That’s not a great way to debut a super car.
It’s never a great sight to see a driver fail at doing a burnout or donut. Failing to do so properly with a brand new supercar in front of a huge crowd, on live-steaming video at one of the biggest automotive events in the world, is downright embarrassing.
The 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed was another smashing success and one of the best events of the year. New cars, vintage cars, classic racers, and more raced through the narrow pavement up the hill at Goodwood with famed drivers behind the wheel.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed is also the choice spot for automakers to debut their newest sports cars due to the crowd size and ability to show off their performance. This was why Porsche decided to unveil and show off their new 2018 911 GT2 RS with its track-spec chassis, aero, and 700-horsepower engine. It’s the fastest and most-powerful street-legal 911 ever made, so its run just had to be impressive, right?
Well, things started off well. Other than the rather disappointing exhaust sound for a car with the raw and untamed character of the GT2 RS, the acceleration was nothing short of awe-inspiring off the line. As the new 911 GT2 RS drove into the donut area on the course in front of the Goodwood House where tires go to melt, viewers and spectators got ready for an epic display of power.
But the new 911 GT2 RS didn’t want to do anything resembling a donut. Instead, the car jolted a few times during the turn-in and the driver had to come to a complete stop after running out of pavement in the turnaround area. Reverse had to be engaged to get the supercar out of the situation, which, on a hillclimb, is never a good thing.
To try and make up for it, the driver attempted to lose traction with the rear wheels and spin the 911 GT2 RS around to continue the run, but the supercar just bucked a few times again as it barely made the turn. With the new Porsche 911 Turbo S speeding up right behind, the driver gunned the throttle of the 911 GT2 RS and flew through the course, trying to get away from that embarrassing moment as quickly as possible.
Despite the failed donut attempt, the new 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS did look very quick on the rest of the hillclimb. The donuts were most likely thwarted by the electronic systems running at the time to protect the driver. Next year, Porsche will have to make up for it by just slaying a set of rear tires like Nico Rosberg did on Day 2.
Source: Goodwood Road & Racing
How embarrassed would you be if you couldn’t do a donut with a 700-HP car in its global debut?
