Morning Qualifying – Porsche vs Ferrari edition
Two brands, two cars, one choice
Do you remember your first set of slot cars? Of course, you do. Slot cars are one of the gateway drugs to automotive addiction. Did you share that set of slot cars with a sibling? Then, you undoubtedly fought with that sibling over who got what car. It’s nature’s way. At stately Scroggs Manor, me and my stupid little brother, John, fought over two of the finest, and prettiest, sports/endurance racing cars of the 1960′s. While John and I preferred to settle our childhood disputes with a well-timed a punch to the head, today I’d prefer to settle this matter in a civilized fashion consistent with contemporary American political mores…..with internet polls and vicious slurs against anyone whose opinions differs from your own. Let’s meet the contestants.
Contestant #1: Porsche 906 Carrera 6
From Zuffenhausen, weighing in at a svelte 1360 lbs, the terror of the 1966 Targa Florio, it’s the Porsche 906 Carrera 6. Powered by a 2-liter, SOHC flat 6 positioned amidship, the 906 made 210 hp at 8000 rpms with a top speed of 174 mph. Campaigned in over 650 races over 11 years, the Carrera 6 achieved 327 podium finishes with 142 overall victories with another 111 class victories. It’s most notable victory came at the 1966 Targa Florio.
Contestant #2: Ferrari Dino 206 SP
From Marinello, weighing in at 1279 lbs, the Hellfire hill-climber, it’s the Ferrari Dino 206 SP. Powered by a 2-liter, 24 valve, quad-cam V6 positioned amidship, the Dino 206 SP made 220 hp at 9000 rpms with a top speed of 161 mph. Campaigned in over 100 races over 8 seasons, the 206 SP achieved 26 podium finishes with 13 overall victories with another 12 class victories. It’s most notable victories came at the 1965 Freiburg-Schaunisland and Ollon-Villars hill climbs and 1966 Sierra-Montana-Crans Hill Climb and Enna City Cup race.
So, which car would you punch a sibling for? Vote in the comment section. And don’t forget…..FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
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The reason the Ferrari has such a poor winning percentage compared to the Porsche in spite of a superior power to weight ratio is inevitably because the driver screwed that advantage up with too much gold jewelery. Yes, I went there.
Of course, its participation in less than a sixth as many races is because of how often it wouldn't start (whether or not it was up in flames).
Yes, There Is No Substitute.
My write-in vote is the lone slot car left in my older brother's set by the time I inherited it: a Penske/Donohue Trans-Am Javelin. I didn't know what the hell it was– early '80s Western VA wasn't exactly a hotbed of Javelin activity– but I knew I liked it.
But if forced to vote… I guess the 906 is more closely related to the Penske/Donohue 917 than the 206 is to the Penske/Donohue 512…and what the hell was my point again?
Gotta go with the Porsche and its overwhelming record. Lovely car, too. Plus the Ferrari's incomplete, since hey forgot to put the roof on.
The comic shop that I frequented in middle school set up a slot-car track. It so awesome. I had 2 cars: a Dodge Ram and some other stock car with Camel (purple) branding. I never finished a race, but it was still good fun.
Got to go with the Dino.
At a car show earlier this year I saw a 1980s Testarossa with a Calvin peeing on a Porsche symbol, it was stuck on the side window.
Calvin peeing is so passe, Calvin now pees on it.
<img src="http://netninja.com/images/lj/calvin_circle_piss.jpg" ,width="500/">
Image from Netninja.com
The strangest one I've ever seen was Calvin peeing on Calvin, that one blew my mind due to the dimension shattering implied.
Exactly. It's a recursive dimensional transgression!
What, again?
Say it ten times fast and you will need a glass of water before you start.
"What" is a pretty normal response,, but if you want to read up on spacetime so you can follow the thread, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacetime
Or maybe you were just feeling snarky.
I suspect Watterson has one of these on the back of his car. He absolutely hates the commercialization of C&H.
I've always wanted to have one made that has Calvin pissing on the phrase "Bill Watterson's intellectual property".
The 906 all the way. Records and stats are secondary to the "fact" I just don't like Ferrari Racing. Scuderia Schmudreia I say.
How is it that Ferrari earned the "Prancing Horse" nickname, despite nearly identical logos between the two?
It probably has something to do with the way Ferrari owners act whilst throwing a hissy fit when something doesn't go their way
Technically Stuttgart would be the pony in both cases.
<img src="http://seq.pca.org/images/CrestDef.jpg"/>
"To differentiate his Alfas from the others, Ferrari in 1932 began painting on his cars a large crest that featured a prancing horse on a yellow background. Ferrari said he was given the crest by Countess Paolina Baracca, whose son, Francesco, had served in the same WWI flying squadron as Ferrari’s brother, Alfredo. The visage of a rearing black horse (the symbol of the city of Stuttgart) was said to have come from a German fighter plane the ace Baracca had shot down. Ferrari gave it the background of yellow, the official color of Modena."
My logic goes thusly:
We are talking about cars usually bought to overcompensate.
Ferrari by far has the most flamboyant cars almost exclusively in bright red or yellow.
Thus their crest needs to focus on the horse in order to say, "hey baby, check out my Stud Garden."
The racing pedigree speaks for itself. Porsche 906 it is. It was a hard decision because the next evolution of the engine in the Ferrari was used in the Lancia Stratos.
"I get the Porsche!"
"Really? OK, fine by me."
"What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing, its a…good choice."
"What did you do to it!"
"I didn't do anything, I'm sure you will do very well."
"I want the Ferrari!"
"You sure?"
"Yes."
"…sucker."
I didn't know you'd visited the playtarium at stately Scroggs Manor.
The Porsche, of course. It never ceases to amaze me how small these cars are when you see them in person. Pictures always make them seem so much larger, unless there's a person in the photo, of course.
The slot-car set that my brother and I had when we were young featured a pair of 3.0CSLs. Come to think of it, that's probably why I like the 3.0CSL even when other E9 Bimmers strike me as somewhat ungainly-looking.