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Howard Jones · 07-20-08, 01:53 PM

I have a friend here in Calif. that builds 910's from scratch. I was over his place with my GTD once and we were drinking some beer and talking about cars and out of the blue he says. "You know Denis you're lucky really, you can drive this car, my GTD, and feel safe doing it. If my wife knew how dangerous my Porsche is she would never let me drive it. Ever!"

He then went into a 30 min comparison of the two cars from a safety point of view. The bottom line was, in his VERY qualified opinion, is that the GTD could take a fairly hard hit up to about 50-60MPH in the front and you could survive it, as long as it didn't burn. Getting T- boned presented the biggest danger without a roll-cage but he though that my cage would keep a car out of and off of me up to a fairly hard hit. Again the fear of fire.

The Porsche however was a killer at nearly any speed above 40MPH from any angle. He pointed out the front had your feet hanging out in the wind behind thin fiberglass and some 5/8 diameter thin tubing. Worse.. they are in front of the axles. The rest of the car is no better. No roll cage whatever. Just enough tubing to fix the body work in place and hang the suspension on. His 910 with a flat 6 in it weighted under 1000 pounds. Think about that in relation to the wall thickness of the chassis tubing and bodywork. He could lift the entire chassis with the suspension on it by himself and hang it up on the wall of the shop!

In the end it came down to an extra 700 pounds of chassis materials in my GTD. Weight is safety.

The 917's were not much better and having looked at one up close I wouldn't care to drive one in anger on any track with walls or other cars. Not to say that I would be qualified to do so anyway. Maybe a replica with a 300 hp flat 6 in it might be possible and within my performance envelop, but putting in a reasonable amount of power doesn't change the safety aspects of the chassis. Driving one as a street car would be suicidal.

07-20-08, 01:53 PM	#33 (permalink)
Howard Jones 10 tenths Join Date: Jun 2002 GT40: San Francisco Bay Area California USA Posts: 1,862 Rep Power: 25	Re: Why was the 917 so revolutionary? I have a friend here in Calif. that builds 910's from scratch. I was over his place with my GTD once and we were drinking some beer and talking about cars and out of the blue he says. "You know Denis you're lucky really, you can drive this car, my GTD, and feel safe doing it. If my wife knew how dangerous my Porsche is she would never let me drive it. Ever!" He then went into a 30 min comparison of the two cars from a safety point of view. The bottom line was, in his VERY qualified opinion, is that the GTD could take a fairly hard hit up to about 50-60MPH in the front and you could survive it, as long as it didn't burn. Getting T- boned presented the biggest danger without a roll-cage but he though that my cage would keep a car out of and off of me up to a fairly hard hit. Again the fear of fire. The Porsche however was a killer at nearly any speed above 40MPH from any angle. He pointed out the front had your feet hanging out in the wind behind thin fiberglass and some 5/8 diameter thin tubing. Worse.. they are in front of the axles. The rest of the car is no better. No roll cage whatever. Just enough tubing to fix the body work in place and hang the suspension on. His 910 with a flat 6 in it weighted under 1000 pounds. Think about that in relation to the wall thickness of the chassis tubing and bodywork. He could lift the entire chassis with the suspension on it by himself and hang it up on the wall of the shop! In the end it came down to an extra 700 pounds of chassis materials in my GTD. Weight is safety. The 917's were not much better and having looked at one up close I wouldn't care to drive one in anger on any track with walls or other cars. Not to say that I would be qualified to do so anyway. Maybe a replica with a 300 hp flat 6 in it might be possible and within my performance envelop, but putting in a reasonable amount of power doesn't change the safety aspects of the chassis. Driving one as a street car would be suicidal.