911 GT3 RS
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Diver944
Active member
All our bar room talk is making me want to get back out there but I have to wait another three weeks [
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It is true that the 50/50 weight distribution means you have to have cat like reflexes to catch our cars, or have undertaken some sort of training to give you subconscious early warning signs. Maybe we ought to look at a Group limit handling day or skid pan training. I know that Dave Malings did a very enjoyable half day 'drifting' at Oulton Park for around £100 and the instructors there commented his car was unusually difficult to control sideways for a high powered RWD car
]It is true that the 50/50 weight distribution means you have to have cat like reflexes to catch our cars, or have undertaken some sort of training to give you subconscious early warning signs. Maybe we ought to look at a Group limit handling day or skid pan training. I know that Dave Malings did a very enjoyable half day 'drifting' at Oulton Park for around £100 and the instructors there commented his car was unusually difficult to control sideways for a high powered RWD car
sawood12
New member
The good thing about a 50/50 weight distribution car where the weight is distributed over the axels is that you get nice progressive handling characteristics giving you more time to make your corrections as the rear end will break away more slowly. However if you don't get the corrections in nice and early the inertia builds up then you wont have a cat in hells chance of catching the rear. This is the opposite to a 50/50 wight distributed mid engined car where the weight is in-between the axels. These have less progressive handling, i.e. more snappy, but react more quickly to steering inputs.
Due to this I find the slow steering rack fitted to 944's doesn't help. When I had my spin at Bedford I felt the rear breaking loose, applied the steering inputs slowly and progressively, but unfortunately too slowly and the momentum built up in the rear and I simply couldn't get the lock on quickly enough to catch the rear. This is obviously all about getting a feel for the car on the limit.
But like Paul i'm itching to get back out there. I'm going to have to review the evening dates for Silverstone again!
Due to this I find the slow steering rack fitted to 944's doesn't help. When I had my spin at Bedford I felt the rear breaking loose, applied the steering inputs slowly and progressively, but unfortunately too slowly and the momentum built up in the rear and I simply couldn't get the lock on quickly enough to catch the rear. This is obviously all about getting a feel for the car on the limit.
But like Paul i'm itching to get back out there. I'm going to have to review the evening dates for Silverstone again!
Diver944
Active member
Ah the old "Modify the car to make it better for track days and then not being able to afford to do the track days it was modified to do" syndrome. I think most of us know that feeling.
There are times when I wonder if it would be better to have a cheap old dog and do lots of track days rather than spend money on modifications.
Hilux
New member
I thought of it many times and nearly bought an S2 track day car BUT you will get bored with it after a while and want it to go faster, trouble is then you`ve got to spend even more money. I had a lovely Westy which was great on track and went like the proverbial but I still got bored with it. My 951 still needs bits doing to it so I still dont quite trust it but in a year or so it will be sorted properly.
My view is get it reliable and trustworthy over a period of time, you`ll then enjoy the benefit over a longer period of time.
The people out there on track with great reliable cars have spent a long time and money to achieve the right looks, performance and reliability. Its a progressive thing. If its not what people want then they can always get a massive loan (like most new car owners) and buy a serious 911, the depreciation will cost more than our cars to buy.
If we raced with our brains I would agree with your last sentence here John, but sometimes it's a passion that's almost primeordeal, which is to say that when you do spend your hard earned on something like the KW's and see a sudden decrease in times and the ability to attack a corner that previously had you spooked, then I think it's all worth it. Brings a great sense of satisfaction when you start to approach your potential and sometimes it's these mods that allow you to do this. Although I don't have much of a leg to stand on in this argument as I spun my rod bearing and I've been off the track since Nov. all my fault.[
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Hilux
New member
[&o][&o][&o][&o] I feel for you
I presume (think) it was oil surge out of a corner?? I intend to do a simple mod IMO this winter.
Either 1) extend the pick up with a collar so it drops to the true bottom of the sump (Magnet fitted to underside of sump) or 2) extend and strengthen the pick up tube. I have a spare sump so am looking to baffle it further too.
Well it was me being inattentive and a bit overawed when I forgot to check my oil levels after having a local legend take me for a drive in my car around the track for a few laps. Jim Richards. He has won the Bathurst race here a number of times, has raced at LeMans, wins our Targa events regularly and owns a GT2 plus a 951 cup replica. He loved my car and drove it pretty hard and I stupidly got in it straight afterwards and copied his lines without checking my levels. So, yes, to answer your first question Paul.
I am sick of worrying about this sort of thing happening so I am going down the dry sump path pretty soon. Just ironing out a few issues with fitting it to a RHD road car.
I really am missing the track and I envy you guys with so many tracks on your doorsteps.
I am sick of worrying about this sort of thing happening so I am going down the dry sump path pretty soon. Just ironing out a few issues with fitting it to a RHD road car.
I really am missing the track and I envy you guys with so many tracks on your doorsteps.
sawood12
New member
I think the trick John is to feed the mods in at a pace that the cashflow allows to enable you to do both, but the KW is a V.expensive upgrade so it is always likely that the cashflow is going to take a battering in the short term at least. However i've also considered an old battered car specifically a MK2 Golf GTi or a Corrado, but the winning aspect of a 944 in my mind is that it works as a daily driver also. A hard-core and caged MK2 Golf GTi would be an awful daily driver!.
To me lap times are not important on track days - although i'm sure they might become moreso the more I do. I'm specifically after simply improving my driving skills and enjoing the car. Like many of us on this forum I am a frustrated wannabe racing driver and have never plucked up the courage to commit the time and funds to actually go racing but i'm hoping the more focussed feel of the KW'd 944 turbo will give me a taster of what could have been!!!
Hilux
New member
It appears so BUT it brings the cars into the 21st century handling wise.
My sons little Mk 1 1.3 golf on upgraded lowered suspension etc is an absolute revelation on the road BUT it shakes your fillings out. So impressed with it am I that I`m seriously thinking of getting one as a dedicated track day barge. They are only 800kgs ish on the road and with a G60 engine there isnt much will touch them handling and speed wise IMO
sawood12
New member
I think at Bedford we were shown the merits of a stripped out lightweight small car with those Clio cup cars buzzing around the place. They were quite impressive, however part of the fun of track days to me is driving your car there, hacking it around the track for a day and driving it back home without it needing a plethora of mechanical bits replacing after each event. Somehow trailering your race prepared car to the track seems bad sport somehow!
And (I speak from experience) is as much fun as poking yourself in your softer areas with a sharpened pencil. When others just take off their helmet's and drive home, making discrete progress in their performance car, you have a trailer to load up. Then (having left after everyone else) you drive home slowly. Once home you then have to unload it all to put the car in the garage. Why is it that, in my memory, this was often in the rain.[8|]
Another thing - People find racing cars on trailers interesting so they slow down along side to look. This then traps you in on the left hand lane so you can't move out to get around the slower vehicle in front. [
] And if you think middle lane hoggers are annoying in a car try towing a trailer when you aren't allowed to move into the third lane. And towing uses at least twice as much fuel (well it did at the speed I would tow at) [:-]Track Days are meant to be done for fun not as a chore.
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