The smaller bike is lighter (not heavier and not AWD), that's why it's better in the corners

IMHO you are both wishing something to be true. Now you want to mag race with "ring" times taken on different days with different drivers on different tires???

Look at the Club racing in the PCA, no one (to the best of my knowledge) even campaigns a C4S. Why not??? It's certainly not $$ or used car availability (hmmm, I wonder if power to weight ratio might be meaningful here after all it's how they "class" all of the cars)

Look at Porsche, they build there highest performance 911's as RWD (GT3, GT2). Why do they do that??

Look at ALMS racing, Porsche and Audi are in a huge fight over weight penalties for 2008 (they are fighting over a weight penalty of 50 to 100 lbs in cars that make HUGE hp).

If HP is free (it's not) and weight doesn't matter (it does) AWD offers certain advantages. In inclement weather, it offers advantages. For first time track drivers the safety of extra understeer offers advantages. But, on a dry track with an good driver (and no extra power to offset the weight) it's one BIG disadvantage. Don't believe me, head out to the track and ask any good Porsche driver what they think because I'm done listening to the AWD dreams that are alive and well in this thread. I agree to disagree.

 

I love that my turbo is AWD, because I know that I don't have the skills to tame a GT2. Saying that, a RWD car has a lot more options going into a corner and, suspension tuning or not, an AWD will push a lot more into the corners.

 

C2 for track, C4 for looks alone. Love that wide a$$, nothing much like it.
Both great track cars either way, I would apply the saved money from a C2 purchase for mods.

 

either way you cant go wrong

 

It's a bit out of place to discuss race cars as examples in this thread, since race cars have minimum weight requirements, and race cars must follow racing regulations. In a series where AWD cars are permitted to race against equivalently powered RWD cars, the AWD cars usually are imposed a weight penalty, due to their traction advantage. Without the imposed penalties, any AWD car can be made as light as as any RWD car. There are many heavier things than the drive train to remove weight from.

For example, the C4S's AWD system weighes 120lbs including viscous coupling and all extra drive shafts. Most of the additional weight in a C4S over a C2 comes from wheels, bodywork, brake rotors, extra leather interior coverings, chassis stiffening, etc... If it were a race car, none of that would matter - the car would be stripped to the minimum allowed weight.

That said, even a stock C4S can very easily be alligned and setup to rotate on track. ;-) (And it can win it's class in a PCA Time Trial, against all manner of drive train.)

My advice to the OP, is to drive whatever you would love to drive, unless some sort of racing regulation is preventing it! =)

 

Well, I guess it's a foregone conclusion which one I chose.

 

Congrats!

 

Beautiful car, congratulations.

 

Welcome to two months ago...

You'll never get a C4 or a C4S as light as you can get a C2, unless you also remove the AWD components (and that kinda defeats the purpose).

Additionally, PCA does not impose any "additional" weight penalty's to club race a C4 or C4S (in stock or modified classes). In the stock class, the cars race with mimimum modifications set forth by the rule book (3,060 lbs). Obviously, the AWD cars must carry the extra weight of the AWD drivetrain and the parasitic drag on the motor so they can't get as close to the minimum as a C2 and the cars will not put as much power to the wheels.

I'd argue that on a dry track the AWD benefits are outweighed by the extra weight and drag these components add. On a wet track AWD would obviously be beneficial.

 

Nice looking car Malakas.

 

Good decision, you can't emulate the grip, and it only weights 120 lbs more than the RWD counter-part. GT3 Seats and Muffler ByPass pipes will give you the same weight as the C2 with better balance. I'm sure a C2 is better for track use, but the C4S has it's benefits.

 

Actually the C4S weighs 275 pounds more according to Porsche.

 

in an ideal world, i'd have a carrera rwd with widebody trimmings.

looks outweigh performance in this case so i spent a bit more to get the c4s.

you're not even going to begin to exploit the weight disadvantage on the streets and won't be close to realizing the differences unless you're going lap after lap against known "competition" and that guy in the other car... the chanes of it being a rwd carrera to make u feel bad about getting a heavier awd car ... might as well bet on the lottery.

don't sweat it. enjoy either car as both have its pros/cons.

i went practical and knew i'd regret looking at a narrowbody everytime i got out of my car more than i'd regret the 0 times i get out on the track with my 911.

 

Yeah you're right, I was thinking 99-01 C2 vs C4, Porsche claims the C4 only packs on 55kg.

 

good looking car Malakas... enjoy!