Posted: 2010-03-08 17:14:23

The GT2 is going in again this week to have the geometry settings sorted out. I've gone for a fast road/track stage 1 setup - basically this means that the car is going to have a slightly higher rake angle and the camber and toe settings will be adjusted for greater stability and less understeer... I think!

It's also going to have 3 stripes over the top in matt black, should look quite nice against the metallic black paint.

Posted: 2010-03-02 12:18:13

I took the GT2 to Bedford Autodrome on Saturday for the easytrack.co.uk track day. I met up with a bunch of other Porsche owners and we convoyed up the M1 from London. We had a Nissan GT-R with us which was interesting, damn those things are quick!

We were only booked to do the 4 hour afternoon session which we started at around 1pm. The weather was fine for the first hour, the track was a bit damp but there was plenty of grip and the car behaved itself nicely. I hit 147mph on the straight on one of the last laps before I came in for a break, which was nice.

Whilst I was in having a break the heavens opened and completely soaked the track. I thought about not going out again given that my car has 460bhp, is rear wheel drive only and has no traction control or stability management, but then in the end thought sod it, let's have a go!

For the first few laps in the wet I was driving very slowly, not putting any power on until the straights and going into corners very very slowly. After a few laps confidence grew and I was pushing a bit harder around the corners. The problem was that because of my cars setup it just tends to understeer (this is a deliberate setup on the GT2 by Porsche to give drivers plenty of warning that the car is about to spin!). The reality of this was that I was going into corners behind other cars and whilst they were able to stick to the racing line my car was pushing wide at the same speed, it was frustrating.

As my confidence grew I tried getting on wide open throttle out of a few corners, once I ended up facing the other direction and the other time I ended up on the grass... no damage, just to the ego. That's the beauty of Bedford, you can get it very wrong and the chances are you'll just spin onto grass, not always possible at most tracks.


In conclusion it was great to push the car on a wet track in relative safety and learn about the handling characteristics that I've read about. It really is a bloody handful in the wet, as soon as you try and drive with a bit of pace it becomes very clear that you need racing driver skills to keep it moving forwards.

Posted: 2010-02-24 12:26:44

The X5 I can understand, it's BMW's share of the lucrative luxury 4x4 market. The 5 series is the executive car with all of the space and luxury you could need, although if that's not enough there's the 7 series. Then you have the 3 series and the 1 series for the general luxury car market. Of course then you have the X3, which is the car aimed at the person who wants an X5 but not quite as big and a bit more like a normal family car. And for those with the need for speed there's the Z4, M3, M5 etc.

The X6 then surely is struggling for a place in the lineup. The 4x4 is there, the compact 4x4 is there, the sports cars are there, the medium sized family car is there.

What is it? Is it a 4x4? Not really as it's probably a bit too cramped inside with that roof line and is most likely rubbish off road. Is it a family car? Again, not the most accessible or sensible design for families, so no. Is it a sports car? Not with that centre of gravity and kerb weight it's not.

Just what is it? I think I know what it is. It seems to me to be a car wedged into the lineup to appeal to people who want a bit of everything but don't want to commit to one thing. It's a jack of all trades and a master of none. It's a generalist. It's the car equivalent of Nick Knowles, and for that reason it's a shed.

Posted: 2010-02-23 13:54:21

The GT2 is going in for a major service and a new geometry setup tomorrow. It's been running very well lately and was put up on the ramps last week for a check of the suspension and brakes. The PCCBs (Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes) seem to be in good condition, pretty impressive given that the discs are now 60,000 miles old!

The suspension settings are going to be altered to give the car a more aggressive raked stance with more camber to make it handle better on the road (apparantly).

The Bedford track day is this Saturday so I'm looking forward to trying out the new settings in a safe environment.

Posted: 2010-02-04 14:33:10

As I've got the track day at the end of this month and my current rear tyres are on about 3mm I thought it might be a good idea to start shopping around for a new pair of 315s.

Last time I bought some the cheapest I could find was £300 a tyre for 315/30/18. So, I was very chuffed to find them for £190 each at Event Tyres. I don't really know why they're so much cheaper now, I guess Michelin must have made too many of them and so everyone is overstocked with this size.

Anyway, a saving of £200 on last time, good times.

Anyone else looking for tyres so probably try Event Tyres before anywhere else.