Awesome!

...can someone please explain to me why when in "race spec" they (997 variants) all come with 996 shifter *****!!!!!!??????

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's ergonomically more appropriate.

 

Actually, if you look at the entire shift assembly, I think it's from a cup car, although not sequential, so it's possibly a 996. See how the shift box is raised with those blue spacers? The general idea was to raise the shifter as high as possible, to limit the amount of time your right hand has to spend off the steering wheel.

 

great car with awesome history