Hi everyone,
OK, first the disclaimer. Yes, we are the Carolinas Dealer for the Beck speedster, but I am also a Porsche owner, driving instructor, and car enthusiast. I am not posting this as an ad, I am posting it as real world experience driving one of the cars in our inventory for a weekend. I read all the posts here, and find that many people are asking 'so, how do these things really drive' and I read words like "wonderful" and "lots of fun", but no specific details. Now, I'm sure I'm going to be bashed for being biased, but here goes:
First, about the car. 2004 Beck with a 2110 cc, 170hp CB Performance engine, Pro-Street Rancho Performance engine, 4 wheel disc brakes, and custom exhuast system.
Now about the drive. I am the local director for the Porsche Club, and we run a bunch of driving events all year. One of these I put together years ago was our annual Wine Tasting Tour (yes, believe it or not, there are wineries in North Carolina). Originally, it was a drive from one winery to another. However, due to the driving/drinking aspects of it, we have have turned it into a really nice 2+ hour "spirited" drive ending up at a great winery. (that is spirited as in "lively", not spirited as in "full of spirits/alcohol)
Normally we take our personal 993 cab, but this year, my wife and I decided to take the Speedster. The route this year was about 130 miles of very twisty roads, with a little bit of high speed back roads sprinkled in. We ended up behind a Boxster S for a while. Now, if any of you have driven a Boxster S, you know that it is a wonderful handling car. And the driver did a pretty good job of trying to lose me. But, the little speedster held it's own and kept up nicely. OK, so there were a few times I almost put us in a ditch trying to keep up, but I guess all those years of Drivers Ed's have taught me something about car control. WHAT A BLAST!! We were squealing tires all through the mountains.
We got to our destination and had a great time. As all of you know, driving any one of these wonderful cars turns a lot of heads.
So, my driving impressions: As was not unexpected, it has a bit of understeer at high speeds. Nothing that a little throttle steer can't fix, but can get away from you if you're not paying attention. It took me a while to really get the hang of how and when to turn into the winding road twisties as it handles nothing like a 911. Highway driving is a bit boring but smooth. We drove with the top down all day and could actually hold a normal conversation most of the time, even on the highway at about 80 mph, though we had to talk a little louder. The custom exhaust is much quieter than the stock exhaust that comes with the car. Overall, it felt like the old 356's, but with more power. One of the guys that owns a real '58 speedster drove it for a while and said the same thing...but also commented that he would drive this one harder than his real one because his is worth so much.
Unfortunately, I cannot compare it to other replicas as I have not driven any.
So, there you have it. Was it helpful to anyone? Probably not, I just wanted to tell you, in a long winded sort of way, that I had a blast driving it.
Next event, we try the Spyder... :-o
-Bob Saville
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