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2017 Shelby GT350 Bench Mark with Porsche

WesS

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I was reading some old articles about Ford bench marking the 2017 Shelby GT350 against a GT3. Any reason why they would do that against that caliber of a car?
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In spirit the cars are quite similar in intended purpose. I’ve always thought of mine as the result of what would happen if a domestic sports car had the attributes of a GT3. Granted the Porsche is a very high caliber car but some of that I feel is Porsche mystique and price (I had two 911’s prior to my GT350) The Shelby is an amazing car for less than half the price but follows the same basic formula. High revving N/A engine, track tuned suspension and great brakes.
 
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WesS

WesS

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It’s pretty obvious.
It’s obvious that the GT3 is the standard and if you’re bench marking a standard you want to beat or even tie the standard which the GT350R doesn’t. I love my GT350R, but I wouldn’t have bench marked a gt3
 

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It’s obvious that the GT3 is the standard and if you’re bench marking a standard you want to beat or even tie the standard which the GT350R doesn’t. I love my GT350R, but I wouldn’t have bench marked a gt3
Why wouldn't they? There really isn't any other car in this class to compare to. If you want to be the best you have to go for the best and that applies to not just cars but everything in life.

Remember the quote we all learned from grade school, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars".
 

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MNGT350

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Why wouldn't they? There really isn't any other car in this class to compare to. If you want to be the best you have to go for the best and that applies to not just cars but everything in life.

Remember the quote we all learned from grade school, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars".
huh. I always thought it was "shoot for the stars, if you miss you still might get to the moon."
 

Vettel-ish

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I will never be able to own one or even sit in one and I know that they are some of the greatest cars ever made. If that was the benchmark.. and they came close. Bravo.

That being said the 350 is one hell of a car for the money.
 

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The be the man you have to beat the man...whoooooo
 

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It’s obvious that the GT3 is the standard and if you’re bench marking a standard you want to beat or even tie the standard which the GT350R doesn’t. I love my GT350R, but I wouldn’t have bench marked a gt3
That's an interesting take. Or you could say, they benchmarked the standard for street/track sports car, made a car that captures a lot of the feel and is nearly as fast for ~1/3 the price out-the-door.

Randy Pobst put a GT350R around Laguna Seca about a half-second slower than a GT3 (non-RS). That's impressive. Most of the difference was acceleration out of the corners given the weight advantage of the GT3. For $100K-150K less money, depending on how crazy you go with the Porche option$$$ list, that is even more impressive.
 
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WesS

WesS

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That's an interesting take. Or you could say, they benchmarked the standard for street/track sports car, made a car that captures a lot of the feel and is nearly as fast for ~1/3 the price out-the-door.

Randy Pobst put a GT350R around Laguna Seca about a half-second slower than a GT3 (non-RS). That's impressive. Most of the difference was acceleration out of the corners given the weight advantage of the GT3. For $100K-150K less money, depending on how crazy you go with the Porche option$$$ list, that is even more impressive.
I’m not denying that the GT350R isn’t an amazing car. I got that over the GT500 because I wanted a manual and something unique as in the engine and capabilities for a good price. Was Randy in a stock GT350R? The GT3 is a car great car. I’ve only ridden in my friends GT3RS and I was in awe by the power and the PDK.
 

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Owning both a GT350 and a Porsche 718 Cayman, the 0-60, braking g's, and lateral g's are quite similar.
The two are no where near the same when you are behind the wheel.
If I had to make a comparison, the Porsche is more like a nimble light weight F1 car, and the Shelby is like a Nascar set up for Watkins Glen's road coarse.
If you can drive both on the same roads AFTER you are familiar with both vehicles, you will understand the difference in the "seat-o-the pants" meter feeling.
 
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WesS

WesS

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Owning both a GT350 and a Porsche 718 Cayman, the 0-60, braking g's, and lateral g's are quite similar.
The two are no where near the same when you are behind the wheel.
If I had to make a comparison, the Porsche is more like a nimble light weight F1 car, and the Shelby is like a Nascar set up for Watkins Glen's road coarse.
If you can drive both on the same roads AFTER you are familiar with both vehicles, you will understand the difference in the "seat-o-the pants" meter feeling.
Is the GT350R different feeling than the GT350? The 991/992 are suppose to be amazing. I love American built V8 cars the most, thus why I also got a 20 GT350R. Just don’t know why they would benchmark a GT3 if they knew they wouldn’t be close to the performance.
 

dpAtlanta

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My guess Wes, would be that both vehicles have similar horsepower... That seems to be a benchmark for comparisons. Both in the low 500 hp range.

My 718 has almost 200 horsepower less than the Shelby, but it is 0.1 seconds quicker 0-60.
 

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So Randy P. within half a sec at Laguna isn’t close? There’s all kinds of comparisons between the R and the regular 350. I wanted an R, but the backseat was a requirement and I knew I’d buy forged wheels regardless of the variant I bought. I figured the forged wheels would get me very close to the carbon wheels without the concern. I bought all the chassis bracing and springs before I even took delivery. I was wanting a Gt3 and had two different deals worked out. For me, the Porsche wasn’t a good fit and I stepped away. The car is amazing no doubt, But the 350 has a sound and a distinctive feel that is very much American to me. I really prefer the more raw experience, and the manual was a must.
Are you having buyers remorse?

Is the GT350R different feeling than the GT350? The 991/992 are suppose to be amazing. I love American built V8 cars the most, thus why I also got a 20 GT350R. Just don’t know why they would benchmark a GT3 if they knew they wouldn’t be close to the performance.
 
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I’m on my third GT3:

91BB9B4F-C524-4D56-A1D4-24606E952958.jpeg


It’s a phenomenal car for sure. As a comparison to the GT350R, the GT350R is close in performance, less refined more raw and a lot of fun. The R is a more practical daily driver, just- LOL.

Just to clarify the times at big willow: https://fastestlaps.com/tracks/willow-springs, it is a few seconds off the latest gen 991.2 GT3. My manual GT3 is jus a tick off the PDK model Randy set his best lap time with.

I agree the spirit of both is similar, and both come from different base cars yet end up as track focused performance cars. The base models show through both with the R a pony car at heart and the GT3 a true GT car at its heart. They are both great cars and I’m blessed to own both.
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