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My new purchase (911 content) *final update p9*


Ekona

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Thanks guys :thumbs:

 

 

I spent some hours yesterday stripping The Zed, and it was almost heartbreaking to do so. I still love the car, and even though it's (mostly) back to stock now it still feels like mine. I was soooo tempted to take it for one last spin last night and yet I know that's just tempting a whole bunch of fate I don't want, and so I know now the final drive will be the long one to Colchester to swap it over for the Porker. It's horrible when you get to a point with a car when it's just right and there's not really any more you can do with it, and that was the point I'd hit with mine.

 

I'm sure they'll remove the 350Z-UK stickers I'm going to leave on it, but that's not going to stop me leaving notes in the manual and secret ones around the car dropping large hints about this place as it'd be great to not see the car disappear completely. :D

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Not picking the car up until Tuesday now, still waiting for the bloody steering wheel to turn up :( Ah well, one of those things I guess, and as long as I get it before I go to Anglesey for a trackday on the 30th I can't really complain too much.

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It won't be too bad, I'm sharing the cost of a Caterham hire for the entire day as well so I can just do a few gentle laps to get used to the weight distribution and then go crazy bonkers in the R300! :evil:

 

 

Funnily enough, when I bought the VXR220 I had a track day within a few weeks of picking it up. Span the car about 4 times as I wasn't used to it at all, but learnt a lot from the day.

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911.jpg

 

 

And the obligatory "Look at me!" pic!

 

911dan.jpg

 

 

It's amazing. I've only driven it from the dealers to home in rush hour traffic but I already love it and it's everything I want. Left it in auto mode for most of the way home, and as a long range cruiser it's effortless. The noise (even on the stock exhaust) is so mechanical but brilliant as well, and having the sunroof isn't a bad compromise from owning a ragtop. There's so many little bits to play with on the PCM (touchscreen audio/nav/TV/info thing) that I'm going to be there for days until I set it up right.

 

Only downside is the whole garage issue, as in it only just fits. The Zed was tight enough, but this is a whole different ballache of tightness. It's not the length, it's the width, and I just need to get a bit braver when parking to move it over to the left a bit more to allow myself more room to get out. Skinny I am not :oops:

 

 

 

Bring on the weekend 8)

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Needs a polish :p

You have no idea how right you are! I'm standing outside looking at the car and the salesman goes "Doesn't she look beautiful? Look how clean she is!" and I'm thinking to myself "Good god, has this car ever seen a clay bar?!" :lol:

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Needs a polish :p

You have no idea how right you are! I'm standing outside looking at the car and the salesman goes "Doesn't she look beautiful? Look how clean she is!" and I'm thinking to myself "Good god, has this car ever seen a clay bar?!" :lol:

 

and its defo a HE!!!! :teeth:

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Mmmmmm 911 goodness!

 

Congrats Dan on getting the car.

 

I'm a huge 911 fan so I'm a little envious of you if I'm honest!

 

What made you go for the PDK over the manual?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh and nothing wrong with being a Pie eater!

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What made you go for the PDK over the manual?

I just fancied a change for the most part, although if the paddle shift steering wheel wasn't available then I would definitely gone for the manual option as I hate the silly buttons. Given that the dual-clutch 'boxes are going to become the only option on sports cars before too long to keep emissions down, I wanted to jump before I was pushed and had no say over the choice, plus the PDK 'box is as good as any out there. I've also got a degenerative back problem that gets worse through left leg use, and while it's not a huge problem on a long run it's starting to play me up when poodling through traffic, so having an auto option is proving a godsend (not that I've really had much chance to use it yet). I fully expect to leave the car in auto mode for 90% of the time, however when the mood takes me I shall flick it into manual and it'll be like a different car.

 

 

Plus having paddles is like being in a race car, and there is nothing cooler than that! B):lol:

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Ahhhhh, makes sense.

 

I must admit I've driven a few paddle shifts (mostly barges) and have pretty much flicked through onece then left it in auto. For the road I find them pretty pointless. A good full auto is lovely on the road though! :teeth:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sooooo I've now done some mileage in the car and can do a bit more of a write up about it!

 

 

 

I spent last weekend in north Wales, and no surprises for guessing that I ended up on track at Anglesey as well. I know the A5 like the back of my hand now, and despite traffic and police it's still a really good road to drive down, however I'll come back to road driving in a bit...

 

So, Saturday was spent on track courtesy of Bookatrack who are still the best TDO I've ever spent money with. Weather? Well, it's Wales, so of course it was p*ssing down and I do mean properly! Track was more or less soaked all day long, and they even had to close it for 45 mins in the afternoon it got that bad. Of course, being an utter hero (idiot?) I still went out and ragged the nuts off a car I barely knew, and a pretty expensive one at that. It was so incredibly worth it though, as when you push it you can suddenly understand why these cars are so incredibly popular when you hit a certain budget.

 

I'm not claiming to be the greatest driver in the world, and maybe I was going a bit too fast for the conditions or people were just a bit more precious, but when you can hunt down GT-Rs if you push on then you know you're in something special. I have no doubt that in the dry they'd walk away from me, but just to be able to slowly reel them in was a great feeling for me, and even the Caterhams weren't any quicker (again, conditions played a huge part here for sure) as I got used to the car in the afternoon. The brakes were immense and even as stock there was no fade at all, and the engine just pulls like a train when you get past 90mph and pulling up to Rocket from Church. The PDK 'box was the real treat though, as being able to keep your hands on the wheel allowed me to concentrate fully on my lines and entry speeds, and I know I couldn't have gone any quicker with a manual 'box at all. There's the rub though: The car was so smooth, so complete, so utterly unstoppable, that it wasn't actually that much fun. Was it quick? Oh hell yes, but that doesn't always make it fun. I enjoyed it, and so did my passengers (one asked me to pull into the pits as he felt sick such were my cornering speeds), but as I also had use of a Caterham in the afternoon it was good to compare the two. I spent most of the time in that sideways and getting soaked to the bone and being uncomfortable in the tiny seat, and yet it had such character that I would've stayed in it all day if I could.

 

As I said above though, I'll come back to the road driving. As always, our little group takes the scenic route back which includes a drive of the Evo Triangle. Now I've driven this before plenty of times in both a VXR220 and the Zed and to tell the truth I was a little disappointed. Sure, it's a good road, but there's better ones in Wales. However, that was before I drove it in the Porker...

 

It's brilliant. It shines. It simply comes alive on roads like this, where the surface is fair to middling and you can feel every camber change and pebble on the road. It gives you the confidence to push on and attack the road, and the sighting of the Triangle is such that you can push with both safety and confidence. A good car should leave you with a smile on your face: The 911 left both myself and my passenger giggling like a couple of schoolgirls at a Westlife concert, and probably as moist too. Honestly, I'm sat here writing this with a smile across my face and I'm running out of words to compliment the car and the engineering behind it. Make no mistake, the 997 is a very expensive car and yet it suddenly now feels like I've stumbled across the bargain of the century. I can't wait to get over to the Fatherland next year and open her up on the roads where she was crafted, as I believe that could possibly define just how close you can get to a cold, Germanic piece of utter magic.

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