chaps, I'm shopping for a 997S, I have found one without the sport chrono package that I'm quite keen on and the deal seems do-able

question is will I regret not have the sport chrono package? I will be doing a handful of DE's per year and have read that in addition to the throttle response feature in sport mode the PSM will only kick in when 2 wheels break lose rather than 1 in non sport mode, and that this makes for a smoother ride on the track...can anyone offer any validity or opinions on this please?

Further to that; are there software upgrades available (chips/flashes/whatever) that will override and essentially offer me similar characteristics to sport mode anyway? But presumably such offerings would explode the warranty..

Thanks much, Bennet

 

Look for thread responses by MARINE8541. He's a PCA technical expert and associated with Softronic which is a company that provides ECU re-flash that seems state-of-the-art at the moment. Some people are even replacing their ECU re-flash programs with this one. He can also comment on warranty preservation issues with Softronic reflash versus others that are available. I think the answer is "yes," software re-flash can offer you similar performance to Sport Chrono in sport mode, at least as far as the engine performance and throttle mapping is concerned.

 

Also, check out "simple mods for a rookie" which is a thread currently running. It has some good responses from guys who have done a number of mods and have some good experience.

 

I have sport chrono in my car and I think it's a pretty silly waste of money. You're absolutely right that the "slightly relaxed" PSM setting is the only potential benefit, but I've found that in practice it's not really much use.

I end up turning PSM off entirely for autocross and I leave the car in normal mode for the track. Even in "normal" mode I've never had the PSM intervene on the track when I didn't want it to. Porsche's flavor of stability management is pretty far out on the edge and you can have a lot of fun with the back end even in normal mode.

I find the aggressive throttle response to be a detriment on the track, it's too twitchy and makes nuanced throttle control more difficult.

 

The sport chrono isn't just a guage. It doesn't change horsepower or torque but it does offer a different throttle response and if you do decide on an "S" it also changes the PSM setting to "medium" as opposed to being either on or off .

 

thanks for your responses guys, appreciated