[no subject]

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

At 1:59 PM -0400 10/27/01, alfa-digest wrote:
>The fact remains regardless of individual opinions, that the Porsche 911 is
>the most successful production sports car and production-based racer. More
>races have been won by the 911 and it's variants (930, 934, 935, 939 ...etc.)
>than any other production car, period. Ever. No other car even comes close.
>That includes professional and club racing. And, no other car has won as many
>races in as many classes, categories and types of racing than the 911,
>period. Endurance, rally, sports car, and hillclimb have all seen the 911 and
>variants dominate at one time or another. That's called versatility. To argue
>this record would show how little attention one has paid to international
>motorsports.  Is this what we can expect from a machine that is "totally
>unsatisfactory" and "inferior"?

That is kind of hard to argue with, and it's a history that I'm 
well-aware of  While talented drivers have been able to take 
advantage of the 911's quirks, and 30 years of engineering do have a 
way of overcoming the laws of physics, the world isn't fair, and 
IMHO, that's why the 911 has succeeded.  Porsche knew that in a 
perfect world, their flawed-but-successful beast was doomed, hence 
the 928.  But the car market on planet Earth doesn't work that way. 
The success of the 911, on and off the track, is a viscious cycle. 
Back when rear-engine, swing-axle cares weren't a totally antiquated 
concept, people began to make the 911 go fast.  And before AWD took 
over rallying, such a car was a damn good rally car (see the comments 
about 911s in the snow from an earlier Alfa Digest this week).  So 
the 911 made a name for itself.  At the same time, Porsche spent lots 
of money building successful mid-engine race cars, further building 
the company's image.  The 911 only became more popular, both among 
consumers and racers.  The more people that spent money racing 911s, 
the more sense it made to pour your racing team's budget into 911s. 
Etc, etc.  The 928 is an awesome automobile, and kicks the 911's ass 
everywhere but on the racetrack where all the money and effort spent 
on racing 911s gives the ass-engined beast an unbeatable advantage. 
In the 1980's thousands of aspiring yuppies wanted to be cool and own 
a Porsche, and just as they associated Alfa with the Spider (in the 
USA, anyway) they associated Porsche with the 911, so (in terms of 
revenue) the 911 beat the 928 in the showroom too.  Etc, etc.  The 
more short, balding, middle-aged men that were proud of their 911s 
and called the 928 "not a real Porsche," the more short, balding, 
middle-aged men there were that went into Porsche showrooms and spent 
their money on a 911 without even test-driving a 928.  This continued 
until Porsche had to make a decision, and as Paul pointed out, 
Porsche's job is to make money.  The laws of economics won out over 
the laws off physics, and the 928 was discontinued, while the stupid 
911 was further refined to mask its flaws, and continues to this day. 
Although I love the 914/6 and 928, and even the Boxster (although I 
wish it had a roof), I HATE PORSCHE.  And not just because they've 
decided to build an SUV (another vehicle that would never be 
successul in a perfect world).  The reason I hate the company is 
because, despite pretending to be a serious manufacturer of sports 
cars, etc, they elected to discontinue one of the world's greatest 
sports cars in favor of one of the worst.  As Paul pointed out, the 
993 is really a good car in terms of the driving experience.  (I'll 
never take it seriously, because the basic design is still that of a 
$100,000 VW Beetle, now with modern rear suspension and ergonomics.) 
Turning the 911 into such an automobile is quite a feat.  Just 
imagine how incredible the 2001 928 would be if that much effort had 
been put into overcoming it's minor quirks and improving it!!!  Maybe 
it's good that they didn't, since the 928 would be so superior to 
anything else on the road Porsche would be the only remaining sports 
car manufacturer.  Dare I wrap this up by making the Honda Civic 
analogy?  Just look at the Honda Civic's success in North America. 
It's a decent car, but is it really the sportiest economy car 
available.  I don't think so.  Is it the Civic's great design that 
has made it the hot rod of choice for most car "enthusiasts" of my 
generation, or that has made it the world's fastest front-drive drag 
racer (laugh)?  Probably not.  Peugeot and Alfa have made arguable 
better engines, Chrysler and FIAT have gone to greater lengths to 
eliminate torque steer.  What happened was that the Civic established 
a (somewhat-deserved) reputation as a good economy car, and then the 
CRX Si model was a very competitive autocross car.  Well the market's 
already saturated with cars that say "Honda Civic" on them so the 
next thing you know, every kid with a driver's license and a few 
(1-30) thousand dollars decides he needs a Civic.  By the time all 
those idiots have invested their money in making Civics fast, they 
are, and more performance-oriented consumers buy Civics.  There are 
few technical reasons why products from VW, Toyota, or Mitsubishi 
couldn't have taken over this market in the USA in the '90s, but it 
was the Civic that did, not because it was a superior car, but 
because it happened become popular.  Just like the Porsche 911.

BTW, I hope no one really objects to this discussion.  I'm well-aware 
that it's no longer the least bit Alfa-related, but I do like 
discussing the car industry with car enthusiasts, and the Alfa Digest 
members are a great collection of intellectual car enthusiasts. It's 
my opinion that other sports car-related threads such as this one 
should be allowed to continue.

Just my 2 cents/40 lira/4 pfennig,
Joe Elliott

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