Matching the 430 Scuderia driving "experience"

What did you like about the 2004 GT3? I came close to buying one a while back, but having owned a 996TT, I felt I wanted a different interior and layout so I thought about getting a 997TT or a 997 GT3 instead.

 

Very hard to match the Scud in terms of analog feel, rawness and 'angry' feeling unless you go back to older specialty cars. I cross shopped a lot of modern metal and I did like the 2wd Huracan... had an old school feel to it, but nowhere near as raw. I'm told the 675lt is pretty good... I tried the 600lt... silly fast but polished

 

Gallardo Superleggera is the closest that comes to mind.

 

Have you driven a Speciale?

 

Honestly, 2004-5 gt3. Then mod it. I’m on my third. Absolutely fantastic cars that simply do not break unless totally neglected or money shifted. No where near as fast as a scud (think 360cs in terms of speed), but very awesome to drive. Lwfw, lighter wheels, lw battery, louder exhaust, and tune, and you have yourself a bona fide weapon. it’s also legitimately rare with well under 1k units for North America. It’s basically the 996 cup car. I’m a huge fan of gallardos as I had a six speed manual first gen for 5 years. But they do not have the same nimble and tossable feeling as its Ferrari counterparts or a GT3. I took out hundreds of pounds of weight, made it rear wheel Drive, put in a titanium exhaust, and it still drove more or less like a muscle car. Also not a fan of the egear, especially compared to the sf2 in the scud.

 

Its pretty similar but also very different. You can definitely hear all the rocks and pebbles while driving the car. It’s more civilized in normal handling mode than the “soft” button on the scud.

The 675 is way faster, has a nice crack on upshift, but definitely not like a NA v8.

I enjoy both cars very much. Nice to have both.

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Take any of the 06-08 Gallardos and convert to RWD. Good enough for Balboni should create an intense driving experience.

 

You guys dont get them in the states, sure they abit slower, but the E46 M3 CSL, nice, raw, high strung engine etc, its an absolute pearl!

 

Actually drove one back in the day on the Nurburgring, I was VERY impressed to say the least!

 

To be fair, ive never driven an CSL personally, but ive owned 4 E46 M3's in general, among which i had a competition as my first car ever and absolutely loved that already, Competition was the US downplayed CSL ofcorse as alot of CSL hardware was found on the Comp's with the absence of all the carbon parts etc... and by far thats still my favorite car ive had till today (im sure my 1st Ferrari will change that)

 

I have owned my 996 GT3 since it was new and drove plenty of 996 turbos and owned a 996 Carrera before the GT3. The turbo is and feels like a much bigger and heavier car. The all-wheel drive makes the turbo very fast off the line and confident in a turn. The GT3 feels light and an extension of the driver but the lack of PSM can mean you need a bit more skill to drive it fast. It feels very very analog. The higher revving engine is masterful over the turbo. When I first heard the factory was considering bringing a GT3 variant to the US, I didn't hesitate. I actually was going to keep the Carrera and only drive the GT3 on weekends, but after 3 months I found myself driving the GT3 daily and so sold the Carrera. Luckily my work situation changed about year later or the car would have had a ton of miles by now. Now my GT3 did have some comfort stuff added that required a call to the factory to order so it wasn't a super compromise over the Carrera and I did eventually add PCM2, speakers door panels, and the center console piece as this predated your phone having navigation and I had a very bad experience with a TomTom style navigation a few years earlier driving though the big-dig. I think Porsche recognized people wanted a bit more comfort in the regular GT3 and much of what I ordered special from the factory and added through dealer-installed updates became available in the 997 GT3. By the time I was ready to get a new one, Porsche had gotten rid of the manual transmission. They obviously have brought it back again, but now this is the car I will be buried in. I think my youngest is hoping he gets it.

 

2005-06 Ford GT is the pinnacle of a driver’s car that I have experienced. Just you, the bolt action manual transmission, great sounding supercharged engine, and your driving skills, no electronic nannies to give you false feedback.

The Scuderia is the most fun Ferrari I have driven (from 355 to regular 458) by far (haven’t driven a CS though). Great driver’s car for sure.

 

I bet a 997 GT3RS would do the trick, unfortunately more expensive than Scud's currently

 

Wish I hadn’t sold my 997.2 RS

e46 m3 I have a zcp with a few mods - great car not a replacement it’s a good part of a fleet

996 gt3 I personally thought was garbage / 997.1 wasn’t much better - 997.2 leagues ahead in the engaging department

given dealers are holding out on selling their scuds at low 200s where I think the buyer interest is I am debating a 600lt - need to try one out though

 

I am in the same boat as you might have guessed from my recent posts, my first preference is to get a Scud but I do not think they represent good value (to me at least) at their current price point as I want to drive it and am not a collector.

I have also been thinking of a 600LT Spider. I bought a new 570S in 2019, sold it after 2.5 years. I loved the way it looked, it just didn't thrill me in the way it drove. Everything was too civilized and refined, the only excitement came when you were doing speeds that would land you in jail or hospital. I can't see how the LT would change that paradigm even though its the track focused model.

 

The US market is so, so, SO different to the EU market i cant believe i keep getting surprised about it after so many years but yet i do..... Here in eu the 997 GT3RS's start at almost half the price Scud's cost...

Majority is at 2/3's of the Scud prices though

 

So the GT3rs is federalized - I wonder what that would cost to bring one in

 

I agree completely. I had a really low mileage one in my fleet. I'd done all sorts to it including Schrick cams, 3.91 rear diff, airbox, engine management etc. etc. It was a lovely car (to me it is peak M3) but not in the same universe as the Scud. It gathered dust so I sold it.

I use my car on the road and I don't think that there's much out there to better the enjoyment offered by a Scuderia.

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Alot. First you need to find someone that has done it before and has the proper federal license to do so, which is required if you want to get the proper clearance letters to register it. The other options are: 1) wait until 25 years old; or (2) bring it in on a show and display registration (the problem with that is it will always be limited to 2500 miles per year, no matter what, and even after it hits the 25 year mark, so the value will always be less on the market). To properly "federalize" it, as I understand it, you would have to change every single ROW component so that its a clone of a us-approved car. And you literially must destroy every ROW part you remove. I know someone who did this to a 996 gt2 and it cost about $40k (stuff you wouldn't even think about, like different gas tank with different check valves and piping, different dash crossmember (that had to get welded in), and of course different emissions equipment that might be difficult to source. Even the headlights can be different and must be changed, even if they look identical. That is why this rarely makes sense unless the car is actually not available in the us (i.e., think early skylines from Japan market or those audi rs wagons). Because if the same car is available domestically, even at a higher price, by the time you ship it here and properly federalize it, you are almost always better off finding one in the States. The only real exception would be if you know for a fact the car won't need much or you get such a screaming deal you know you can federalize and still be comfortably under US market value for the car.

 

McLaren 650/675/600
Lotus Evora GT430
Gallardo Superleggera Mk2
Skydiving Naked on Acid
Ariel Atom

 

Ha ha that's great! I guess we can add the gallardo super trofeo to the list as well.