Mythbusters Ruins a 928

[Normy]

Originally Posted by Herr-Kuhn

While these two guys would like to think they are Engineers, they clearly are not. Testing 0-60 was totally meaningless since there are far too many variables going on to point to one thing as the cause of a lower 0-60 time.

They could have stopped at the wind tunnel test...that seemed to tell the story to me.

Clearly the car was a Euro...and at that it was in pretty decent shape. Certainly worth keeping...they coudl have easily picked a ratty early US car for this test and saved a bunch of money.

Maybe the car will get some publicity off of this. I love the way they never mentioned the word Porsche or 928...that would have for sure gotten them a letter from Porsche's NA attorney.

They should spend time testing the old guy's face aerodynamics with and without that flavah-savah of a beard he wears.

It was a disgusting show to watch. The 928 has a better coeffecient of drag than the 911s of the same era.

Popular Mechanics magazine has an article on this test in the December 2010 edition. The article states that the car is an '84 928S, but you can clearly see the twin distributors and side turn signals, so this is an S2. In the magazine, you can also clearly see the automatic transmission shifter.

Another interesting fact from the magazine? EVERY Porsche symbol or wording was covered over. To include the crest on top of the intake manifold, the badge on the hood [replaced with a hood pin], and the badges on the center caps were removed. What's more, the silver car that this one raced had silver duct tape [] over the Porsche script on the rear bumper cover!

Someone at Porsche did NOT like the idea of this test going on and made sure the producers of Mythbusters knew all about it!

N

[Herr-Kuhn]

It's simple Normy. Joe Q. Public is totally clueless. If they would have somehow come to the conclusion that it was better in reverse and used the car's name, then most Americans would be walking around saying that Porsche's designs are not aerodynamic. Never underestimate the power of the media and TV and what it can do to make things take a turn for the toilet.

I'll cite two well known examples for you:

1. 60 Minutes in the late 80's basically detroyed Audi's reputation with their sudden accelleration piece and...

2. Obama's election is a direct result of the media frenzie that surrounded him.

I can tell you with certainty that number 1 above was not true and I'm pretty sure 99% of the promises number 2 sold the public was total lip service. In both cases the public bought into the lip service.

[Doug&Julie]

Originally Posted by Normy

Someone at Porsche did NOT like the idea of this test going on and made sure the producers of Mythbusters knew all about it!

I doubt Porsche had anything to do with it. That's standard operating procedure at Mythbusters. They cover every logo, even on timing and data equipment that nobody would know or care what label it is. T-shirts, too.

I figure they just don't want to pay the lawyers to deal with it, so they default to "cover everything". It's almost silly.

[tisilrad]

What a collection of idiots, why does the "entertainment/media" always destroy old cars that are not replaceable, this entire theory could have been done without touching the car, just using measurements and some fluid dynamics formulas... The proper way...I will never watch myth busters again.

[tisilrad]

Originally Posted by Herr-Kuhn

It's simple Normy. Joe Q. Public is totally clueless. If they would have somehow come to the conclusion that it was better in reverse and used the car's name, then most Americans would be walking around saying that Porsche's designs are not aerodynamic. Never underestimate the power of the media and TV and what it can do to make things take a turn for the toilet.

I'll cite two well known examples for you:

1. 60 Minutes in the late 80's basically detroyed Audi's reputation with their sudden accelleration piece and...

2. Obama's election is a direct result of the media frenzie that surrounded him.

I can tell you with certainty that number 1 above was not true and I'm pretty sure 99% of the promises number 2 sold the public was total lip service. In both cases the public bought into the lip service.

I Agree 100%..especially the second point...don't forget the media bashing of the "expolsive gas tanks" of the chevy trucks...that the news reporters rigged to spark when the vehicles were hit to cause a more dramatic scene...not that i think the fuel tank should have been on the outside of the rail but at least they could have been honest...i detest the news media anyhow...most of their lip service is pure garbage... anyhow...

[reddota]

Howdie board,
What are the thoughts on supercharging my 1984, 928. All stock internal. Car has less 80000. Have had this car for sometime. Excellent driver and still runs very strong. No oil useage, and has been well maintained.

Any brand suggestion that works on that motor configuration?