Neil Haughey
New member
First point is yes to some degree but in reality it just has a slightly wider power band which as many have said over the years is odd given the 6 gears, BTA the 6 gears are themselves as odd as there isn't much difference between the 2nd, 3rd, 4th in either car. 5th is shorter in the 968 and I really noticed this at Silverstone. Accelerating through 4th there doesn't seem to be much in it between an S2 and a 968 (in PCGB championship spec), however once up around the top of 4th the 968 definitely has its legs and they have the benefit of a 5th that allows the car to keep accelerating. As an example in a class 2 car there are loads of places on track where 5th can be used but it doesn't seem to make any difference compared to just leaving it in 4th and letting the car bounce of the limiter.
BTW my car is only making a bit over 200 lb/ft at the moment, as we have seen it before I am sure some S2s are making 220+ lb/ft. With an engine in that state of tune I reckon there would be nothing in it on many tracks between a class 1 968 and a class 2 S2 given the weight difference.
Second point one could ask Barry Hart, ISTR he said on PH or the 968 forum that at one point they had disabled the variocam to see the result and all it does is move the torque peak around. In other words the engine could make the same peak power without it but wouldn't have that low to mid range grunt. If you ever get to drive a normal 968 in good health on the road you will see what that means as it feels much stronger than an S2 IMHO even though in reality the difference is very small. As an example our 968 tiptronic pulls as well as my S2 ever did when it was a road car.
