Track day comparison questions

I was at a T&T day yesterday getting some more time on the '69 after getting it back together this spring, and there were a couple Porsche guys there. I talked to one owner, a very pleasant guy with a 996 version of the 911. Another guy had a 911 GT3RS. Good looking car. I'm not up on the details of Porsche street cars, but this one was very impressive out on the track. On one of the early sessions I was warming up the engine for a lap when he came up behind me and I pulled over to let him by (at the start of the longest straight there at the track). I pulled in behind him and stayed on his bumper for the length of the straight, but I steadily lost ground when we got to the tight twisties. He left early in the day so I didn't get the opportunity to talk to him to see what kind of tires he has on it, or how much time he's spent running that track before. I'm not trying to sound like I'm attempting to come up with excuses here, but more along the lines of having complete information to better understand the differences between our cars. I was getting quicker as the day went on as I got more familiar with the grooves there, but I have no idea how our cars would have compared at the end of the day. It's mainly just engineering curiosity. I've put in a lot of effort to reduce the weight of the '69 and to update the suspension. The car is markedly better than it used to be, and I just like to see how far behind I still am from state of the art cars. And regarding the GT3, I understand the Porsche engineers are a somewhat bright group. :wink: (I worked with several Porsche engineers at Weissach several years ago on a joint GM-Porsche project. I found them similar to American engineers. Some bright and friendly, others were assholes.)
So, essentially I'm looking forward to seeing another GT3 at a track sometime to get a better feel for the differences in our cars.

It's a hard call. Its hard to know how good he is and how hard anyone is pushing at any moment on a test day. You could find someone who's good (someone who drives an exotic) to drive your car and give you an opinion.

In general, i have a hard time believing most guys that own these expensive street machines are very good drivers, just from what i've read and seen. The guys who are really fast are thrashing a more affordable car around such as the subaru all wheel drive turbo things on racing slicks, with race gas and elevated boost. That's the kind of shit i have to contend with in my club. They don't hold back. They drive 20-40 days a year and its their only hobby. They spend a bunch of money on tires etc etc. Sorry but i doubt you'd keep up in my club either.

These guys that go to corvette club or xxxx club type track days where a lot of guys are on track for the first time and think their car is fast because they can keep up with someone driving a ZR1 who doesn't know what their doing and doesn't want to hurt their car, will have a rude awakening when they get into a serious club. I'm not talking about you. Some of the other "i'm so fast" self written reviews i've seen here and on CF.

too many variables comparing you and your car to someone else in a different make of car, if it was me all that would concern me would be my own lap times, hopefully getting quicker each session.

The GT3 RS is a race car with a tag. Randy Pobst took one out of the box and turned a 1.36 at Laguna Seca. Top speed of 197 mph. He must have been texting.