RE: Twitchy Porsches

["Henry Kim" <henry.kim@domain.elided>]

As a current 911 owner ('88) and former Alfa Spider owner, I'm feeling
the need to jump in here.  I've never had a problem driving my 911 in
the wet unless I enter the corner too fast or get over-exuberant with
the throttle exiting the corner.  That is, trailing throttle oversteer
is only a problem if you go into the corner too quickly, get nervous and
lift off.  

If I enter the corner at a reasonable speed, I can lift off the throttle
and nothing happens.

As for hydro-planning, it's never happened to me.  I don't see a ton of
rain in that car but last summer, I drove up north in a torrential
downpour - so bad that the wipers couldn't keep up.  The car was totally
composed at speeds of up to 150kmh.  The 911 has superb aerodynamics and
at speed, it almost seems to hunker down.

In the dry, handling is very predictable.  Any oversteer is very easy to
catch.  I have never swapped ends in dry conditions.  

With a 911, you have a lot of weight over the rear wheels.  This means
you have tremendous traction in a straight line or around a corner.  

I cannot say that about my '90 Spider.  I spun that thing more than a
few times.  I found that the tail was very quick to breakaway and
difficult to catch.  Of course, this may have a lot to do with the
skinny all-season tires.

I think the reputation of the 911 comes from the early, short-wheelbase
cars, made before 1969.  Those things would swap ends coming out of the
driveway.  But after more than 30 years of refinement, the 911 is now as
easy to drive as a Honda Civic.

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