Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brucelee
Lets try this.
Does racing a car lengthen or shorten its useful life?
Do you want to buy a car that has been raced?
Does racing involve high revs and tremendous internal stresses?
Does daily trips to the redline lengthen or shorten an engines useful life?
Do manufacturer's in general have a qarranty disclaimer for racing or other forms of abuse?
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Hi,
Wait a minute here. You are carrying your examples to extremes to justify your arguments. NO ONE said anything about Racing. This was an example you brought up.
The Lister simply inquired about the Damage Potential of hitting the Rev Limiter
ONE time. I said that this wasn't a problem and all of a sudden, we're talking about
Racing and
Warranty Claims.
Realize that Porsche has the ability to set the Rev Limiter to whatever Threshold they choose. This isn't some arbitrary number (although I would probably concede that there are more factors than merely Engine Preservation factored into their decision, such as the Marketing Potential of achieving certain Performance Parameters such as HP and Torque). I suspect that the Power Curve trails off at or just before RedLine. This means if you want to derive the maximum potential the car has to offer (and don't forget this is a Sports Car, driven largely by Enthusiasts) you're going to enter these Nether Reaches of the Tach. Porsche knows this too.
I further concede that I would not drive
My car in a manner which hit the Limiter on every shift, or even every day (as you allude to), or week. But, when I'm out to take a Run or in any Competition, I want the car to Deliver the Goods, this means exceeding 6k Revs when appropriate.
I have developed a good deal of Mechanic Skill through the years and keep my cars in top shape. I have somewhat of a reputation among the Formula Vee crowd with whom I compete as having one of the most reliable cars, very few Mechanical Failures and DNFs by comparison to the rest of the field. Yet, I am one of the most Competitive and beat the P*ss out of the car on the Track. Where's your Cause and Effect here? As pointedly mentioned by another contributor, it's
how you drive the car, over at what RPM range which will, to a great part, determine the car's longevity. I am smooth and very easy on my cars, despite pushing them to their limits. This is why they last. Most FV engines require a rebuild annually or every other season. Mine has averaged every 3-4 over the 14 years I've owned it. In large part, the Rules see to it that all the engines are basically the same, so how do you explain this if not for the effect of the Driver and proper maintenance?
Further, I realize that at some point in each of my cars that a rebuild will be necessary at some point, this is part of the Pkg. when owning Performance Cars longterm - you gotta
Pay to Play. I try to hold that day off until absolutely necessary, but not if it means I have to drive like an Old Lady. If that's your point, those people would be much better off in a SunFire.
The 987S develops 276 bhp and 236 lb-ft of Torque respectively and this is often one of the arguments made to queeries about which model to buy - Base or 'S'. But, these numbers are
only achieved at 6,200RPM and 4,700RPM respectively. If you are one of those guys who never exceeds 5k RPM, you're never gonna see this performance anyway, so buying the 'S' is a waste of time, if buying it solely for it's greater performance potential. On the other hand, a Base model driven to it's Max can realize more performance than the aforementioned 'S'.
Of course manufacturers build-in the Caveat of denying Warranty Claims against Racing or other Competition. Not usually because the cars can't take it, rather because all Drivers, or Owners are not the same. My cars are driven Hard, but, they are not abused. They are driven and maintained properly. Every car I've ever sold was sold for usually more than I paid for it, despite being very forthcoming to the Buyer about how the car was used. Their Test Drive, PPI, and complete Service Records (incl. every fill-up and Oil Change) tells them that the car is in excellent shape regardless of it's past use. Further, I have never had a Buyer come back to me with any complaints about a car I sold them. I have owned 43 cars in my life and currently own 5, so I've sold a few of them through the years.
So, to conclude, how you drive your car and maintain it is much more important in preserving it's life than an occaisional run to Red Line. If you want to keep bringing these extreme examples into the discussion, I suggest you start another thread on these topics, because they are not really germane to the discussion here. In that context, you may find that we're not so much in disagreement as you think.
Happy Motoring!...Jim'99