944 S vs. GS-T

[saab9kturbo]

I posted this awhile ago on Rennlist, before I purchased my current '86 944 Turbo. It was a cool little race, really pitting two polar opposites against each other.
FWD vs. RWD
N/A vs. Turbo
Front Transmission vs. Rear Transmission
Japan vs. Europe

My friend recently purchased a 1995 Mitsu Eclipse GS-T with a new motor in it, since the first was apparently that one that crankwalks really bad. It is a nice car, seems pretty quick and handles alright, he did a few mods including a larger diameter downpipe and the typical intake. Nothing I haven't seen. He likes my 1988 944 S (no mods, 80,000miles...just got done with the damn chain tensioner and belts) so we decided that a little drag race (for FUN, we are friends) was in order, it was a nice break from working on cars all day.

The location is this stip of worn blacktop that just fits two cars and is about 1/2 mile long on my friends farm property.

So anyways, to the story. We line up. My friend has an oily rag (we were working on his MR-2 turbo, putting the motor back in) and is our flagman. He does a three count, i rev to 3000, my friend to what sounds like 3500 or so and the flag goes down. I do a stiff slip of the clutch and my friend does as well. 0-30 it appears almost a dead heat; I should have started at a higher rpm I thought. We get to about 55 and all of a sudden he falls way back. How? "I missed 3rd; I'm a moron," he says jokingly. So we agree to another race. "Not too many though," I told him, after all the old Porsche doesn't like being flogged like this and parts are expensive.

So the second race. A three count. I rev up to about 4k, but my foot slips (heel toe-ing to keep the car from moving)! The flag goes down and I'm only at 2000 rpm. Alas, I have to completely dump the clutch to save myself this time. In any case, 0-30, a repeat of the first race. Then something happens. I start pulling on him as I make my way up to 60 in 2nd. I decide to go all out and do a full-blown race powershift (this is a big decision if you know anything about being a teenager and having old Porsches, since it could end up costing you a substantial part of your yearly earnings) into 3rd and it keeps him slowly falling back. He continues to fall back and as we raced to our set limit of 100 he was well over 2 car lengths back! A good workout of the brakes and we both do some nice drivers-ed quality three point turns. We both return to our friend with the rag and both him and the eclipse driver are amazed that the n/a porsche beat back a turbocharged eclipse.

It was an interesting race, traction and driving ability certainly were factors in the race. Guess I should race him in my 944 Turbo now...heh.

[clawhammer]

Good race. I wouldn't powershift from 2-3, the rpms are increasing too fast, and you have to move the shifter a little longer than say 3-4. It's much easier to do with a short shifter.

[Sleepr awd]

just let him get some more parts put on that GS-T and he'll continue to give you good runs, maybe a boost controller and bigger turbo

[PearlGT]

yah it isn't the stock form that makes 2g eclipse gst's or gsx's so intimidating (because after all, they still aren't that fast in stock form) but the incredible power potential they have that can be gained for very little money compared to some of the other competitors out there.

So an outcome of such would be somewhat expected, especially since it seems he just got the car.

All points aside, it sounds like it was a good race and good kill

[street_racer_00]

Whoa I'm sooo lost, I thought your 944 was a turbo...but in your thread you said it was turbo vs. N/A...please clarify!

[saab9kturbo]

Originally Posted by street_racer_00

Whoa I'm sooo lost, I thought your 944 was a turbo...but in your thread you said it was turbo vs. N/A...please clarify!

I raced him with the 944 S I used to own, which I sold for my current 944 Turbo. We plan on racing again in spring, he has some mods and i have a few, should be interesting.

[TreeFrog]

interesting....

1988 Porsche 944 S 8.0 0-60 16.2 1/4 mi
1988 Porsche 944 Turbo 6.6 15.1

1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T 6.4 15.0

i bet he didn't know how to drive it.

[Savior1974]

Yeah tree frog, I was thinking the same thing........

[CassiesMan]

Originally Posted by TreeFrog

interesting....
1988 Porsche 944 S 8.0 0-60 16.2 1/4 mi

Im faster than a Porshce...Sweet!

[RedLightning]

Hahahaha, so am I. But then I also faster then the Cayanne(sp?), cept for the turbo version.

Good race then too.

[saab9kturbo]

You also have the wrong stats, man. The C&D 0-60 for the 944S is 6.7. You have the 8 valve stats. If it says "S" where you got them, they are wrong. I don't even understand how you'd deduce that a 188hp car that weighs 2850 lbs would take 8.0 seconds to get to 60.

Also, your turbo stats are wrong. C&D listed 14.6 1/4 mile and 0-60 in 5.9, for the non-S turbo. Even the factory, which is conservative, got the non-S turbo to 60 in either 6.0 or 6.1. Any 944 Turbo was faster out of the factory than the fastest stock GST. That doesn't say anything for modified cars.