Col Stone

My mate has just popped around in his new toy a 911 GT3 RS in white and blue with the optional white painted cage and dash!
Wow what a car He took me for a 'death ride' around the lanes and it could have been that as met a tractor cutting hedges but ceramic brakes saved the day, eye popping It felt so tame until you saw the speedo and couldn't believe the speeds!
Well now thats of my chest will leave you all in peace!
Cheers Col

pip the dog

sweet -but I've heard bad things about the ceramic brakes.. not that my four paws can control a 911 though

Swede-STI

Ceramic brakes work great when they are up in the right temperature. And I guess that all the GT3RS owners will use their car on the track, or will they ;-)

The only negative about the brakes is that they are to expensive.

I have only tested the 996 Turbo and that car is really fast. But the GT3RS should be awesome due to that the car has a real powerful engine without turbos = no lag :-D

Blow Dog

Ceramic brakes on a GT3RS is only really a viable option if:

a) You don't mind paying £5,000 for replacement discs.
b) You only plan on using it on the road and not on the circuit.

My RS has steel brakes and operate far more reliably on circuit use. In fact, many ceramic owners are now putting their discs into a box and replacing them with the steel rotors.

Good to hear you enjoyed the ride. But if you thought it was impressive on the road, you need to experience it on the circuit. Unbelievable.

Cem

Adam M

such a shame it's only available in white .

Old_Fart

LOL Speed Yellow RS with blue graphics.......
Cman

Swede-STI

It comes to right when You see the car live :-) it´s awesome.

Due to the white colour is that the old 70´s RS was white. It´s a tradition RS colour.

Dapster

They are a £5k option on the RS, but according to a recent article in EVO, they are 26k to replace! Yes, 26k for a set of replacement PCCB.

Fantastic car though - Cem: what else did you consider/drive before you got yours and do you roast everything else in sight on the track?

mynickers

I can't believe people are discussing 'value' and 'costs' of a porker 911 GT3 RS, come on guys, this is one of the cream of the cream of rich boys toys for the track, you can't start sniffing about the cost of replacement parts. Their are loads of alternative track cars for much less money, which will deliver a similar level of fun, reletively speaking given the money involved if that's really an issue. It's a bit like asking the MPG of a Bently, if you're worried, you can't afford one!

Personally a Westy Megabusa springs to my mind, if I had the readies for a track car. With a superbike power plant providing an astonishing power to weight ratio of 420 BHP per tonne you can't really argue! Or a Radical Turbo - hmm!!

But new technology is always stupidly expensive, but it's stupidly expensive to research and develop, but it all filters down. Porkers tip tronic was very expensive once, especially if it went wrong, it comes as standard on the bleeding Citroen C2 VTR now, although a very rubbish intepretation, but these things come down in costs over time, it's just the rich kids like your mate that have to finance it good on him I say.

Still if I was loaded I'd still have a Porker GT3 RS

Ghostdog

I disagree, if they cost 5k, that is 1/16th of the total car price. take a subraru (say 30k for arguments sake), 1/16th of this is 1900quid. Would you be happy paying that to get your brakes replaced after you wore them out? If you are not it MUST mean you can't afford one.

Just because the car is worth more as a whole does not mean people who own one should not be concerned about the cost of maintaining it.

Blow Dog

Dapster,

Porsche responded to the many criticisms recently and reduced the cost of replacement discs to about 5k. A colleague of mine in a GT2 had his PCCB's replaced recently as a 'goodwill gesture' at an equivelent cost of £16k. But this was before the reduction in Porsche prices.

And yes, even though an RS costs £90k, there is no way I can afford a £5k brake replacement. Especially considering discs are seen as consumable items for what is essentially a trackday car. No way. I'll stick to the £800 option for steel brakes which are argueably better anyway. So Ghostdog's right.

Didn't really have much else to compare it with really. Thought about a Gallardo but was worried it wouldn't take the heat on a trackday like a Porsche. And that amazing warranty is probably best in the world. Ferrari's too temperamental to be a proper trackday car. Didn't really leave me much choice.

Cem

Edcase

Yes but it doesn't really work like that does it? In real life?

The cheaper the car (generally) the cheaper the parts and the cheaper the maintainance. Ever heard of 'economy of scale'?

Maintainance and parts for a ferrari 360 or 911 rs are always going to be considerably more than a subaru or a nissan micra because they sell less of them, the tolerances are much lower, they are specialist driving tools as opposed to just 'transport' and so the parts and servicing reflects that.

Blow Dog

In fact, anyone who thinks it's ok to pay £5k, let alone £16k, for disc replacements needs their f*cking head examined.

Cem

Ghostdog

Urm in 'real life' yes it does work like this. 800 quid to REPLACE the standard discs, coupled with the fact the porsche superb distribution between front and rear rotors when braking hard thanks to the rear engine placement completely and utterly negates the fact that there are ceramic brakes out there that give you a marginal performance increase for a 5k price tag. 4200 quid is still a lot of money to a 'rich' person. The people who buy ceramic as an option have money to burn and like being at the forefront of technology, HOWEVER it is people like that who allow Porsche to continually develop cutting edge technology, therefore allowing mere mortals like us to enjoy such technology in the near future - albeit at a better developed stage.

Edcase

Yes that's kind of the point I was making!

Many people will continue to buy ceramic brakes, in the same way that many people continue to buy ferrari's with the f1 paddle shift.

In the same way that many people will buy the RS and not do track days or even drive it fast, and yet will still specify ceramic brakes when it's time to replace them.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Fashion victims Not you Cem It's the Montecarlo types that have the best cars but no clue as to thier real potential. Bought to go with the clothes and the mansion.

F

Old_Fart

If you use the Ceramics on a purely driving miss daisey style road car then they will probably outlast the cars life. THe issue is purely track based...they overheat and degrade far too quickly.
So 'garage queen' GT3 RS's with ceramics won't have a problem.
If the car then goes to a driving enthusiast then in all likelyhood he'll just do the steel rotor conversion and box the discs/pads for the future resale.
Cman

Blow Dog

Indeed.

On a similar point though, my OPC tells me that to drive the RS slowly would be detrimental to it's longevity.

Cem

Ghostdog

Sure thats not the voice in your head telling you that?

Edcase

Yes, its the same with the highly strung 'rarri's. They *need* to be thrashed occasionally.

davyboy

Interstingly Porsche do not use ceramic brakes on there own race cars.

Edcase

I always thought carbon fibre was best for ultra high performance braking / racing??

davyboy

Carbon does not work when cold though....but I think you are right.

Blow Dog

Porsche have just released pictures of their new GT3 Cup Car and it shows tell tale signs of yellow calipers.

Cem

Edcase

I was at the British Gt racing at Oulton at the weekend and certainly all the teams running GT3 rs and rsr's were all running steel discs.

Not sure about the full FIA cars, will have a look at silverstone in a few weeks.

Dapster

Racing with either Ceramic or Carbon discs is to do with regulations rather than technology. Carbon are the most effective but need a few hundred degrees in them before they do anything, so it's not really going to do much for your 911 on the North Circular.

^Qwerty^

I've not been out in a GT3 RS cos somebody is always busy

Blow Dog

Qwerty,

Soon baby soon. You should come to a trackday with me.

Cem

CraigH

That sounds familiar

camk

Personally I say good luck to them. If they have the wedge then its up to them how they spend it.