hi all.
So after owning my 03 for a couple of months, stumbled upon a DE here, and decided at last moment to go try her out! Thought I'd share my observations, since this car is new to me, and had not had a chance to reallly find out what all the hoopla about these cars is about. Event is MAP proving grounds, a decidedly odd event, and the attendees made for some great people watching, if nothing else!

Ok, the to recap:
I drove up almost bone stock, except for a flush with hi temp brake fluid. OEM brakes were low to start with, and running on Michelin PS, not PS2s or anything exotic.
Overall, the car is a blast to drive, got much greater confidence in the handling on 60000 mile stock suspension, too! The whole mystique about swapping ends may exist, but unless you do something stupid, seemed very forgiving to me, and only got the rear out of sorts from over acceleration a couple of times coming out of a turn, not the other way around.
Was told OEM brakes were fine for an event, but after 15 minutes or so, some serious degradation in braking. Will need to consider an upgrade if wanting to get deeper in turns. Had to adjust style and ease off way too early to be happy. Stock tires are just that. Tremendous understeer when you combine the cars natural understeer with a tire that won't help. But not scary, just predictable dragging the front end to make it do what you want!
Power? OMG...LoVe it! Takes a lot of deliberate restraint to not always bury the throttle for more, but the feel of a turbo car with modest upgrades is wonderful! Could pass cars at will whenever I wanted to, simply apply gas and go. Very redeeming and satisfying feeling for me.
So:
Brakes need upgrading
Tires need more stick
Big understeer
Good power
Fairly predictable and forgiving handling
So when I upgrade tires and pads, the suspension will show it's weaknesses, which will require coil overs no doubt. Oh well, here we go.

Oh, failed to mention day one was in slight rain. Never even noticed it, until went back and watched GoPro footage of wipers working. Gotta love AWD!
Cheers, and thanks for reading!

 

Glad you had a blast, DE's are great fun.

Couple of suggestions. Try some Pagid race pads, yellows up front, blacks on the rear. This will improve the brake bias balance between front and rear. The pads are not cheap but they will last the season and perform in the high speed environment.

The turbo is heavy, and with the speeds it will achieve, I advise you not to find out the hard way by braking too late. Another thing is "ice pedal", do a search about this. A very unsettling experience where the computer hiccups and must read conflicting data which causes the car to not give full braking. If it happens to you, you must release the brake and re-apply, and by then you may be way late in the braking zone. Know your escape route in high speed brake zones. It has happened to me and most trackers and the only cure I have found is to ease on the brakes rather than slamming them on. I can't emphasize this point enough. It only seems to happen once in 99 tries but when it does happen it is scary. I advise you to brake a little earlier than you are thinking and try to carry more speed through the corner, rather than slamming on the brakes at the very last moment trying to save time that way.

This brings us to tires. The driving instructors like new guys to drive on street tires for awhile because they give off more noise than track tires so you will get used to driving near the edge on those first. Track tires like Toyo 888's or Nitto NT-01's have softer rubber and more grip. Hoosiers have even more grip but the trade off is a short life.

Upgraded sway bars and a track alignment will help with the understeer.

Yes the stock suspension will show it's weakness as you tune into the car. Here is the secret to buying coilovers, you have to buy a set that allows you to pick the spring rate. Generic springs that come with most coilover kits are made for the street, and they will allow the turbo to wallow on the track. I know because I bought PSS9's as my first upgrade and found the spring set too soft. Do your homework on this before spending your money otherwise you will be spending twice to get where you want to go, like I did.

The AWD is very forgiving, but it can't overcome the laws of physics if you try to go too far. Ease into track driving or you could lose your car. I almost did when I first started. The car is confidence inspiring, but I found out that confidence is no substitute for long term high speed driving experience. I know it feels like you are Superman out there, but until you know the car better, you only think you are Superman. Even pros put their cars into the wall. Please ask yourself where that leaves you. No offense meant, just want you to have fun without any bad consequences. I've been tracking for 4 years now and there is usually one car per weekend that goes home on the wrecker, sometimes 3. Something to think about.

 

Nice Recap! Coming from previous track experience in other cars, I felt some of the same mod bug when I did my first DE in the 996TT. But I decided the best mod I could do, at least for the track, was to do more DE events in this car.

Without any significant mods, I've been able to shave significant time off my laps at every subsequent event. Based on what I've seen very good drivers do with our cars (fully stock), it will be a little while before I've hit the limit of even a stock 996TT.

Mods are definitely fun -- but given how capable these cars are coming out of the box, it's not necessarily the best investment for improving at the track.

 

DEs helped me break a lot of bad habits I developed over years of street driving.

 

My recommendation is to select a mild set of racing brake pads and immediately move to some stickier tires like Khumo V710s. I never saw much value in using any street tires on the track, although some argue it's better to start with street tires. I did one DE event on street tires and then moved immediately to V710s.

Moving into some mile brake pads initially allows you to still push things further but not getting to aggressive. Learn to push things further then move onto some more aggressive pads.

Then go ahead and worry about the suspension, but at that point my recommendation then changes to buy an out right track dedicated car, and it doesn't have to be a Porshce to have fun. I've have had just as much fun in a Spec Miata as I've had in a Corvette and a Porsche.

 

Glad you enjoyed the DE. The turbo is a fun car. I agree with everything that Larry (Landjet) said.

You cannot get rid of the understeer in these cars unless you do something that allows you to get much more negative camber than the stock suspension allows. I recommend driving it as it is for a while before modifying the suspension though. Just recognize that it's kind of hard on tires in stock trim.

Enjoy!

Jon

 

Larry and others,
Many thanks for reading and replying. As clarification, I've done other DEs, just not in my new (to me) Porsche. That said, all of you had great input, and I will consider it in future events. This is my DD, so I while I do push it fairly hard when I get going, I also recognize I need to drive it home, and still have it on Monday as a reliable way to work. I was not aware of this braking issue. I can't imagine how I would respond if faced with limited braking heading into a corner at my usual speeds....eek. I'll read up on this anomaly.
As to mods....I agree- the best mod is to learn how to drive better first! I'm no expert and each event teaches me so much. So I'll probably just upgrade pads for the next event, and maybe invest in a set of track tires, but not true comps. That seemed the most obvious (and reasonably inexpensive) upgrades.

As an FyI, the Pagid black appear strictly racetrack use only, but can the yellow be safely used all around street and track?

 

Welcome to the club! 996TTs are fantastic cars - on the street and track. I've owned mine for 3-1/2 years now, and tracked it for the last year or so in NorCal where we have some pretty amazing tracks within 2 hours drive. Daily driver also. Started with the car bone stock. I like to think that I've avoided modifying an already perfect car too much. Here's the mod plan I've followed:
1) Safety - seats and harnesses
2) Grip - track wheels /tires (R888s)
3) Suspension - PSS10s, adjustable sway bars, front GT3 LCAs to get some camber (-2.0).
Car feels absolutely fantastic now. Still learning and loving it. Might even consider adding some power sometime in the near future.
Enjoy!

PS. I lived in MSP area for years. PM me if you need a reference for a good Porsche shop.

 

The yellows are also track pads and they can be used on the street, but they will screech loudly. Doesn't bother me but people do look and wonder. Since the 996TT pads are easy to change, some guys switch back and forth between street and track pads as needed.

 

Thanks for the response, Larry. Since writing that, came to same conclusion. Just set track pads away for track days. It appears that the stock rotors can withstand the swapping compounds back and forth quite well.