Working with a seller on his vehicle and just looking for a bit of honesty - it's a great looking 996TT, but replaced seats, rollbar+suspension upgrades, chipped, and a few others.

My thing is I asked him about this and he said never tracked just did it for looks - is there any way to take this seriously?

Also, what extra concerns should I have as a buyer of a tracked car? Obviously I can get the PPI etc should I take extra precautions?

 

Without knowing anything about this specific case, you'd be surprised how many people do everything to turn their car into a race car EXCEPT actually taking it out on the track. I consider it the same as the folks (some are my friends) who buy ultra high performance supercars and then never drive them hard at all (e.g. Garage queens). They just like acquiring, upgrading and knowing that the car could be fast.

Having said that, I'm not sure that tracking a car is much more abuse than the roads we drive on today (pot holes, curbs, salt, etc.). You'll likely never know the full history of a used car and how it was driven either on the track or the street. I'd say just go by the inspections (do check for over revs) and the best assessment you can get on the current condition of the car.

 

What are you planning to use her for? Sounds like she has nice solid upgrades. Might be a good idea to have the rev limit hit count and Brakes checked.

 

I was actually wanting it as my daily driver =). Thanks for the advice!

 

These cars hold up very well to alot of track duty unlike some other cars.Would I spend the $$ on those mods for just looks - prob not,but you never know sometimes about others.Tracked or not a good insp should tell you if this particular car is a good one or not

 

I agree with the above. Yeah some people might have done it just for look, i find it stupid but it gets done. On the other hand, personnaly, i would prefer to have a car that was tracked with a lot of mods than a car that was just taken for highway rides.

WHAT??? you say!

Here is my thinking, let say you have a 700 hp monster with a nice suspension and brakes. The owner only drives it to car shows and such.

Now you buy the car and start using it for real, say it is a DD or you start tracking it. All the little problems that came with the car will now start to resurface. While the car was babied and looked all nice, i might be due for a clutch, the turbo setup might not be all 100%, it might take some oil, it might leak at some places, brakes might be working bad, etc.

Now imagine a car that was tracked. it has some stone chips and it probably doesn't look as good. But one thing is for sure, brakes a working perfectly, suspension is well dialed, car is reliable and everything that was about to brake is changed or even some parts that needed preventive maintenance were done because every weekend racer knows how much we can be PISSED by a car that dumps on you after you did 300 miles to get to the track, do the first run, brake and lose all your weekend, plus the tow home, plus the cost of the hotel and the freaking 500$ it cost for a weekend at a nice track. I don't want that to happen to me.

I can tell you i put a heck of a lot more maintenance and money in my car that is tracked a couple of times a year than the guy next door that takes it out once a week to go show it downtown.

Personnally, buying a car like that i would check with the owner that did some track days, what was the maintenance done to it. If he starts and you get bored of hearing him say everything he did to the car to make it right, you have a winner. If an owner doesn't have a clue about his car, i would pass because YOU will end up with everything that was not done.

My friend bought a turbo that was build as a 700hp monster with a nice suspension and all the goodies but it was never tracked. The first time we put it on the track, all the problems started coming out. Owner says he wasn't aware fo all those problems and it might be right, the car was never used for real. Now we are rebuilding everything on the car and i can tell you that it is going to be in much better shape once it has tracked a couple of days than what it was before when "not tracked".

my 0.02

 

Oh and knowing what i know now about those cars, i would do a compression test and a leak down test and i would take the oil filter out and cut it open to watch for metal and if it doesn't work right, it will cost you an oil filter and some time. Rather spend the money and do it before you by the car than do it after and have some surprises, like we had.

 

I would have no problems considering buying a car that is tracked as long as it has had the appropriate, corresponding higher level of maintenance. Tracked or not, appropriate maintenance is a very important issue. A good PPI will tell what is wrong with the car now, but poor maintenance may tell you what is going to go wrong in the near future. Does the owner have all his service records?

It sounds to me like the issue will be one of trust. Do you trust him when he says he didn't track the car, and has only "routine" maintenance records to show you?

 

You don't chip a car for looks. What do you think when you see 'busa with a NOS bottle, air shifter and wheelie bars and the owner says it's only for looks?

Tracked or not it might not make a difference. Do a careful PPI, check 2nd gear and the clutch closely, front diff too. Heavily tracked cars may have discolored calipers and lots of rock chips around fender wells. GL!

 

Sounds like a great car. As a 996 TT owner who's just getting into track 'driving', those are some of the exact mods I'm looking to do on my car. I'd agree with posts above that track use does not necessarily decrease the attractiveness of your potential buy, but it does bring into question the honesty of the interaction. Best advice is to have a good Porsche-certified mechanic check it out. Good luck! And if you don't want any of those add-ons, give me a buzz.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice, really appreciate it. I put a deposit on the vehicle because I don't want anyone else to have a look at her . Scheduled it for a PPI including rev check - as far as 2nd gear pop-out I've heard that mentioned frequently. Is that something I could have the place that's inspecting it look at and they'd be able to tell me pretty easily if it has that problem?

Thanks again!

 

^^^ This ^^^^


I know a few people myself with tequipment roll bars, springs or coilovers and power upgrades that won't sniff a track. You can't even get them to drive fast on the street. Porsche made the non cross bar tequipment bar for people just like that.

I will, however say that a LOT of people LIE LIE LIE. But coilovers and roll bar does not mean tracked. Check the wheel wells and undertray carefully. Check the calipers for discoloration, check the exhaust for brown residue from back firing on the track. If the car has been driven hard at the track, the exhaust nuts could also show signs of long periods of exposure to excess heat. Do those to see if he's lying. If you can't find any signs, have the dealer check when doing the PPI.

Another note I might add is that most people tracking turbos don't do so nearly hard enough to degrade the car whatsoever. These are some tough cars! As long as you check for overrevs, drive the car hard to check the clutch, check service records and make sure there is no second gear popout issue (which you should do on ANY TT purchase) you should be ok.

 

yeah, you'd be surprised at how many cars with rollcages, racing seats, 4-point seatbelts and coilovers have never seen a track...but then again i grew up in Southern California so maybe i have a jaded POV

 

Just found out there's several minor issues but also an oil leak.....

 

Also it seems odd to me but the shop basically told me they told the owner of the vehicle the problems and are providing him a copy of the report - that doesn't seem normal at all especially considering I'm paying for the inspection. Maybe I'm just paranoid but the guy who ran the inspection also asked me how much I'm paying for the vehicle which for some reason I told him....