I don't know what one year means - don't see how they build est - 1350 Spiders / 2650 coupes in one year. Next up 296M which may be confusing the years of builds for 296.
I like it. Let’s go! Its a little weird if “Aperta” will be used for a non numbers limited car, but they can make the rules for each model.
Porsche uses their own test drivers on the ‘ring, so their records don’t really mean much. On other tracks where independent drivers test the cars, the SF90 and 296 beat every Porsche currently in production, as well as the 991 GT2 RS. I do expect the 992 GT2 RS to be very fast, but I think it’ll still be slower than the 296 Speciale and SF90 XX on tracks with independent drivers.
Ring times are so overrated, and largely irrelevant as a point of comparison especially when using a Porsche GT car as the fulcrum of comparison. For as interesting as Porsche's Ring times are for their GT cars, Porsche builds their cars to specific Ring times. It's very similar to how Ferrari builds their cars to specific times for their Fiorano Circuit test track. TL;DR who cares? These marques are simply gaming the system with these track times to sell cars. Buying any car based on track times is almost as myopically misguided as buying a car based on how it sounds when you rev it out. Grow up.
I can’t believe we actually agree on something. Ring times are definitely overrated, but the Porsche nutswingers act like they’re the most important thing in the world.
Audi, Merc, BMW, Lambo, etc all also use their own race/test/ drivers and Ring specialists, its not just Porsche. If Ferrari used their test drivers or even say Charles Leclerc to do a time around Monza or Imola in a road car would that not count in your mind? Since 2019 official production car lap attempts of the Nordschleife are time kept and supervised by a notary and the vehicles are scrutineered with regard to their series-production state. Who drives the car doesn't make any difference.
Weirdly, almost every car company test there (even Ferrari) and set official times (not Ferrari)... Must be for a good reason..
My point is that if Ferrari racing drivers who have a ton of experience driving Ferraris drove the cars, they’d beat the Porsches. But Ferrari doesn’t care. You saying who drives the car doesn’t make any difference is one of the funniest things I’ve read on here in a very long time! Thank you for that!
If the car does the time, i'm not ever going to discount that time due to the driver having lots of experience of the car and the track.....
Nah, Ferrari simply doesn’t care about trying to set ‘ring records. But people like you actually believe they matter, so some marques will continue putting effort into them.
People like me? You do you know Ferrari have set ring records in the past right?.... I go to the Ring around 5 to 8 times a year, and have driven many high performance cars on it (i was there last week before going to Maranello to see the 296 S). In my opinion, the few road cars that i have driven hard on the Ring that have excelled in every area, have also almost always excelled during hard road driving and on other circuits. Have you lapped the Ring?
You’re the one on here talking about it as if it’s the end all be all, but I guess if you spend the money to drive it 5 to 8 times per year, it makes sense why you gravitate towards ‘ring records (even though they don’t matter). Hopefully, someday I’ll get a chance to drive it as well, but even if I do it’ll never be anything that matters to me when I compare cars.
Hey All! I thought I'd give the blog an update on my progress in terms of a coupe allocation at least. I called up my local dealer to talk after the unveiling, and they were pretty dead set on me speccing a roma spider before I could get my allocation (for reference, I bought a 488 spider from them and that's my only real sales history). I called another dealer who is also close by, and what they told me instead is that if I traded my car in for a 296 GTB on their lot I could also spec a 296 VS coupe. The other dealer I bought my 488 spider from is dead set on me buying a roma spider from them and they said even a 296 GTB from their lot wouldn't cut it which is odd to me to say the least. I'm unsure of where to go from here to be honest. The main issue I have is that I'm worried that I get a false promise from a dealer about receiving an allocation, they take my car for the roma/296 or whatever, and then I never get my allocation because nothing is signed and this is all just up in the air. Honoring thy word in this generation is rare, let alone leaving that in the hands of a dealership who could very simply tell me to **** off after flipping my car (happened to a friend of mine about 2 years ago at their sister lamborghini dealership). I think i'm leaning toward establishing a new relationship with the other dealer and buying a 296 GTB because I already have many other cars and a roma spider is not really what i'm looking for in terms of a super car or my collection. My budget for my next car is about a million dollars for now at least, so if I sense some sort of uncertainty/false promise type situation, I'm going to look into something like a pista spider or an SVJ and not go through with this car for now. Has anyone else here had an experience with this (need to buy X car to get Y car)? Did you actually get the car you were promised? (Thanks for listening to my Ted Talk)
Is it a new dealership or has it been around for a while? I doubt many people will get the allocation from just buying A car from the lot…should ask around about their reputation and their past/existing clients, that should give you a feel if they are being genuine or not.
Not true. Look at Pista vs 991 GT2 RS, for example. I won't even mention the SF90 XX. Ferrari sometimes test at the Ring, but they don't attempt timed laps there. It is not a good benchmark anyway, as the variables are so many, due to its length and bumpiness. It is good as a development tool though, due to the same factors.
The roma spider dealership is on the newer side relative to other dealerships from what I understand. Their sister Lamborghini dealership sold a very close friend of mine an LP580 that he specced. He pre traded his LP580 that he built for a Technica slot, and they basically ghosted him after. After a few weeks, they basically told me that they don't care and he should move on while swiftly returning his deposit !!!! It was unbelievably pathetic and sad that they'd do that to somebody who not only had multiple exotics, but is a very loyal buyer. He ended up getting some pretty awesome RS cars from Porsche now which I was very happy to see (ironic from Porsche right???) The dealer who said I can just pick up a 296 off the lot seems to be pretty established. I plan to meet with them this weekend to see what they say. I will let everybody know how that meeting goes and if I learn anything at all. I hope to give information to the new buyers like myself who only have 1 or 2 cars from the brand that aren't crazy/their highest spec cars to save anyone else the trouble.
From the sound of it, your current dealership might just want you to buy something from them to meet a quota. Roma spider is a great looking car, don’t get me wrong, but I assume you’ve already told them you don’t want the Roma spider and they haven’t offer you any other cars, ie 12C or an inventory car. The other dealership sounds like they should be a fair deal, but just make sure you’re up front with them on what you want and how to achieve it. But then again, it’s the sales guy you’re dealing with too, and that could vary even in the same dealership… I currently own a 296 gtb, and have a few other cars on order, yet I had to call them to tell them I wanted the speciale, and even then they didnt have any aperta left… so it really depends on who’s in front of you and how senior they are in terms of relationship with the dealer, a bit of luck for sure
Thanks a lot. Your experience definitely helped me get a clearer idea in terms of how I should go about talking to them. I didn't turn down the roma spider for now because the dealer is like 30 minutes from my house and I've also bought a Lamborghini from that sister dealer too so I just told them tell me pricing of both and we'll go from there. They did offer me a 12C coupe a while ago, but I only would've taken a spider regardless. Like you, I 10000% would've wanted a 296 VS Aperta, but that is unfortunately unrealistic with my sales history to say the least. I did ask them to buy a 296 off their lot to get a VS and they ironically said no. I think you're right in that they may need to meet some sort of quota that their dealer may not be meeting. My main concern would be depreciation on the Roma Spider. It's a car I don't know as well, and the coupes seemed to tank pretty quickly. I'd probably spec it as base as possible beyond necessities like the carbon wheel/paint/sensors ETC because I know i'm getting rid of it ASAP. I think my build on that car would be around 300-320k. If I take a heavy depreciation hit like 30-50k for some reason, I would rather just go with the SVJ/Pista Spider and not play this game because it will even out that way. If I got a VS coupe I planned to get every option (so in total probably past 600k + the roma depreciation is gonna put in the mid 600s for a coupe which seems not as worth it when I put it next to a pista/speciale/svj) If it was an aperta I definitely would've stuck around, but for the coupe I am not too sure. Thanks again brother
To clarify, I have one about 45 minutes from my house, and one about 2 hours away. To answer your quesiton though, no. I'm in tri state
Sigh, I am sure bunch of us remembered that the retarded dubious requirement of buying a Lusso for Pista.. remember that, guys?
I absolutely love the new look of the 296 Speciale But as a side note — there are no tracks I could find (or ChatGPT could find) on the web from anyone where both the SF90 and the 992 GT3RS both have recorded times. Except Nurburgring. So I don’t think anyone can confidently say the SF90 could beat the 3RS right now. And having driven the 992 3RS on track myself, I can say it’s absolutely a cheat mode track monster. And I smoked my friend’s lap times in his Pista. And he holds the lap record for amateur track times ant our local track with his heavily race modded R8. He’s a way better driver than me.
