'Is there a real difference between a 991S and 911S with the Powerkit?' I have heard this quite a few times. And honestly, you really won't see or feel the difference. Where you will experience it is on the track or strip. The posted 0-60 times shows a .2 second change or so? That is only up to 60mph. The X-51 really pulls past that. It is a subtle change, not drastic. But it is definitely there. Maybe two weeks after the install our local PCA had another track weekend at Roebling, I couldn't pass it up.

The first time out t Roebling, I was hitting 140+mph before braking hard at the first turn zone. This was with a full open track ahead of me. So, I was coming out of turn 9 with some speed, probably about 90-100mph, with a no traffic before me.


Now, this is only my second time to a track event, and the track itself. I was growing in experience, confidence, and trust in myself and the car. Just, that this time there were more drivers in my class this time. I was still in the Green class, beginner. With the track being crowded, and not able to pass until on the front straight (our only passing zone), I was still hitting close to 140mph within a shorter distance and/or slower entrance speed.




With the X-51, the car doesn't start to hit its true power output until you hit the higher RPMs. And from there, it just pulls so much harder. I am sure I doing a terrible job of explaining it. Basically, in a shorter area or from a lower start speed, I was practically still attaining the same, or close to the same, speed before the brake zone. Knowing that each time, I was flooring the pedal along the straight, I was rather impressed with what I was achieving.

Among my class, I was quite the demon with the fastest car. I was passing everybody, and was on the edge of cockiness. During the second to last session of the weekend, we were coming out of turn 5 when the back end jumped out a bit, maybe to much power on exit or something. I kept pushing the car. There was a car ahead of me when we hit the straight. Only hitting about 120+mph before turns 1 and 2. Setting up the car for 3 on the little straight, red lights lit up the dash, beeps came on, and WTF?? The car was showing my right rear tire had -37psi. Letting the car slow on its own, we exited the track to see what happened. Somewhere on the last lap we caught something smack in the middle of the tire.



I am not a mechanic of much value. I can change a tire, not repair. This is where I learned the value of our PCA. I am sure its the same at all track events, but I had several people extending hands to assist. My local techs were there and they did not think the Porsche repair kit would help in this instance, hole too big. I borrowed a 19" wheel/tire from another driver who was about to trailer his 997, and I drove back to the hotel, weekend complete. My wheel was on its way home attached to somebody else's car.

The drive back to the hotel, almost 10 miles, was exciting. About a every mile, the rear of the car would 'hop' to the right. Remember me not be mechanically inclined? Apparently, with the 19" wheel, the car was getting some wrong info about wheel speed compared to the rest of the 20' wheels and would compensate. I could not drive home the 300miles in this condition. Could possibly burn out the differential or some other piece of hardware.

Ended up having the car towed to Porsche of Hilton Head and had to order a new wheel and tire to be installed. This added an extra three days to the trip, ordered Monday arrived Wednesday. My original tire and wheel left attached to a 997 somewhere in Orlando. It cost an extra $2k or so for a single rear wheel/tire expedited and installed. I don't remember the exact cost, but I'm sure my wife will tell you. She was not too happy about that Valentine's weekend.


The worse part of it was, I had to drive home another 4hours with someone else's tire and wheel in my back seat. It was double-wrapped in garbage bags, but it took up so much space in the back seat, my wife was practically chewing on the dashboard. That rather doubled her consternation over the weekend trip.

 

What a joy reading it all. I can only imagine frustration and patience of your wife! Also learning a great deal about how complex and true tech marvel 991 is. Every time I had a flat tire, workshop "recommended" to change both rears together otherwise the PDK, PDCC & awd system was going to get all out of whack...not sure if that's true but I've taken these precautions...btw, luv 2nd photo!

 

Thanks about the photo Fester. Provided by Awol Photos! They used to show up at the track events and just take pics all day long, compress all the shots of your car onto a CD and get them to you. A true vanity play if ever!

My wife still reminds me about the 4 hour drive. Every time I say the 'P' word about my car's make, she claims she gets a new pair of shoes. She may be listening now...

 

For us, the summer of 2013 started off around Mother's Day to see my grandmother in Charleston, WV. The trip up was highlighted by finding the town of Newberry from the Andy Griffith show. I never knew! It's a little place up around the borders of North Carolina and Virginia. There are some nice driving roads up around there. The same goes for West Virginia too.

Our second trip was in late July with a trip to Western North Carolina, near Cullowhee for a few days.


Didn't get to drive much, but we did cut through the Great Smokey Mountains on a beautiful road on our way across Tennessee to Memphis. On the way we did pass another 991.



At this point, with the Mother's Day trip and the Route 66 saga, we had driven through every state in the Southeast except one, Arkansas. That was taken care of when we decided to go to Dallas to see the Texas Rangers play and knock off another baseball stadium on our list. Along the way we used the BMW Ultimate Drive App to find interesting roads long the way. I highly recommend the app for good finds.

Anyway, on our way back to Orlando, we made a point to grab side roads when possible and found a restaurant to have some official Louisiana catfish at a little hole in Simsboro.



Our final road trip of the summer took place in early August. Just a week after getting back from Texas, our PCA club joined up with another local region to do a two day/three night Tail of the Dragon tour. We didn't do just the Dragon. Drove up to Chimney Rock; a long drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway with lunch along the way. The Dragon was driven on a Sunday Morning with a shoot down the Cherohala Parkway ending in Helen, Georgia. A gem of a town that has really embraced the idea of an Alps-like town in North Georgia. It was a whirlwind three days.

Surrounded by all of the was beginning of the next transmission problems, a stall here, a jerk there. Just thinking it was the computer that needed to restarted at times.