Thanks so much Frode
. I have been looking for a long time for that Automobile article “A Tale of Two Turbos” that compares the 911 Turbo to the 944 Turbo S. I was mostly interested in the 911 Turbo aspect of the article and the fact that they used Derek Bell as a commentator and to drive the car on Willow Springs race track.
BTW, the 944 models engine is actually taken from ½ the 928’s V8. While it is not my favorite Porsche, I think you have to at least recognize how effective it was as a sports car
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I believe the main reason Porsche released the S version of the 944 Turbo was to qualify it in a racing series or class in the U.S. called “showroom stock”. The regular 944 Turbos were being absolutely dominated by the Corvette in this racing series and it was bad for Porsche’s image.
The 944 Turbo didn’t have wide enough tires and suspension to compete with the Corvette in the corners and the low end torque of the Chevy’s V8 helped it pull stronger out of the turns. The 944 Turbo made up for it on the straights with a higher top speed but could never overcome the cornering advantage of the Vette.
BTW the following year the 944 Turbo was upgraded to the S specifications to better compete with Corvettes on the street. Too bad they could never really compete against the Corvettes in the showroom stock series :cry: .