Thanks Kyle! The orange checkers are just a first experiment on the 996 Since it will be a dedicated trackday car, I'll go all in this time!!

 

Thanks! I was actually thinking about orange mirror covers to match the stripes for a start. Wheels will remain black for now (but with black Porsche centercaps with an orange RS logo ).

 

I'd rather believe that Kyle is a very professional vendor (and he is!). Truth is, there are not that many vendors, but there is still enough competition so that you can make sure you don't get ripped off and establish a trust relationship with a few of them. But you are right, after last night's election results in the US, I'll have to chose between the tax cliff and modifying my cars

I have not done any photoshop this time, so you'll have to apply the power of your imagination to the next pic:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/7316819238/
Replace the 991 by a 996, the white body by a seal grey body, the black stripes/checkers by orange checkers, the black mirrors by orange mirrors and have Porsche written in orange on the black windshield shade band. Wheels remain black (with an orange RS logo on the center cap) and the number on the door will of course be "96"

The headlight covers have turned a bit yellowish over the years so I thought I may apply yellow laminX to give them a sportier look, but then, it may start to look like a GT-wannabe car

I still need to find out if I want to work on some more weight reduction (sunroof removal) or aero options (not sure I need a big wing to be stable at the speed I'll be going for now...)

 

New clutch, lightweight flywheel and sway bars

Took the car for a spin today after the first mods got completed. The new clutch is buttery sweet and provides excellent control, the lightweight flywheel lets then engine rev a bit more easily (but generated more noise -I do not care ) and the sway bars are already effective at reducing the body roll.
Nothing worth a picture today but things are going in the right direction!

The PSS10 arrived today too and I found the build quality (and ease of adjustment) pretty impressive. I have had KW-V3's in the past and out of the box, the Bilsteins look a lot more convincing. We'll see what it gives on the street next week. My target is to have the most important mods taken care of by the end of next week (leaves me one week before going to the track for the fist time with the car).

 

I hear ya!

I say have fun, you live once, I've decided to deal with the "slippery slope" by putting on some skies... bring it on!

Your track baby is going to be awesome!
Enjoy!

 

Baseline Dyno

Got a baseline dyno done this week before moving forward with more significant mods. I have a very limited trust in absolute dyno numbers, but I wanted to have the power (/torque) curve of the car bone stock so that I could see the impact of future mods at different rpm's

Here's the car strapped to the Dynojet of a local shop:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8168086437/
And here's a short video of one of the pulls:

And finally the power curves:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8168114816/
The dyno measured 286-290 whp. This would mean that the car does a bit more than the 320 bhp claimed by Porsche This Dynojet is a known to give 'optimistic' numbers, but whatever the actual power would be, I think it is fair to say that this 80,000 miles & 9-year old 996 is still in a reasonably good shape.

There is definitely no substitute

 

Edited because I didn't read the whole thread.

 

To answer your initial post: I still have my 991 and bought the 996 to preserve it from a future wreckage as I am getting (too) confident on the track

 

New shoes...

Got my track wheels from Butler in Alpharetta (great work as usual - thanks Geordie). Black 18" Victor Innsbrucks with R888's as planned. A few pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8168086781/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8168086583/
With the RS centercaps
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8170745256/
Good offset, the wheels sit perfectly flush:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8170745536/
Time to drop the car now

 

UPS trucks incoming

The car is back at FREED Performance for installing a few more parts:

Full Fabspeed 996 Performance Package with Comp Intake & ECU Upgrade. Here are the headers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8170716727/
And the intake:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8170716419/The other parts still sit nicely in their boxes!

Bilstein PSS10 also got delivered:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8171118530/
and Sparco EVO seats:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/8170716963/
There is a bunch of other stuff on order... Too many to list them, but you'll see pics of much of it installed next week end

 

OMG!

I love parts arrivals!

 

Dude you have it bad! You got bit real bad! (you suck, I'm jealous!) Kidding aside, WOW! I look forward everyday to the email posts saying another post has arrived...I hate you. ;-)

 

This thread just keeps getting better. Keep it up Serge!

 

and it's not even xmas yet!!!

AWESOME!!!

 

let it begin! looking forward to this build