| Author | Message | ||
| allan fiedler (Allanlambo)
Intermediate Member Username: Allanlambo Post Number: 1416 Registered: 6-2002 |
LOL Paul, do your research better. I know of that guy. He actually got into trouble for trying to claim a fake lawsuit. He is a dentist and his friend is a lawyer, they both conjured that story up. Several winessess reported how he loved the car and had driven it for something like 2 years, and his mechanic reported it was trouble free. That story was all over the news several years ago. He had run into money problems, and figured a major lawsuit might help him. | ||
| Paul Loussia (Bumboola)
Junior Member Username: Bumboola Post Number: 216 Registered: 3-2003 |
This moron felt Ferraris were lacking also. Anybody notice a resemblance? ------------------------------ Lamborghini draws attention for all the wrong reasons Man sues over alleged defects June 22, 1998 WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) -- John Martin just wasn't satisfied with his 1997 red Ferrari. He craved something hotter, something flashier, something to make him the envy of perfect strangers: a quarter-million-dollar Lamborghini Diablo Roadster. A purple one. Now, one year after buying the car of his boyhood dreams, Martin says in a lawsuit that the Diablo is a big-ticket lemon. The roof leaks so badly, he can't drive when it rains. The battery quits without notice. The sunroof latches detach when he drives over a bump, bonking him on the head, he says. And perhaps most galling, the doors and windows jam, and he has to bang on the windows until a stranger helps him get out. "It's very embarrassing," said Martin, 31, of Fort Lauderdale. "You want to get the Lamborghini to get to be the center of attention. But now you're the center of attention because you're some fool locked in a purple car." ------------------------------ | ||
| allan fiedler (Allanlambo)
Intermediate Member Username: Allanlambo Post Number: 1415 Registered: 6-2002 |
No im just negative towards most of the more modern Ferraris, as i feel they are lacking, but like i said, the new Stradale seems to have changed alot of that. | ||
| Joe (Spider)
Junior Member Username: Spider Post Number: 137 Registered: 9-2003 |
Allan you are very negitive towards the performance and design criteria for Ferrari cars in general, ive read some of your other posts? Are you on hear JUST to keep us "on our toes" ...sorry thats an english expression hope you understand. | ||
| Joe (Spider)
Junior Member Username: Spider Post Number: 136 Registered: 9-2003 |
"Bouncing off rock faces like a sonic pinball" thats the sound of the 360 cs in the Stelvio Pass Say no f..king more...thats the quote that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when i read that piece in EVO. :-) My neighbours got one ..we are constantly burning up our bypass :0) not quite the same tho :0(   | ||
| allan fiedler (Allanlambo)
Intermediate Member Username: Allanlambo Post Number: 1402 Registered: 6-2002 |
I have read some performance figures for the Porsche, and i have to say that if the Stradale is really quicker, it will be Ferraris first step in the right direction inmo. Slap a Hamann body kit on it, and would be a very nice looking and performing car. | ||
| Gary Brauch (Gary_brauch)
New member Username: Gary_brauch Post Number: 33 Registered: 10-2003 |
Great article, Tony, can't wait to see the "to be continued". Very interesting matchup between two very desirable cars. | ||
| tony hopkins (Tonyh)
Junior Member Username: Tonyh Post Number: 227 Registered: 12-2002 |
Cliff Hanger Two fabulous new street racers, Porsche 911 GT3 and Ferrari 360 Stradale, meet on one of Europe's most challenging roads, the dizzying Stelvio Pass September 2003 Porsche 911 GT3 v Ferrari 360 Stradale ierce creature, the 360 Challenge Stradale. Stripped back, pared down and pumped up, it stops, steers and accelerates like no 360 has ever done before. Enzo aside, it is the most exciting production car to come out of Maranello in a very long time. But then it has to be take the fight to Porsche's previously impregnable 911 GT3. Super-quick and scalpel-sharp, Stuttgart's second-generation rear-engined road-racer is also one of the finest driver's cars in existence. Grudge match? You bet your life. Which is how we find ourselves converging on the magnificent, awe-inspiring Stelvio Pass for one of the most eagerly awaited skirmishes of 2003. Altitude sickness isn't normally a consideration during a road test, but then the Stelvio isn't a normal road. The second highest stretch of tarmac in Europe, at 2758m the summit is more than a mile and three quarters above sea level. According to medical text books, that puts it well into the danger zone. Apparently it's not your fitness level that decides how well your system copes at altitude - if it was I'd surely be confined to a bungalow in Brighton - but the speed with which you make your ascent from sea level to the clouds. The more time you have to acclimatise, the more comfortable the transition. As there are few faster ways of ascending a mountain pass than at the wheel of a GT3 or 360 Stradale, we could be in trouble. It's been a truly international effort to bring these two cars together. Roger Green has flown to Munich this morning with Gary Williams, friend of evo and owner of the GT3, to collect his car from the dealer who supplied it, while Marco Della Monica, contributor to evo Italia, is bringing the Stradale up from Maranello for an afternoon rendezvous. Meanwhile, Gus Gregory and I have flown to Milan, hired a particularly flaccid Peugeot 307 and mercilessly thraped it to the top of the pass in search of prime photo locations. The scenery is mind-blowing, but the Pug isn't, so having completed our recce we leave the miserable rental hatch groaning in the car park and go in search of scoff. It's not long before Marco arrives, but he's at least five minutes behind an epic wall of noise that's been bouncing off the rock faces like a sonic pinball. Onlookers, of which there are many, seem relieved when the livid red Ferrari skims into view, happier still when they see it's driven by a friendly Italian, and not, as the thunderous sound effects suggested, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Half an hour later the 911 makes a more restrained entrance, surprisingly restrained given that it's being piloted by Revvin' Roger Green, and slots in next to the 360. As both cars are based on familiar shapes, you don't perhaps expect either to look radically different from their more humdrum stablemates. How wrong can you be? Both the Stradale and GT3 are transformed, thanks to the shrewd deployment of arch-filling wheels and tyres, ground-hugging body addenda and ruthlessly reduced ride height. The resulting stance and simmering aggression lends each a crackling aura of heightened ability. It's impossible to see either of these and not feel your synapses tingle with approval, and for a few magic moments the Stelvio comes to a standstill as passers-by become rooted to the spot. The Stradale is the most brazen of the duo, scarlet paint shrieking in the sunlight, sharply chiselled nose and sills bringing menace and muscle to the standard 360's delicate bone structure. Our test car lacks the Stradale's optional stripe, which we're disappointed about, but the cross-spoke alloys, carbonfibre mirrors and mesh-grilled tail are fitting pointers to the Stradale's race-bred nature. Finished in stark white, the GT3 should appear anaemic next to the blood red Ferrari, but the lack of attention-seeking hue only works to emphasise the Porsche's impressive musculature. The high-rise wing sticks out like a sore thumb, protruding from the otherwise soap bar-smooth shape. The nose looks cleaner, tidier and more businesslike without the gaping intakes from the GT2, particularly with the extra black lip extension that squeezes a little more lift-reducing energy out of the airstream. Both cars are packed with exotic materials and cutting-edge engineering aimed at reducing weight and increasing responsiveness. For example, the Stradale is suspended on springs fashioned from titanium and has a blueprinted motor; the GT3 utilises super-lightweight pistons, conrods and valvegear that contribute to a 3.5kg reduction in moving masses within the engine. Both also have carbon discs, which save the best part of 20kg. Odd, then, that the GT3 actually weighs more than a standard Carrera, thanks to its bodyshell being based on that of the torsionally stiffer Carrera 4. In fact, at 1363kg the Porsche is carrying an adult passenger's worth of excess weight compared with the skeletal Stradale, a deficit compounded by a 45bhp shortfall. It's a significant disadvantage, and although the Ferrari needs to scream 1100rpm beyond the GT3's 7400rpm power peak before all 420 horses are galloping, it musters all but 9lb ft of the Porsche's 284lb ft torque peak at 4750rpm, some 250 revs earlier. In the propaganda war at least, Ferrari leads the way. We'll find out how it shakes out on the road once Gus has a few shots in the can, the first of which is a static that requires the two cars to be perched perilously close to a knee-trembling drop. It's now that the sheer scale and drama of our surroundings begins to sink in. This truly is the roof of Italy: so high you can ski here in the middle of summer, thanks to a cable car that takes you the final 700m or so up onto the adjacent glacier. To a heart and lungs more used to an oxygen-rich sea-level atmosphere, the thin, vapid mountain air is like a weak gruel, feeding your body the bare minimum it needs to function. At best you feel a bit peculiar, like you've stood up too fast after a long sit down. Sometimes just standing still is hard work. Not enjoying the sensation of suffocating in slow-motion, I grab the Ferrari's lipstick-red keyfob and decide to high-tail it for the valley floor. Pulling at the thumbnail-sized door latch, the door swings open with minimal effort. It's shockingly light: the earliest possible signal that the Stradale has been subjected to a serious weight-loss programme. For the record, it's a whopping 110kg lighter than the standard Modena, weighing-in at an impressive 1280kg. To give you some perspective, that's just 20kg more than the 360 Challenge race car, or the same as a Focus RS. The interior shines with carbonfibre. The entire door casings are fashioned from the stuff, as are the centre console, seat shells and even the gearshift paddles. The dash-top is upholstered in a felt-like material, the floor bare apart from a coat of black paint and a pair of rubber mats. There's no radio in our test car either, but the spec stops short of the optional Lexan windows, which is probably for the best. Surprisingly, the overall ambience is still relatively luxurious, thanks mainly to the leather-upholstered seats and lavish carbon panels. The seats may look like refugees from a race car, but once you're strapped in they're not as all-encompassing as you'd hope, particularly around the shoulders. The leather feels a bit slippy too, and the relationship between the height of the seat and steering wheel never feels just-so, no matter how much you fiddle with the adjustment. It's not disastrous, but it could be better. The key doesn't start the Stradale, it merely primes the electrical system in readiness for a prod of the prominent starter button nestling between the seats. Button pressed, the flat-plane-crank V8 bursts into life and instantly settles into a fast, resonant idle. It's a purposeful noise, not yet raucous, but you can sense aural violence is just a throttle blip away. Whether you choose to head down the more open, flowing southern escarpment towards Bolzano, or plummet down the tortuous northern side towards Austria, there's little time to gird your loins, for like an Armco-lined bobsled run there's the shortest of straights before the hairpins begin in earnest. I plump for the southern descent, much to the approval of Green, who has hooked onto my tail in the GT3. With no clutch pedal or gearlever to worry about, it's easy to jump in the Stradale and go. Picking up the pace gradually, feeling my way around its responses, it's immediately apparent the steering is more direct and tactile than the 360 modena's. The tyres are slightly wider, the suspension some 15mm lower and 20 per cent stiffer, all of which gives the Ferrari front-end a more resolute grasp of the road. The carbon brakes are far from reluctant, despite a lack of temperature, but they sound gritty and coarse, even more so as the pad and disc material begin to warm through. We're already in the midst of a tangle of hairpins, connected with just enough straight to explore the entire reach of second gear before grinding a few more Fahrenheit into the anchors. With my senses dialled-in, the road spooling out into the distance like a theme park ride, and a rear-view mirror painted Porsche white, it feels right to stretch the Stradale's legs. Let battle commence. With gravity and gradient on our side, the sense of speed is intensified, but the way the Stradale leaps forward is still astonishing, the sound it makes in the process utterly deafening. It starts as a hollow, inflammable gargle, deep within the induction system. Then, as 6000rpm approaches, it ignites with a wince-inducing shriek that grows and grows in intensity until, at 8000rpm, your hearing literally (and painfully) begins to distort. 'Race' mode is perfectly judged for this kind of driving, as it halves the gearshift time to just 150 milliseconds, tenses the damping by 20 per cent and relaxes the ASR's grip of the rear-end. Importantly though, given the fresh-air drops, it doesn't disable the electronic safety net. To be honest, there's so much traction and lateral grip it's unlikely we will breach its limits anyway. Porsche 911 GT3 v Ferrari 360 Stradale With such frequent tight corners and fleeting straights, the upper section of Stelvio has a hypnotic rhythm, the F1 transmission delivering perfect, punchy downshifts at the flip of a paddle. In the mirror I can see the 911 has shrunk away slightly. It looks good under braking, perhaps even stealing a few metres back, but once the Ferrari's wheels are straight and the throttle pinned it appears to lose ground to the more instantly accelerative Stradale. After a particularly intense flurry of hairpins, the descent enters a completely different phase as the road hugs one side of the valley and runs more or less straight for well over a mile. Without a biker or cyclist in sight, it's safe to open the Stradale out in the intermediate gears and experience that intoxicating banshee wail in third and fourth. It's funny how a road that looks fairly straight at 60mph suddenly becomes a whole lot twistier when you add another 40mph; funny, too, how a car that feels utterly planted through tight and medium-radius corners can test your nerve and confidence through open, high-speed kinks. The Stradale does just that, its nose remaining tight, fast-acting and feelsome, but the rear-end begins to feel flighty, hinting that it may not be as impervious to lateral g as you previously thought, particularly at times when prudence tells your right foot to waver. When the time comes for Green and I to swap steeds, I emerge from the Stradale dazed and quivering like a tuning fork. The closest thing I can liken it to for sheer intensity and delivery is the Enzo. Does the Porsche stand a chance? Only a fool would underestimate the best 911 of the modern era, but I have to say I'm beginning to wonder... For all the Ferrari's fireworks, it's good to be in the Porsche. You feel more snug and intimately acquainted with the GT3 than the Stradale as you drop into the deep-sided seats, first one hip then the other before your ribs and finally shoulders are nestling between the Recaro's padded buttresses. Pull the seat forward a little, lower the steering wheel a smidge and you're enjoying one of the best driving positions in the business. With the seat squeezing tight and the roll-cage looping around the void space behind your shoulders, you get an increased sensation of security. Tighten the four-point harness and you're part of the machine. Fireproof upholstery and a red ignition cut-off switch tucked under a clear plastic flip-lid underline the Porsche's track calling. It's a no-frills ambience, not to mention unerringly black, but you've still got creature comforts such as air-conditioning and a decent stereo. Admittedly it's equipment that's largely irrelevant when you're scudding over the Flugplatz, but you'd doubtless be grateful for it on the M1. A flamboyance-free zone, there's no theatre involved in starting the GT3. Simply slide the ignition key into the dashboard and twist. The rear-mounted 375bhp flat-six spins into life with a familiar chunter, followed by a soft, dry whirr emanating from few feet further back than the Stradale's mid-mounted V8. After the point-and-squirt ease of the 360, it feels awkward having to co-ordinate left foot and right hand to operate the clutch pedal and gearlever, but like riding a bike, it soon feels natural once more. The steering's heftier too. The Stradale's helm may be more communicative and require more effort than the standard 360, but it still lacks the weight of the GT3. That said, the Porsche can't match the Ferrari front-end's rate of response; 911s can often feel reluctant to turn in, requiring a bit of a forearm shove to counter a natural tendency towards steady-state understeer, but it feels more pronounced in the GT3. You simply don't get the sense that the outside front tyre is fully hooked up, which never does much for your confidence, especially through high-speed corners. Without trying a Pirelli-shod GT3 it's hard to point the finger at the Michelins fitted to our test car, but experience in the current generation Carrera suggests the Italian rubber might sharpen things up. I've got the 911 tucked into the 360's wake, but it's hard work to stay in touch. Once the road opens out, that excess weight and comparative lack of power become glaringly apparent, and on the return dash back along the open, looping 'straight' I find myself cursing the GT3's lack of grunt. It's an absurd complaint in a car capable of hitting 100mph in just 9.4sec, but the sight of a bright red Ferrari hollering off into the distance tends to give you a slightly warped perspective of what fast really is. Ultimately the 360's lighter build, coupled with the fact that its motor has the GT3's moves covered even through the mid-range, means that when it rams home its advantage at the top end the Porsche is left struggling for breath. Perhaps because of the Ferrari's straight-line advantage, I find myself trying harder in the tighter corners, driving around the front-end's initial reluctance and exploiting the 911's uniquely adjustable balance. It's a rewarding, absorbing process getting the rear weight bias working to your advantage, and far from the perilous tightrope walk you might imagine it to be, the GT3 remains predictable and exploitable enough to power the tail out of line as the corner opens out. It certainly feels less edgy than the Stradale, which isn't a car that encourages a fast-and-loose cornering style, at least on the road. As we exit the final hairpin and crest the rise of the Stelvio's summit I know the Porsche has been outgunned, but the GT3's still got right under my skin. I'm not in the quivering, adrenalin-saturated state I was on emerging from the 360, a car that when pushed to extremes throws so much at you it's not a case of savouring the experience (as it is in the GT3) but simply surviving the savage sensory double-whammy of volume and velocity. Choosing between them is painful, but if you're after the raw, nefarious thrills of a racecar on the road the Stradale gets the nod. But this isn't the end of the story, for Stuttgart is poised to unleash an even more potent weapon from its armoury, the GT3 RS. Ferrari might have won the battle, but the war is set to rage on. To be continued... Words/Pictures: Richard Meadon/Gus Gregory Comments: 3 Article from: evo     |