Forged Performance - Porsche 996 GT3 Project
 

Hey guys,

I wanted to take a moment to personally introduce you to our company, Forged Performance. Many of you have seen us at the track with our Nissan GT-R competing in various Time Attack and track day events with NASA, Redline Time Attack, PCA, BMWCCA, and various national magazine track competitions, such as the Modified Magazine Tuner Shootout, and the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge. We’ve had great success across many platforms of vehicles, and have decided on a focus and renewed effort in the Porsche marketplace. Our facility of 11 full time employees have built a great reputation for excellence over the past six years, and we look forward to working with the Porsche community moving forward. From parts, service, engine building, tuning, full race car prep, and driving instruction, we do it all in house.

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I have always loved driving Porsche’s and we wanted to get into the market when the opportunity presented itself. A few weeks ago an opportunity did arise and we now have a new Forged Performance shop car to add to our stable.: A beautiful 2005 Porsche 996 GT3. The previous owner install a few carefully selected mods that gave us a head start:

4 Point Harness Bar
Schroth 6 Point Harnesses
European GT3 Seats
Lightweight Clutch/Flywheel
Cup Car Shifter/Linkage
Cup Car Rear Toe Arms
Second set of OEM wheels
1 year old used set of Hoosier R6’s (more on that later)
Pagid Yellow Brake Pads


This GT3 isn’t nearly that fun on the street, so what better way to shake the car down, then test and tune at Carolina Motorsports Park! We packed up the GT3, and the GT-R and headed to CMP about 4 hours away from our facility in metro Atlanta. We rolled it off the trailer and I gave it a couple turns to get used to the car. With regular Michelin PS2’s 235/295 the car was nearly undrivable on track. With the alignment settings tailored to the Hoosiers, the street tires were simply unable to function properly. Turn in was non-existent, and the car was unstable throughout the corner. Any additions of fuel, steering, or brake would result in a violent chassis reaction. After a couple of laps, I just decided to parked it, as I wasn’t accomplishing anything other than drifting practice. I knew we had a lot of work to do to get the setup where it needed to be.

After the track day at CMP I decided that the car was in need of some improvements to the, suspension, braking, and general setup. Aesthetically the car is absolutely beautiful, but it was clear we were in need of wheels. Tray contacted HRE Performance Wheels and got a set of 18inch HRE Comp 90’s in route.. They sent us a set of wheels painted gloss black, with a gloss black lip with titanium fasteners in 2 weeks. Talk about service! We sourced out a Porsche Cup splitter and he contacted GMG and got us taken care of. Soon we will be adding a GT3 Cup wing to give us some much needed rear downforce at the high speed tracks we attend.

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The car handles really well out of the box. No question about it. But we have been spoiled these last few years running JRZ suspension on all of our track cars. It is amazing how a car can feel when running JRZ suspension. If you are serious about speed this is exactly what you need. I decided to go JRZ RS Pro’s starting with a square spring setup of 1000lb Front/1000lb Rear. I’ve always liked my track cars fairly stiff, and this is a good place to start for a mostly track use GT3. To compliment the upgrades suspension we wanted to upgrade the sway bars and components. Tray got in touch with TPC Racing the Mid Atlantic Porsche race experts. Tom equipped us with a set of TPC Racing Pro series adjustable sway bars, droplink kit. A few days later the goodies from TPC Racing has arrived. Unboxed and laid out on a table for observation. I really like the quality of these suspension components. They are made from very high quality materials, and the sway bars shipped with OEM bushing. The installation was a breeze and no modifications were required. For this install we decided not to install the adjustable toe links until the JRZ’s arrive.

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As far as the exhaust was concerned it sounded a bit tame and needed a change. We contacted Jay from FabSpeed. They have some really nice products for a wide variety of European cars. Our Porsche is mainly going to be at the track so we started off with their FabSpeed muffler bypass kit. This was a great addition to the car. The installation was a breeze and the quality of parts were as promised. Wow…instantly shed 50+lbs from the rear of the GT3, and the exhaust note is off the charts insane. It screams move over! I love it!

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Check out the car after the installation. The Fabspeed Muffler Bypass was tolerable in normal street driving.
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While waiting for the new JRZ’s to arrived, we decided to bring the GT3 to last weekends Chin Motorsports track day at Road Atlanta. Road Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks, and happens to be only 1 hr from our shop. I have over a thousand laps around this place, and every time I got there I leave with huge smile on my face. The fast straights, huge elevation change, blind corners, neck snapping braking zones….Road Atlanta has it all. Since the HRE’s had arrived, I mounted and balanced the previous owners super old Hoosier R6’s and hoped for the best. To my surprise, the car was improved drastically, and was actually now a fun track car! The soft suspension of the GT3 was still a handicap for me, but at least I could go out there and turn some fun laps without total fear of loosing control of the car. You can see in the video, that I am still fighting for grip in spots, but that’s to be expected with a really old tire that’s well out of it’s prime. I was still able to pass most of the cars on track, but it just took a little more effort than it would have with the GT-R. And to cap off the event on Sunday afternoon, the left rear exploded on the back straight just before turn 9 and 145mph. I lost control of the car, but somehow managed to keep it pointing mostly straight, and off the walls. I feel $50K richer for that save.

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Stay tuned for more updates. We know that our GT3 will be a very fast track-day car, and we’re looking forward to more upgrades and changes as the weeks progress. We attend at least 1 track event each month, so if you see us around, please stop by and introduce yourselves.

Thank you for having us on the forum.

Sharif
GM/Owner/Driver

Forged Performance

do i hear some competition shark werks?????

Tray and Sharif.

Wish I could have seen the GT3 in action, but I guess watching the GTR take charge at VIR was good enough :D

Great action shots! Beautiful shots of the titanium hardware and machining.

I can't wait to see what this thing does once you get some more seat time. There are going to be some upset people on the track. ;)

Man o man looks very nice. Keep it coming. Looking forward to the continued project.
btw the C90's are awesome but what are your thoughts vs. a monoblock wheel?
I'm taking notes. :D

Ranger

Congrats on the addition. Hre's look amazing

Great question. In terms of strength I would have no concern. We are running C90's on our 3650lb Gtr without any issues as well.

Weight, however, is something to consider. Monoblocks are 2-3 lbs lighter per corner. We will be ordering a second set of wheels for the GT3 and the second set will be monoblock. We will do a full write up with weight differences, and more importantly, same-day lap time differences as well. :). As they say, the stop watch never lies. :)

Sharif

Hello Juan. How have you been? I hope life is treating you well.

If properly engineered, both platforms offer different advantages.

The three piece obviously offers greater flexibility when accommodating larger brakes or custom suspension/body modifications. It also allows customers to replace rim halves in the event of an "off track" excursion.

Monoblok wheels offer a very hassle free application. No seals, and you have a very rigid, single structure. Of course if you beat one up, you have to purchase an entire new wheel.

We do have our new 18" Monoblok Motorsports wheel which is in process as we speak. It's extremely strong and very light weight. Of course it's tested to TUV specs as is are all of our wheels. This offers our customers another option to better suit each individuals needs and preferences.

Both our Monoblok and our Three Piece platforms have proven themselves on many of the worlds fastest street and tracks cars. I think it just comes down to your specific needs and how you plan on using the vehicle.

I know for you applications, the Monoblok has worked very well and I would be hard pressed to find a reason to switch you from the Monoblok. Not to mention, they look amazing.

If you want, give me a ring. I'd love to hear from you.

I spun my Gt3 1st time in it on track.. Quite the difference from Driving an AWD Subie.. LOL

Did you happen to record any track times.. Just curious in comparison to a near stock GTR.. Good luck Sharif!!!

Mike

Pictures of the motorsorts 18 inch wheel?

Hi Mike, how's it going? :)

I had the Traqmate running, but I didn't have even one clean open lap...always some kind of traffic to play around with. I was really just messing around with the car, on old tires and a prayer. I will have lap times for our next sessions for sure.

I did a 1:28 in the Forged Performance GT-R at the last NASA TT a couple months ago. Once the suspension and aero is sorted, I think the GT3 has a mid to low 1:30 in it. I was very surprised that with "only" 380 crank HP, I saw 153mph indicated on the back straight.

OT, but are you coming to Sebring for Redline Time Attack Aug14-15th?

Edited. Double post.
Sharif

Hey there Guy, long time you're right. Getting serious with the RS set up lately and enjoying it.
Wheels are still stockers and have been milling it in the back of my mind.
I was over at Ben's shop yesterday and he had a gorgeous set of C90's with black centers and lips done in a CF overlay.
Drop me a PM regarding what's going on and coming down with wheels for tracking.

All the best
Juan

The Gopro video is almost loaded.

Check out the sound of the Porsche doing flyby at Road Atlanta. Gotta love those pipes from Fabspeed! We will be ordering some more goodies from them shortly. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ISGm7ijNCM


Tray

Very nice intense sound.

Ranger

Here's a vid of Sharif chasing down a GT3RS. Make sure to toggle it to "HD". The GoPro HD quality is superb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1TeTnBymvU

- Decker

Bypass pipes are great, awesome sound but no good for tracks like RR, LRP, Laguna Seca which have sound limits. Much louder than 103 db.

Now if you are really hardcore run the OLOA with bypass pipes hilarious I think we went thru 20 sets of disposable earplugs and our ears were still ringing after 3000++ mile in 08. :rolleyes:

Peter

Peter did you guys have cat delete as well?

Great track video. Really enjoyed it. Brought back memmories of the course layout but a bit different. Last time I raced there was late 90's when they had the "big dip" leading to under the bridge and blind right sweeper.:)
Got to find time to get back again.
btw love the camera angle view. Give a good effect.

Ranger

We are going to play around with the GoPro's the next track event. I think we will do a session in car, and change up the placement on the outside too.

Tray

Sharif,

No we still ran the Cat. Not a lot of gain from bypass pipes in hp but it does get app 50#'s off the rear.

Peter

You put a DB gun on yours at full song?

Yes the weight savings is tremendous, and removed from the best spots.

Great project, I hope to be building one in the same color to similar specs here in the next year or so.

Question on spring rates. Care to share your rational on square sping rates? Seems like most JRZ / Moton uses are using 200-300lbs more rear spring than front. Curious why you chose square instead.

Andy

Very nice!

Hi Andy, great question.

Because this is a weekend warrior, track day car, my main concern was to select a spring rate for maximum track performance while running very sticky Hoosier tires.

Square spring rates demand exacting attention to driving, and are not forgiving at all. They will also be a bit rough on the street, and probably aren't suitable for daily driving unless you are glutton for punishment like me. :) The stiff front spring minimized that rocking and disruptive weight transfer rear to front under braking. This was the first thing I noticed with the OEM GT3 suspension....the front was way way too soft.

As such, the mainstream opinion by many, is to run a soft spring package overall, and a softer rate up front. That's why you see most off the shelf systems suggesting the softer front setup. It's more forgiving both on the track, and on the street, particularly when running non-slick tires. As a general rule, the more tire you run, the more spring rate you need to run.


Bryan@JRZ and Mike and Caset at TPC might have some additional commentary to share, as they have done this many times before. Thanks guys!

Sharif

Sharif,

Never ran a gun on the db from bypass pipes, they are just LOUD and sound great.

The usual front to rear spring difference on a 996GT3 is 150#'s. I ran 550 front 700 rear for the OLOA in 2008. This was a compromise between street/AutoX and Track. Works good overall with street tires and up to Hoosiers, Probably a little soft for Slicks.

Peter

Looks and sounds fantastic! Just how streetable is the Fabspeed bypass though? Loud is nice, but can get obnoxious with the wrong setup.

It's very loud. I would not recommend it to anyone that wasn't committed to being the loudest car on the street. It's borderline socially unacceptable in certain parts of the country. hilarious

For a weekend warrior/track day car, it's magical.

Sharif

Sorry for the delays guys. But we just got some goodies to share. We have a new set of JRZ RS Pro's with custom spring rates. For those who are not aware of the JRZ Suspension they are the top choice for professional race teams. JRZ have proved themselves on the track with countless victories across many forms of motorsport. Forged Performance has been using them for years on all of our race cars, and will continue to be our choice for suspension.



Stay tuned for more updates to come!


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Tray

OOOF, 1000# springs.:eek: Gonna chatter your eyeteeth @ Sebring.

Peter

Outstanding Sharif! Again, congrats on the Porsche and look forward to seeing you out at Redline / Sebring next week. As always, nothing short of meticulous detail and perfection from you and the crew at Forged.

haha...what exactly are eyeteeth? :) Nah, I am glutton for punishment. Only two sections of the track are really brutal, but I have the other 15 corners to relax. :)

Thanks Ron. Looking forward to a few laps around Sebring in your SL. ;)

Welcome to the Dark Side!

A car you actually have to drive and not just steer......hilarious

I bet it feels really different after you get out of the GTR!

I can't think of two cars that feel more different. You really have to man handle the GT3 to make it dance, but the cornering stability is second to none, IMHO.

Great video!
I was there also that weekend with Chin. The orange RS is also from Palm Beach, we drove up to Atlanta together. He is a fast driver, but that was his first time at Road ATL.

He was running high 1:38's I was running low 1:37's in 2010 and I have been there last year already.

Where you the one following him around in the white GT3RS? Or perhaps it was silver, I can't rememeber. But I recall two GT3's out there constantly battling it out. :) That looked great!

No, I did not really follow a GTR or red GT3 around that weekend unfortunately. I do have the white MKIIRS

I did not see the cars at all, maybe they were in intermedia?

They only combined the groups the last hours and for some reason they put me in advanced solo. Must be the car ;-)
Gavin was there with his MKI RS white/Orange RS, he past me like he always does.

I believe they were in the intermediate group. I jumped around between groups all day, since I got lucky and didn't have a student. :)

When is your next event? We are going to Sebring this weekend for Redline Time Attack. Then back to Road Atlanta for BMWCCA Sept 11-12

The car looks fantastic! I wouldn't mind having a GT3 for a some weekend fun.

What do you think you need to do to get the GT3 down to GT-R times?

Don't forget to post vids.

In most tracks it unlikely the GT-3 will run faster lap times than a modified GT-R. However you'd be surprised at how close you can get.

The GT-3 only needs some suspension and tire upgrades to be fantastic on track. Its already very good stock.