Chapter 5. Pecking Order

I wonder how my Boxster GTS 4.0 stacks up against the crème de la crème the unobtainable driver's cars?

And how can I even compare such amazing driver's car that cost many times more than the Boxster GTS anyway? It would have to be completely subjective. Perhaps having some kind of points based approach might be reasonable for such a subjective comparison. So lets go down this path...

Based on my personal criteria outlined in prior chapters (2, 4) my points based ranking would look something like this:


This is clearly not an exhaustive list but it includes cars that I have a lot of admiration for perhaps lust is the more appropriate term, and I think the order of the list is a representation of the pecking order. In my opinion the GMA T.50 is currently the pinnacle of automotive engineering and the closest to the hypothetically perfect driver's car. Other cars I mention, I've assigned scores progressively lower in comparison to the T.50.

Since there is 0% chance of me being able to drive most of these cars, so my subjective rankings are based on what I can see in videos, read in articles or based on opinions of individuals that I respect. Although this is totally non scientific, I don't think I am completely off base with my points assignments. 

I feel that a stock Boxster GTS with its sublime chassis, fine 4 liter boxer flat six, a smooth manual gear box and it’s automated convertible top deserves a solid score of 72/100. It could even say it's a 75/100 car but I’ll be humble and say it’s 13 points less of a drivers car compared to a 992.2 GT3 which in turn is 13 points less of a drivers car than the GMA T50.

My engineering brain is satisfied with this placement. It feels good to have a sense of my car’s place in the pecking order. I can do something about this now …

Next Chapter



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 12. Let's Dundonize

Image
In 2 years of ownership I felt that Boxster GTS 4.0 has a pretty comfortable suspension most of the time but whenever I encountered a road section with successive bumps/waves/ripples, the car would not feel planted and would become a bit unsettled/unpleasant even at 60 mph. Also even being moderately aggressive in tight hairpins would cause the car's rear to hop/skip/shudder sideways. Not a drift, just an unpleasant juddery behavior and my way to avoid this has been to be less aggressive in hairpins. Boxster GTS is extremely enjoyable, but I wondered if these shortcomings could be dialed out to make it even more enjoyable.  I shared these concerns with Dundon and they diagnosed  bump steer being  the issue with car's behavior in the rear. My  car was likely steering the rear away from the direction I wanted it to go. They  said their suspension setup package would help but the main fix would come come from the powerful MCS 3 way damper package. Dundon recommende...
Read more

Chapter 13. MCS 3-way : First Impressions

Image
So ... after such an extensive and expensive suspension upgrade the question remains - a re the MCS 3-way dampers and other Dundon suspension components worth it? Prior to my decision to get MCS 3-way when I was researching, I came across a forum post where someone described MCS 3-way as  "they change gravity" - I was intrigued. Today after coming back from my first hour long drive in the twisties and over some terrible sections of pavement, I now understand what that poster meant.  I was quite afraid that perhaps I might have made a very expensive mistake but not only am I relieved, I am actually a bit proud to have taken this leap of faith. This car has now entered a different category in terms of capability and enjoyment. It was already a very very good sporty car and is now an exceptional sports car. This car is now worthy of the Boxster R moniker. The word visceral is over used when talking about cars but visceral is what this car is now. Not harsh but visceral. With r...
Read more

Chapter 11. Magnesium Wheels

Image
I think every endeavor to shed weight from a sporty car must inevitably come to learning about the importance and advantages of shedding rotational mass versus unsprung mass versus static mass and usually wheels are the first stop on that journey. I am no different. I measured the standard Porsche wheels that my Boxster GTS 4.0 came with, to be: Front: 23.34 lbs and  Rear: 25.16 lbs With the desire to shed some rotational mass I started exploring magnesium wheel options. They are twice the cost of an aluminum wheels of the same design, so they can be quite expensive. There were a couple of magnesium wheel options that promised shedding up to 6 or 7 pounds per wheel but  I ended up ordering a set from VT Forged as their prices were a bit more reasonable. It took a few months but in the end when the wheels arrived, they looked very nice. I was happy when I weighed them to be: Front: 17.7 lbs and  Rear: 20.34 lbs So, front wheels ended up being 5.64 lbs lighter and rears 4.8...
Read more