I am driving a 02 Porsche GT-2 this weekend!!!
 

Before I was born my dad was fairly into Porsches. He owned a couple of used 911RS's through the late 70's and a bought a new 83 911 Targa the year I was born, but sold it before I was 5 to make room for a Celebrity station wagon and a Saab (???) Anyway one of the dudes he bought the porsche from he has kept in touch with. I forget his first name but last name is Leitzinger and he owns a massive Mercedes dealership in State College PA. Some of you may be familier with his son, nickname "Butch" Leitzinger who drives, or used to, in the LeMans series. My dad just called me here at school about 10 minutes ago and told me that the two of them are coming to his place for dinner Friday to his house, not far out of town. Not sure if the Butch dude is positive he can make it, but either way his dad is bringing his black '02 996 GT-2 twin turbo, and claims that both dad and I can drive it!!!! This is crazy, we have some great roads around here to see what it can do, and I am going to drive it like I fucking stole it! The car is not for sale or anything so its not like an exclusive test drive, and it is a little bit more expensive than an 83 $29,000 911 Targa anyway, so its a little out of the question. But I am going nuts, I wish it was tonight, there is no way I will be able to sit still in class tommorow. I will post pictures and tell you guys about the drive tommorow night...

Careful, that car will kill you.

Unlike the Turbo, the GT-2 doesn't have any of the electronic gizmos to help stabilize the car. Neither does it have all-wheel drive.

Hey dude, come pick me up!!! I'll sit on somebody's lap if I have to, it would only take about 30 min with that puppy to get here :D

I've heard of Leitzingers before, a lady that I work with buys all her cars there. I was mad when she traded in her Maxima for an Avalon, I would have definately tried to get it if I would have known earlier. Her son bought it now :(

Take pics at least, please!!!!

I agree with PhotoPro5 , be careful with that monster. You're one lucky SOB, I'm so jealous :o .

I know man, its the first true "turbo" in a number of years...The Porsche community discredited the 993 and 996 turbos for having AWD. I have driven a bunch of older 911's, and know all about the hellish snap over steer. Let off the throttle midturn when the rear wheels are yelling and you will switch ends immediately, haha I can't wait!!

Serioulsy I won't be able to drive it hard. There is 220 (I-99) right near the house so I will just blast down that highway to Tyrone very quickly. He said that he deleted the standard "cup" racing seats when he ordered it, and went with the stock turbo's power seats. So i am in no hurry to pull over a G going into a turn and fly the hell off the seat...

the shittiest part is that they are calling for light rain, and if the roads are wet at all I won't even attempt to drive it...

I think you will be scared shitless to drive it like you stole it....Id be really careful unless you wanna pay $180K+ if you wreck it. Oh and just so you know...1 headlight on that thing will set you back $1100.00. How do I know? I deliver to a Porsche dealer and looked it up with one of the parts guy...Im jealous tho...there is a black one at the dealer right now, MMMMMMMMMMMM. The ex-owner traded it in for an Audi station wagon WTF?????

Oh well, ENJOY and let us know how it went!

Yeah what is it with Porsche owners trading them in for Station Wagons??? I know I shouldn't have mentioned the drive it like I stole it part. As far as $180,000 for a brand new GT-2, that is pretty conservative. That is the MSRP but the chepest I have seen in PA's bigger city dealerships was $220,000 new, and 200k used (still just a few miles, but not a blank title). I am more worried about the torque than anything, the Rear Engine RWDness of it is classic 911, and comes with a handful of quirks. Good drivers will get unbelievable times out of them on a track, but a good driver that is unfamilier with the platform would be hardpressed to not get emberassed (sp?)...I am no where near experienced with any 911 this powerful. the strongest I drove was an early 993 with around 294bhp DIN I believe, and that scared the shit out of me. I have permission to pick up my girlfriend in it, who is going home tonight (she goes to school here too). she lives about 40 miles from dad's. That gives me about 40 miles to see how big my balls are, and about 40 miles to not scare the piss out of my girlfriend and myself. I still can't wait, but I can't afford a $3k turbo for my P5, so I have to be careful enough not to deliver a $200K crumpled heap to Mr. Leitzinger...

Also I forgot about the brakes. Every one knows that porsche's "Big Reds", made famous by the LM 993 Turbo S years ago, are some of the absolute best brakes in the world. This GT-2 is equipped with the even better $9,000 ceramic composite brakes. I am not sure if they supply any better braking force than the stock turbo's, all I have heard is that they don't have quite the initial bite and have incredible heat dissapation + light weight. I will let you guys know in less than 24 hours...

Damn Dude stop teasing us.. :) Be very carefull ..Jon

be careful, but also make sure to enjoy it....

go full out on the straightaways, but please take it easy otherwise.....

You can buy 10 proteges for the price of one GT2, and have some spare change for a Mazdaspeed ;)

Yeah its like racing a vette with 3 other vettes chained to the back .try to get a video ..Jon

Well have fun!

Yeah those brakes are something else...they look cool just sitting still :) Yellow calipers and a grey look to them.

As for tehe price...the dealer said they bought it off the guy for $160K and said they'd sell it for about $180. I know they cost a lot more new. Just what I was told.

Be careful and oh yeah...did I mention HAVE FUN!?!

Yeah, be careful with that thing. I've driven something like it as far as manners. I sold my Porsche 914 last fall. This was not your normal 914. It had a full slant nose, 930 turbo flares and integrated front and rear bumpers. Also, it had a 400HP 355CI small block. It only weighed 2350 lbs. SERIOUS power to weight. I built the hell out of that car. Had a late 915 transaxle with a Quaiffe diff, 12.5 inch vented Brembo discs and 4 piston calipers, Troutman racing dual master cylinder with adjustable brake bias, Totally dialed and custom suspension, you name it. 0-60 in 3.8 seconds and hit 120 in about 10-10.5. It drove like a race car which meant it rewarded good drivers. Lift at speed in a corner, and be prepared to be headed backwards.

OK men, here is the story...

It will be a little while for pics, I stll don't have a digital camera, and I took all the pics with a regular film camera. So I need to wait to get them developed and scanned to my computer.

I drove it, I drove the hell out of it. I can't even begin to put this experience in words. I have driven a variety of cars fairly hard. E46 M3, E36 M3, Auto C5, S4 (first real fast turbo car) and a few others. Obviously this GT-2 was quite different from any of them. So the Leitzinger dude showed up with his wife, but no "Butch". His wife drove a new SL500, which kicked ass in its own right but I was a little preoccupied, and he drove the freshly Zymol'ed Jet Black GT-2. The exterior of it is extremely decieving, compared to a more "sexy" Ferrari or Lambo. The lines don't ooze super car like the Italian models. but lurking around the ass of this thing shows off some tires wider than my waist (315/30 18 I think) and some slashed oval titanium exhaust tips. just looking at the car doesn't make you think of it as one of the fastest street legal car in the world. I am rambling and I my hands are still trembling. You have all seen pics in mags or wherever so I will get on with the driving part.

the idling engine is so awesome sounding, it just makes this burbly sound that vibrates off the exhuast. It idled a little roughly actually, I kind of expected an almost unnoticable sound, but it surged at times and vibrated the rear of the car a bit. I left my house for my girls house around 6 o'clock. I took it real slow all the way from dad's house to I-99, a dead straigt highway to a town (Tyrone, PA) about 11 miles away. It sounded so good, I didn't drive hard at all to the highway, kept it under 3K rpms, just trying to get a feel for the steering and the clutch. I am assuming this thing had an electronic throttle, because it would open the engine up really fast but then fall back to a more normal RPM. Its hard to explain. Basically you just blip the throttle and you look retarded because it surges really fast, but then returns to a lower rpm with no throttle pedal adjustment. The throttle is most likely this way to make matching revs really easy once you get used to it, but I was not. I finally got down to the highway and slowly merged onto the left "slow" lane. I wound up slowly in second getting to around 3500rpm and listening to the awesome Variocam Plus shit do its stepless thing. I then just kind of mashed the throttle to the floor to see what would happen. Instantly the rear tires barked for more than a few seconds and the familiar 911 axle tramp made a noticable shutter behind my shoulders. What happened next is what I am having trouble explaining. The tires began to grip more (they were still dead cold, which I should have remembered) The car surged well over 60 instantly after the grip caught. I bounced off the rev limiter about 7 times before I managed a pathetic shift, and then blew the rear end sideways a little, conter steered and held the hell on. I can't say that it was an explosion like a Viper's V-10, it was more of a hellish surge of speed that would not let up. I saw no traffic and had a little daylight left plus the incredible headlights, and kept on it. by the end of third I was well over 100mph, and managed a decent 3rd to 4th shift, and barked the rear tires again (this was terrifying, there was no shift in direction, but wheelspin over 120mph or something made me almost shit my pants) the car would not let up. That is the amazing part, the faster you go the more it feels like the car is accelerating. From 100mph up it felt like I was being pressed into my seat more than under that speed. I "cruised" by the Tryone exit in acces of 160mph, 5mph faster than I have ever driven before. I held this speed, blasting by a mustang, the only car I had seen so far on the highway. I then mashed the gas again to see how fast I could go before the next exit. The highway was freshly laid with asphault about 6 months ago, so no expansion joints poking through or anything, just nice and smooth. So the ending big number 184mph. It was still pulling, although not nearly as hard as before. The mags claim between 196mph and 198mph. But I was already 20 miles off track to pic up my girlfriend and eating up road pretty quickly. So that was it on a highway. it was incredibly stable at those speeds. There are no shutters or wierd steering feelings, which was definately nice.

Ok now for the turns. We got about 30in of snow last monday, and it was 52* today. This equalled tons of melting snow, and some fairly wet areas on parts of route 453, which went to my girls. I did through it threw a few corners though and just tryed not to let off the gas or make any sudden movements. This thing is a beast. The suspension is stiff. By stiff I don't mean stiff like a lowered protege or compact, stiff like a virgin in bed with Brittany Spears... There is a lot of vertical movement of the body in the car, I was getting thrown off the seats and being caught by the seatbelts in parts of this not so smooth highway. but it does grip like a mad man obviously. The coolest thing, depending on how you look at it, was the steering feel. It literally felt very similar to a P5, though with more feedback. The wieght was almost identical. The feel in hard corners was different obviously because of the RWD compared to FWD, but it communicated everything back to my palms perfectly. I bet you would now it if you ran over a dime.

This has been by far the most incredible machine I have ever driven. I have probably left out tons of info you guys want to know, so ask away.

Lord Jesus. U just did my dream u bastard. Im glad to see u didn't crash at 180 mph.. Jon

Yeah man it was so stable I didn't even worry about it untill I filled it up with gas in Alexandria. I was like "I just went donw 220 at over 180!" The scarier part was the wet turns, only becuase I knew about the way these Rear engined cars could bite the hell out of you, but luckily I got it back in one whole piece...

Yeah i dont think many girls saw u driving it when u flew past at 180. i cant imagine what the stang owner thought...Jon

Oh yeah the Mustang man!! I blew by him and just held the speed for a little while. He was toolin' to begin with probably around 100mph, and he didn't disappear extremely quickly. After I got up around 180mph he just dwindled to next to nothing until I slowed to turn around. He gave me "pipe" when I turned onto the exit ramp, I should have just took off after him.

there were a few ricers in Tyrone too that I got to race with my girlfriend. Race wasn't even the word, I gave them about a 5 sec head start and that gathered them up in less than 2. They were struggling to hit 60 by the time I was over 100mph. It was so cool. one kids at the gas station asked me were I got the GT-2's wheels. I just said germany, not really knowing what he meant. he then asked if the car was from germany and i told him I thought so. He started talking about his friends eclipse and I just faded out, jumped in the car and blew off...

LOL thats funny. I cant wait to see the picture..Jon

As I got in the car he was muttering something about the Eclipse having a turbo. I said "man I wish this had a turbo, it would be so fast" He's like yeah but it wouldn't be as fast as his Eclipse, and I just gave a gay wink as I drove off. The car wasn't mine so I didn't want to make him feel too stupid, I just wish his friend was there...

Yeah man, the girls around here don't even give a shit about a car unless it has a "wing". The GT-2 has one but it doen't get the girls attention like a Cavalier with a body kit...Just looking at the car turned my girlfriend on though, which was a first for a car. She usually thinks they are just a waste of money, but she kept her mouth shut when we haulled up a hill at over 150. She was like what does the guy that owns this look like? I just said ugly and spoiled...

There are eclipses that will hold ground against the GT-2 but not past 140-50 lol

Indeed, I think he thought it would blow the GT-2 away...after all the car is german and what do they no about cars?

Ive downloaded a few videos of the GT-2 and i dont even need to drive it to see what its capable of . Go to kazaa and check them out ..Jon

Sounds goot dude, I gotta get some sleep too. Hope you get to drive one or something like it, its unreal

If im every dieing of cancer or something it will be my last wish ...Jon

.

Wow - and I thought taking my pop's y2k Vette up to 155 was a rush - sounds like an awesome time.

Of course, even if given the opportunity, I would not be able to drive one - thanks to the MAN who has now permanently blinded me with that image above. Thanks a lot, pal.....I'm still seeing spots. ;)

~HH

Yeah i have the balls to risk my life but i would hate to wreck a car that cost as much as my house and live!! lol U would never hear the end of that ..Jon

Yeah I didn't mention the speed or anything to the Mr. Lietzinger guy, nor any members of my family. I don't know what kind of insurance you get for cars like that, and I bet no insurance company would be thrilled about not totalling a car until around $180,000....

Where's the pics? (sorry if this is already explained, i am out of time and had to skim for pictures!:D )

I had to go back to school, where I am now, and didn't get time to get the film to Wal-Mart. They probably are going to look like hell. Dad wanted to drive the car before dark, so we took the pictures after I got back under the garage flood light and camera's flash. So don't get to excited for mag quality photographs, sorry. Also I hope I can get them burned onto a CD at wal-mart without a problem, if not I have to scan the bastards onto my computer, which will most likely make them work even worse.

Don't get them put on a CD, I was just having this conversation with someone else the other day. They aren't good quality on those CDs because they don't want you to be able to print them out. Just scan them on a half-decent scanner and they'll look better.

ok man thanks, I havn't messed with non digital pictures in a while so it may take me a while to get all of them up on the board, but luckily the labs here at Penn State have some nice scanners, so the scans should look ok, at least enough to get an idea of the car...