For those of you who are track junkies, can you make some recommendations for me in terms of track wheels & tires, as well as any "reasonable" suspension modifications?
CATTMAN

 

I'll throw in my 2 cents. For wheels, I'd get the OZ Allegeritas 18s and Hoosiers.

For suspension, there are tons of opinions out there. I think the best way to go is about a $10,0000 proposition. Motons, springs, sways, dogbones, toe kit, control arms, alignment, corner balance. You could probably throw in engine mounts as well. In my mind, anything else is a compromise based on a budget (or sane financial decisions), or maybe daily driver issues like ride quality. If you have a budget, you might get some different answers, maybe you'd want to do things in steps.

 

Reasonable suspension upgrades would be Damptronics with some swaybars.

Track wheels CCW, Volk, or any other lightweight forged wheels.

Tires I use Hoosier R6's, but you may want to try a Toyo 888.

 

Re-reading your post, I see the word "reasonable" there for suspension upgrades. I missed that due to multitasking. I don't think 10k is really reasonable, but I know some have spent that and more. PASM sport with a good alignment might get you what you need. You could add control arms and some other bits to get the ideal suspension. After that, I think you'd spend a lot to take something pretty good and make it somewhat better. Sways may help, shocks and springs will help, but it could be big money for the good stuff, and I'd put that off if I were you.
Full disclosure - I'm not tracking my 997 yet, but I've done a ton of reading on it, and bought some stuff for it (RSS stuff and damptronics), and I've bought suspensions for two other Porsches.

 

Real simple...

CCW's and Hoosiers

CCW's are the lowest priced forged wheels that come 9" front and 12" rear. Hoosiers are sticky as hell and if you have good street rubber, why not have the softest track tires.

Suspension? If you research some of the shops that race these cars professionally, they will tell you that its the swaybars first. I wanted the car comfortable on the street and fun on the track. The GMG sways and Eibach springs are perfect combo and cost is < $1,500.

dr

 

For wheels I'd recommend the HRE Competition Series along with some Michelin Sport Cups or Hoosiers. Let me know if I can be of any help with your purchase.

 

I have 18" OZ Alleggerita with Toyo RA1's. RA1's are getting hard to find as they are discontinued and replaced with R888's. I will switch to R888's. I love the wheels. They are reasonably light, cheap and disposable. The Toyo's thread are symmetrical so you can swap left/right if you want to save a little or you run on tracks that are particularly hard on one side.

Hoosier slicks would probably be better for tires but I like to drive to the track with my car and I also like to run on wet tracks and don't want to keep swapping tires, so the RA1's are a good compromise... Not that I can squeeze all the performance out of the tires anyway.

For suspension, the first thing you might want to do is to change your front Lower Control Arms and get an alignment that will give you more camber. After that, things get expensive quickly and will somewhat depend on if your car has PASM or not, and if you want to keep that feature...

Also, don't discount the braking system, a set of RS29 pads will help you a long way on the track.

T.

 

Last year I ran all stock with Michelin PS2.

This year I went to Pagid yellow pads, Castrol SRF brake fluid, 18" OZ wheels and Toyo R888 tires and more camber in alignment.

Big difference, affordable and a lot of fun. I'd highly recommend this approach. It's a whole new experience on the track. Try this approach before you start spending money changing your suspension.

 

I am selling GT3 Cup front control arms, trailing arms required for control arms, GT3 rear anti-sway and H&R front sway. These are a great start, i had them on my 997C2 with JRZ's and the handling was amazing. I will sell all for $1,000 + shipping (control arms alone were almost $1,000 each from Porsche)


2008 Cobalt Blue GT3

 

1-CCW 9x18 and 12x18 wheels...Corsair series new about $2800 a set..super strong leight weight wheels.

2-Toyo R888 245-40-18 front and 305-35-18 rear

3-Porsche Motorsport GT3 Cup front lower control arms so that you can get at least -2 camber up front

4-Pagid RS29 Yellow brake pads or Performance friction PF97

That my friend and you are all set for some advanced DE.

Now if you are just starting out I highly recomend you stsy with stovk street tires and brakes until you go solo.

 

Thats a great deal!