Guys,

I've notice that 80% of the last 5,000 miles I put on my car were track miles. My car has only 13,000 miles. I do change oil, oil filter, and brake fluids every other track event. I'm planning to add 15,000 miles to 20,000 miles more before I get another one.

How reliable is the 997 S as a track car?
What problems should I expect?
What kind of maintenance should I do to make sure my car last as long as possible?
When should I stop using my car as a track car and sell my car?


So far, the car is a tank. No problems at all. I'm concerned that with time I may start to see the consequences of the track miles. Has anyone put 25,000 track miles in their car? What are the consequences?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

This question is too tough because there are too many variables - starting specifically with how's the car being driven? PCA DE's will have almost no effect; PCA club races will require less than 1/2 the care you are already giving it; 2-300 mile truly competitive enduros and/or fender bangers will take their toll, but if you've been driving like that you would have already replaced your tires and brakes at least a couple of times + once on the clutch. Denver is large enough that there has to be a few race/speed shops that could give you good advice, and while I can't remember who there's at least one Koni or GrandAm GT2 team from there if you really want to go heavy.

 

General rule of thumb...one track mile equals 10 street miles.

 

^ whose thumb is that?

 

Not the way I drive

 

The front half of the car will most likely need repainting and the windshield replaced before selling the car also...

 

More info...
I've used the car for HPDE events and open track days. I don't use the car for club racing. So far I've replaced two sets of track tires. The front bumper was painted. I've not replaced brakes or anything else. The windshield needs to be replace soon.

I usually avoid the rev limiter. I usually shift a little bit before the red line. I think I reached the red line only twice so far. I push the car as hard as I can between my skill limits.

 

I ran my 07 for 1.5 years with about 7500 miles on the track in Black run group. Went through 2 sets of Rotors, many sets of pads, many sets of tires, and 1 windshield. Car was just as solid when I traded it in and got $70k for a car I paid $78k for (got a good discount). Zero issues whatsoever, certainly no oil starvation that I was concerned might be a problem - RA1s on Fikses gave me upwards of 1.6 G lateral.

 

Hey Ron,

are you sure the dealer was informed with all these information when they offered $70K for trade in?

 

I wonder the same thing, but after doing two days in a row at Seattle's PIR, I must say that this is one tough car. I ran three seperate one hour sessions on Tuesday afternoon, and thought my brake fluid was toast, but they just kept working. My car is better running hard, then sitting in a garage. Keep driving it, and enjoy it.

 

He knew all about it. Ran a DME report and found it was perfect, inspected the car fully for CPO and it was perfect. I keep my cars spotless, so other than the typical few stone chips (touched up), it was as you would expect a 15k Porsche to be. These are wonderfully solid cars! I do think one of the reasons he could allow so much (remember, that was real value because the car I traded it in for was a pass-through to the dealer so they made zero on it) is that it was a low option car and therefore he could sell it for $74,900 and make a quick $5k (which he did - sold within 2 weeks).

 

I bought new my 2007 997 non-S in March of 2007 and started DE's in May. I have done about 15-20 DE days, and now have 33,000 miles and car is STRONG. I do not compromise the maintenance.