I will try to find out when I see the car this week (hopefully). Apparently number 550A-117. More discussion here: http://porsche356registry.org/356talk/1/24530.html
Yes I agree without question......... you have had time in a car before I finished bugs bunny but you assumed I had never driven a car. No diff Your Gallardo with 70HP more and now as you say modified to most likely less weight should hand the 430 it's ass. Patents and Dynamic engineering aside it's not rocket science. This doesn't change the fact that you are 1 (The one) in 1000 Lambo drivers that enjoy driving them enough to push them to their limits. This takes a special skillset because they aren't easy to push. All others go fast in a straightline and dissappear in the corners from a rear view mirror. I've only spent 10 years near the tracks so you have many many many many more years on them but I can tell you I've only seen 1 Lambo tracked in my years. You inspired me to look back and see what you raced when I was watching Bugs Bunny and I now totally understand why you enjoy the cornering of the Gallardo ....................... this a joke cranky........... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beauty of a car. I've only seen like 3 for sale in the last 10 years though I don't look a lot I'd sure love to own a white one.
god i love this place....anybody out there qualified to make a rational comment on replica vs a real car when all they have ever seen is a video of a real one? i put some street and competition miles on my 550..[a real one]...i vintage raced my t35b bugatti [a real one] ...i drove a real indy miller-ford i owned [front wheel drive]...i put some dirt track time on my mid '30s rwd AAA sprinter under the lights...raced vintage cars at monterey for 30 years straight...i also built a replica bugatti [chassis bc50..look it up] and raced it...i can assure you that there is nothing different between a "real" car and a "replica" [as long as it is an exact replica] that can be discovered by sight, sound or smell..including driving...the difference is really in the part of the brain that controls ego . i'm not sure how on the porsche 550 post an all wheel drive issue came up but i can recommend driving an audi swb quattro [i did] and tell me its not a race/sports car. you guys need to spend more time behind the wheel and less in front of a screen... and don't get me started on real lotus super sevens [you betcha- i had a 65 cosworth and raced it at monterey] and anything claiming to be one..caterham included. drive safely!! [just to keep this ferrari-focused, i drove a friends 166 competition coupe and can assure you a well prepared supercharged four cyl1500 cc bugatti gp car of the late 20's could eat it alive.]
Quick thing, and I am being a bit pedantic, but... This started as a thread on the Porsche 550 replicas, it was not a thread on AWD v. RWD, or how well an Audi built car handles. In effect to try and end the discussion on Lambos, I will simply say this. They are looks only cars built to impress, and as such, did not classify as a true "sports car" until the Germans bought them. Now, back to the good cars... If I had a 550 show up in my garage over night, I would not be at work the next day, as I would be driving it. If no where else but on the county roads around where I live. I could not drive it daily, but I would have to drive it. As to the gentlemen who can afford to race their originals, bravo, if I had that kind of money, that is what I would want to do as well. Mentioning the Ferraris that sit and gather dust, indeed. I would rather risk damage done to my priceless original, than have it sit in neglect only for the battery to go flat. Cars are built to be driven, not sit in a shed. I honestly think that anyone who buys a Ferrari or Lambo made after 1980 with the express intention of selling it as a collectable has already gone around the bend, and should have their children start managing their estate. Ferraris stopped being art when plastic entered into the approved materials list. Granted, I could go buy a Boxster, but I really dont like them. To quote Clarkson, it says "I would love a 911, but my life hasnt turned out the way I thought it would." Personally, I would rather take the money and put it into my project. Once that is done, I wont need to consider a Boxster, as I will still have the 350+hp, heated leather seats, sat-nav/stereo, better brakes and suspension than what comes on the Boxster, and all wrapped up in a classic car that (almost) everyone has fond memories of. There is only one thing I am missing... Money.
Maybe another view on replicas. Ive never owned one, but I am shopping for one and not sure as the OP of where I'm going to land. Im looking at several builders that honor the original. (BTW, take a look at SEDUCTION MOTORSPORTS they make some fine cars, and are making all metal body 550s) One other side of this, is even if every one of us on this post has the money to lay out on a 550 or a 356 restoration, there aren't enough cars out there to buy. The alternative is the legacy of these cars is to just die. If people want to recreate the feeling they would otherwise never be able to enjoy because of finances, supply, age, etc, why not let them keep the spirit of these vaunted cars alive? Are you telling me that aside from some tube steel, and the "shape" of a ferrari, porsche etc, that the race versions are "real" porsches, ferraris etc? The aftermarket brakes, cooling systems, custom transmissions, electronics from other vendors, fire suppression systems, wheels, gauges, roll systems, etc., all are parted together and branded as xXX. race team. Yet the pedigree is none the less real. Granted these are recreations made from whole cloth non factory parts, but still capture the lifestyle that is not obtainable to the majority of us who love cars. If in my life the worst thing said about me is that I had a really kick ass 550 replica, drove the hell out of it with a beautiful woman next to me, got a tan, smiled a lot with the wind in my hair, had great car friends, and died happy and passed that same fervor on to my kids when they inherit my car, then Ill take it. Maybe the pucker factor should just take a rest. There are so so so much bigger fish to fry in our lives than being insulted by someones love for cars. Regardless of pedigree.
