As we’ve said before, we started this development set to find some truth in the industry. So much marketing is done today on products and very little real world testing showing results. To quote Wernher Von Braun, “One good test is worth a thousand expert opinions”, a quote we live by. We have done plenty of testing similar to this before, mostly privately, but this time we wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to not only make all of this public, but share the data files and video to go along with our findings. We always strive to limit variables and use data to prove what products and changes actually work, how they work and why. Just like our last data dive on the 991.2 GT3RS which showed the, honestly incredible gains on a car already so capable from just a proper set of race dampers, like this set of MCS (Motion Control Suspension) 3Way With Remote dampers used for this test as well. This time we wanted to compare laps with one of the greats, Randy Pobst. Randy needs no introduction, a quick search will fill your day with accolades the man has acquired over his long and illustrious career that has spanned what seems like several generations now. I can still remember my dad taking me to one of my first races, the Grand Prix of Long Beach, long before I ever set foot in a race car myself and Randy was already out there making easy work of the then World Challenge competition. Simply put, as a driver he’s a guy you aspire to be. In addition to all the races and the glory, he has also been the humble test driver for many auto publications. So who better to use as a benchmark than the man himself.
Randy, taking from our understanding a Porsche fiddled 991.2 GT3RS with Cup2R’s, was able to click off a blazing fast 1:23.67 around the 2.5 mile track of the famous Willow Springs International Raceway (WSIR). This would be a comically impossible time in a basically stock 991.2 RS to most drivers in your average track day paddock, myself included. With that in mind, we set off with a few of our close friends/clients for a private test day at WSIR. Usually when we get to a track, unless it’s with the race team, there’s very little to no time permitted to pull away from work to take a few laps in our own cars. Fortunately for us, everyone involved was just as curious, if not more so, to see what would become of this lofty goal of ours. After all, trying to take ownership of what we believe is the fastest RS time around the storied circuit is no small feat. A few practice laps on our track day Dunlop SMR2’s on our Forgelines and it was time to throw on the stock wheels with the same Michelin Cup2R’s that Randy had used to set his lap.
Prefacing the lap, these tires are notoriously quick wearing and lose their magic even faster. Manthey (Porsche’s racing team) even start these tires at basically full pressure because the grip will be fading by the time they get up to temp. I had never driven a set of fresh 2R’s before, they seemed financially irresponsible before this test and arguably even more so now. Theres a bit of a learning curve with this tires grip that I’m still not comfortable with and looking over the data, there’s at least another .5 seconds, maybe even just enough to drop into the next second bracket. That said, we set out on some empty track and gave it a go. Here’s the result…
So there it is, a random guy on the same track with essentially the same car and tires, the only real variable being a set of 3 way MCS’s can find almost a second (1:22.75) on Randy Pobst. Taking a step back, writing that last sentence was a surreal feeling and not something I’m likely to experience again. I’m cautiously looking around somewhat expecting Randy to pounce out of a shadow and attack. I’ll savor it to the fullest though, until Randy fly’s out here to put me back in my place and reclaim what's rightfully his. It wasn’t a fair fight, we had far better suspension and Randy didn’t even know that he was being challenged (though like Chuck Norris and the Stig, I don’t think he sleeps, he’s just waiting somewhere with his helmet on ready for someone to give him keys). Only thing that I can think of that would top this video to me would be seeing what Randy himself could do with this car and these dampers. Maybe one day...
