While everyone’s attention this past weekend at Pike’s Peak was focused primarily on the overall record attempts, some other records were actually broken, including one by Jeff Zwart, who destroyed Rhys Millen’s previous record time of 12:09.40, in his Hyundai Genesis Coupe, with a 11:31.095 in his Porsche 997 Cup. A friend of the site was fortunate enough to send over some in-car video from Zwart’s qualifying run. Watch how hard to control the Porsche looks once it hits the dirt!
Thanks, Roger for the tip!
[Photo: Drew Phillips, Autoblog]
Insane! That took some serious cojones!
Nice ride, congratulation. Especially at 4:35 to 4:42 he shows his skill.
I love the whining sound
Ok, so a RWD Porsche on dirt shows what happens when lift oversteer combines with power oversteer. That dude had no traction at all. Why you would pick an ass heavy car that wants to constantly swap ends confuses me, other than having balls the size of globes.
Matt, keep posting the car porn. That was outstanding.
despite that madness, this guy won the 2WD Time Attack class so he must be doing something right!
Don`t forget that the Porsche has almost all his wheight on the rear axle. This actually gives an advantage to Porsche over other cars regarding grip level. Just look at 0-60 starts in the wet…. Though it`s probably difficult to handle, this car does provide good traction.
I saw a guy in NY driving a Carrera S on Dunlop Wintersport M3 snow tires in about 4" of snow on a race track. he looked like he was having the time of his life.
The problem with the 911 is the weight over the rear. Great traction if you can keep the power down but if you lift at all during a turn the weight trandfer causes huge snap oversteer. On dirt it looked to be amplified and takes an incredible driver to keep that thing straight.
Matt, the fact he won the 2wd class just shows that a car is nothing more than its driver. That guy is the kind of driver that I will never be. Big props.
I agree with you that porsches have…"exciting" handling but they are great for low grip surfaces. Putting the engine in the back puts more weight on the drive wheels so you have FWD traction in a RWD car. What amazes me so much is that the car is basically an unmodified porsche 911 cup car. No special tires or anything. Just Imagine what a properly prepped RSR LeMans car could do!
Back in the day they used to rally porsches all the time.
I wonder what kind of time he would've posted in a car fit for that course! That Porsche was definitely the wrong vehicle to take on the dirt. Great driving, that looked sketchy as hell.
you might say he has a lot of ball or that it was the wrong choice of car where, in fact, its both PLUS the fact that he's an extremely talented driver…. keep racing dude
The funny thing to me about people that are critical about Porsche is they have nothing else to say but something about the weight, " you know all the weight is the back" ……………blah blah blah. Porsche like or not has won more races and overall racing series than anybody else. Period, look it up. No question that Mr Zwart can drive, the guy is awesome but ignaorant comments like that Porsche was definitely the wrong car to take on that course are just comical to me. He just smashed the previous record by 38 seconds. How could you say anything other than wow?