with 1/3 less results.

[RickM]

Originally posted by Imcoz
Rick,
A friend of mine, Brian has one of these 914-8s. It is very developed and sorted, everything is Nascar quality. I've been on Pocono in one of my 911s while he was out there. I can tell you that this car is a trip and very fast, looks like it handles very well too.

I'll try to dig up the pictures I took of it.

Coz, We may be thinking of different cars. The ones I'm referring to are the 2 or 3 Porsche hand-made units, one of which was given to the the Dr himself. When one of these cars made it here to the states the guy from Automobile Atlanta (?Dave?) looked it over and stated that the factory "conversion" looked to be done by high school kids. He specifically pointed out the poor welds and sloppy cutting. This tells me it was more novelty and not product evolution. I'd bet the car made it to a track or two.

[kevjandon]

Stock to Stock, a 914 only has 110 hp I believe from it's stock 2.0 litre motor. Any 70 or later 911 had much better power to wt ratios I believe.

I agree with the above that 914's are hard to find rust free and are as expensive as 911's to bring back to life for track purposes. Once brought back you can kiss your money good buy faster than you would with a 911.

The V-8 conversions IMO are awesome. I know Scott personally of Rennegade Hybrids in Las Vegas and let me tell you, just watching one of these things is an awesome site to see when they are sorted out properly.

There is a nice 914-6 for sale near me that is simply an awesome car. Just rebuilt motor and trans to 2.4 E spec, all new suspension and brakes. Very well sorted and all orig. paint on 110K miles I believe. The is asking high and firm at 25K, but it is an awesome ride.

[chibone_914]

For the money, my 914-4 has put to shame many a 911 on the track. And I see them get out, look at their car, then look at mine, and curse away. I literally heard one "loser" say "I can't believe that piece of crap just beat me"

[Imcoz]

Rick,
Ahhh! Something in me just thinks of this monster whenever the numbers 914 and 8 are associated... my friend found some pics... purists beware

[CBRacerX]

Give the 914 an equivalent power to weight ratio to the 911 in question with suitable rubber, add a good driver and you have a 911 beater, no problem. In fact, when the fine folks at Fabcar wanted to make a faster 911, the first thing they did was make a 914 out of it (at least as far as the engine orientation went).

Edit: OK, I know that you can't see what I wanted to point out in these pics, but this is one of only two "mid-engine 911's" built by Fabcar. It worked _very_ well.

Chris

[RickM]

Coz, That car is tits in my book. How wide are those wheels!?

[Imcoz]

Rick,
Actually, not sure. Have to be 13"s. Up close the car is really incredible.

[TimT]

I have both a developed 914/6 and a developed 911. The 914 has 3.2, the 911 a 2.2, they are made for different classes. I do know when Im driving my 914 on open track days. I do pass many 911's

When I drive my 911 I pass many 911's also