For those of you with upgraded cars, at what point do you feel like drivability (from a daily driver perspective) decreased? Why was this - more turbo lag, heavy duty clutch??

 

Heavy-duty suspension makes the ride bumpier for cruising
on crappy roads, and more road/chassis noise. A louder exhaust
and intake makes it less relaxing for cruising with music on.
A racey alignment makes the car a little more nervous on the
freeway and wears the tires on the inside compared to a street
alignment.

 

In one word: after stage 2....

 

decreased...huh...mine got better, way better.

 

What Joe said is right on. But no loss of drivability. I think, so does everyone else that has been in my car, that the coil-overs have improved the ride. Exhaust is louder, but not bad, can still carry a normal conversation, with the FVD sport.

Lose drivability at stage 2

I think my car is much more fun to drive and would still be a great daily driver, better than stock, with my current mods.

 

Really? In what way?

 

It has nothing to do with power delivery or race brakes, however it has to do with the race suspension. You will feel every single bump in your backbone.

 

I found that no matter the upgrade, an organic clutch will not hold 600 rwhp/torque (and I get full power at 3.8K RPM) for long so I had to go t a triple carbon fiber which, I don't care what anyone says, is a pain in the *** for stop and go traffic. Street tires spin up to 100 mph so I had to go to R-compounds which means no driving in the rain. My car is for weekends in Mexico or the track.

I would say stage 4 is the break point for ddrivability.

Also, I love my stock GT2 suspension but it is no fun for long trips.

 

It's different for everyone, but in my world, for a street car, it's the day you wouldn't pick up your stuffiest client for a lunch meeting.

For me that means no LWFW, no straight pipes, no clutch that I need to launch to get moving from an uphill traffic light, no suspension that can't be adjusted down to stock-like softness, no roll cage or 6 pt harnesses, and the list goes on...

600hp and face-melting torque are perfectly acceptable though

 

One man's street car is another man's race car... I think you can do pretty well with drivability on the street up to about 600 hp. More than 600 hp starts to require race parts to make the car work. For example, carbon fiber multi-puck clutches can handle the horsepower but are like on-off switches on the street either stalling the car or spinning the wheels. Major suspension changes are needed on the north side of 600 hp to safely engage and use 600+ hp and 600+ foot pounds of torque. The car can get away from you in a New York minute and be very poorly balanced without suspension changes that are not, unfortunately, street friendly.

Another issue is engine tuning. Around 800 hp the engine cannot be made to run with street tractability. It may be a Porsche, but it does have its engineering limits. The more you push the performance the more significant all of the modifications to balance the entire car. You want a car designed for 600+ hp, and still have it drivable on the street, you need to think in terms of a car designed from and built from scratch, not one modified extensively by after market parts.

If you have ever driven a Porsche race car you can appreciate how well the entire package works together for stellar performance. Notwithstanding allegations by many private shops, few can improve on Porsche engineering when it comes to integrating the complete package.

Good luck.

 

Seal,

You are probably at around 460-475 whp tops.

 

Sean Seal made 510awhp with just K16/16Gs and exhaust.

My car makes 650+rwhp on high boost and I do not have a problem driving it everyday. I have a Kevlar Pucked Clutch that holds just fine above 600rwhp, but it is a pain to drive. Then again I'm probably a little more use to driving high HP cars daily.

 

Chris,

Sure; that is close to what a stage 4 (headers and K 24's) makes.

If he is making that kind of power then he should be running a sub 8 second 60-130.

Illustrates why dyno #'s are not to be trusted.

 

I think it is more of a matter of tolerance than simple numbers.

When I got my Z06 my dad was in awe when he was looking at it, but one stint behind the wheel made him never want to drive it again. It was just too much for him, and that was in stock form.

So the first thing that you should ask is, are you Captain Slow or The Stig?

 

The Stig of course!!!love punishment,now,where is the leather shop for my attire.