A short excursion into the world of 911 driving physics.
The Porsche 911 is indeed a kind of special case in automotive history. A special case because the basic concept has survived for so long, and it has had to repeatedly and increasingly face stricter safety requirements and at the same time less and less intuitive drivers. That an (old school) 911 should have always been a controllable car for the ambitious mass driver is simply not true. No matter how wonderfully smart the suspension was set up.
The laws of physics can only be appeased, but they cannot be overcome. Within a certain range below the limit, a Porsche feels like the safest car in the world...what incredible traction and tracking, what great possibilities when accelerating out of a corner. Some drivers felt like a hero when they stayed within the limits. I'm still talking about the old school 911.
Here in the video below we see an old school Porsche in the snow. This particular 911 from 1972 has a much more balanced weight distribution than a production 911 from that era. So I'm using an example that weakens, not strengthens, my arguments for the dangerousness of the 911. On the other hand, the driver explains really well what the old school 911 is all about, and he is really good at the wheel.
The thing that is very specific to the 911 is the relatively small range of lateral movement when drifting. Good drivers can work their magic within this range. But if the cornering angle is even one degree more exaggerated then nobody on this planet can catch a 911 again. And because this moment can happen so quickly if the driver is not aware of the limit situation, it is almost always too late. The modern driving aids ensure that this angle is not reached. If it is reached, it is also too late for the modern driving aids.
In the following video you can see in minutes 3:00, 4:30 and 6:00 the typical response of physics to driving errors even in the most modern 911.
You can see that the 911 always turns a large circle around the front end, so it needs much more space on the track or road than a normal car and that alone almost always leads to very serious accidents. Since the engine sits behind the rear axle
Minute 6:00 is particularly impressive because at first you think, thank God he caught the car. But at the end you can see how much energy is still stored to suddenly whirl the car around with a single blow. And if there weren't 100 digital and servomotor-controlled driving assistants on the modern 911 today, then the modern 911 would have the same fate as the old 911. The modern 911 protects the driver from the physics of his car even before reaching the limit. That's why it's so boring to drive, but also less dangerous. It's like marrying the hottest cat in the world, but she turns off the lights on your wedding night.
I'm not saying all this to spoil the fun, I still have a 1976 Porsche myself. But I wanted to counter some false myths. A 911 remains a 911, it's an icon and that's why it's still successful in the market and it's tuned for a lot of stupid inexperienced new younger drivers these days. To make matters worse, my 1976 911, for example, had 165 hp to 1.1 tons, but today 500 hp and more meets the same weight distribution design.
