Porsche GT2

The GT2 is far more than just a stripped-down Turbo, and Porsche Motorsports claims to have put over 100,000 engineering hours into the development of this car. We'll deal with the technical details in a series of upcoming posts, but it's fair to say that little on this car has remained untouched. Regardless, a regurgitation of figures and facts does little to describe the performance of a car like this - only some seat time on a closed-course will do.

To ensure the safety of us mere mortals, our co-pilots for the day would be some of the most famous names in Porsche racing history - Hurley Haywood, Kees Nierop, Patrick Long, and David Murray. Their task was not enviable, and was made ever more difficult by the pockets of standing water left on the infield track surface by an early morning rain shower. A trip around DIS in the shuttle vans was memorable to say the least (Haywood extracted far more performance from a 15-passenger Econoline than we though possible), and then it was time to receive a quick briefing on each car before partaking in the main event. The assembled group of writers was split into four groups, and we were paired with Nierop for our laps.

First, a bit about Daytona International Speedway's road course. The infield is deceptively simple in appearance; why, there's just six turns, and they all look fairly easy on a track map. The line isn't so easy to comprehend, though, and many of the apexes sit on the far side of a blind entry. This, though, pales in comparison with the sensation of exiting the Turn 6 sweeper and finding a three-story-tall wall of asphalt directly in one's path. That's actually the banking of the oval, and at this point there's no option but to apply as much throttle as possible to gain enough momentum for a climb up towards the wall. The car eventually settles down into the middle of the extremely bumpy middle lane (seriously - it makes Midwestern highways seem smooth in comparison), and by the time the long back straight comes along, we're rocketing along faster than the take-off speed of most airliners. The ride is hardly over, as there is still plenty of room for additional acceleration before the chicane demands some vigorous braking. It's then time for another burst of acceleration onto the second banked turn (even rougher than the first), and then a few more seconds of wide-open throttle through the tri-oval. The lap is completed with re-entry to the infield, which is a tricky affair to say the least - especially with a trio of rear-engine cars that have a reputation for oversteer.
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