Value of a race 944?

[John Sims]

The trick with buying a race car is establish what series you want to race in first. Get the regs then buy a current car from that series or get the regs from the series the car raced in previously and compare where they differ.

Don't do what I did which was buy a race car first and then discover it wasn't competitive in the series I was going to race in as they had amalgamated the class it ran in with the one above. I still came 10th over all in my first year even though I was only one of three cars with a 1300. All the others had 1600 up to 3500......Happy days.

 

[Andy97]

Thanks chaps. The regs for the CSCC "Future Classics" are quite free, however, whilst recognising that there is always someone able to spend more money that the next person, it is a series that is aimed squarely at the clubman and cheque book racing isn't really encouraged. Race series registration is by invitation for example. I think that an S2 might go well in the 2 litre to 3 litre class where there are already a couple of S2s and 2.5s competing, along with an Alfa GTV6, Alfa 75 V6, Rover Tomcat & BMW M3 or 325.

 

[paulf968]

I bought my 'ready to race' race car in May -- however it had never raced in the PCGB series - so am now finding out some of the little tweaks I need to do to it -- suspect there are a few more to unearth BUT the biggest potential for the car is to be found between the ears of the driver!

paul f

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: legaleagleboy

.......the biggest potential for the car is to be found between the ears of the driver!

paul f

You mean the nut holding the steering wheel. []

 

[Andy97]

I must admit that I think that having instruction helps, decent instruction, though. There are plenty of people around at Track Days who call themselves instructors but who are not really capable of coaching anything other than the "ideal line". There's far more to it than that.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: Andy97

............... There are plenty of people around at Track Days who call themselves instructors but who are not really capable of coaching anything other than the "ideal line"..............

But then track days aren't races. For a track day the ideal line is.....well.......ideal.

You still need to know the fastest way around a track for racing. Qualifying, you want the fastest lap (ie The ideal line) trying to catch the guy in front you want the fastest lap (ie The ideal line) The only time the ideal line isn't ideal is when you are trying to pass someone or stop them passing you. In my experience if someone could catch me there was little point in trying to stop him getting past as we would both end up going slower. If he was sufficiently quick to catch me I concluded I would learn more and perhaps get further if I chased him.

Getting past people isn't something you can be taught. You have to read the situation and position yourself in such a way as to make it happen. The subtleties are so diverse that every situation is different. Again pointless if you can't catch them or keep up with them and often executed because you are quicker around a certain part of the track. At this point your car is balanced, where as theirs is on the edge of adhesion, so you have more options as to where you can put your car where as they can only go where they won't crash.

Seldom in Club racing are cars and drivers so equally matched as to necessitate fighting for every inch of track and then, I'm afraid, it comes down to who is the bravest or who has the largest cheque book.

Learn to get around a track quickly, all the rest will fall into place.

 

[Andy97]

You still ned to understand more than the "ideal line", though. There are whole issues of vehicle dynamics to consider - when (and how hard) to brake and accelerate & the effect that has on weight transfer & therefore understeer/ oversteer etc, observation and planning ahead, even a decent driving position. It all has an affect on how quickly you can get round a track.