Collected my 997.1 GT3 today!

[Cunno]

When I first started doing TDs I used to hunt out session days as imo it's a lot less pressure for newbies. Also remember being really nervous when i finally did anopen pit lane day as I was going to be on track with much laster cars and more experienced drivers than me.

Quickly learnt its the complete opposite and finding room on e opl is much easier than going out with 20 others cars at same time and taking 2-3 laps to sort out gaps to get a bit of room and running out of time.

Only do open pit lane these days . Really annoying how PCGB advertises as opl and then mess around running sessions, if you get enough people to complain you can get them to change there mind and go opl sooner but why should you have to when advertised as open pit lane. One of the many reasons I did very few PC days.

 

[Roro]

and taking 2-3 laps to sort out gaps to get a bit of room and running out of time.

That's where you went wrong, let everyone overtake asap and let the gap build. That's what I was doing in my first lap which worked well :grin:

Still prefer opl overall though, with sessions you just spend more time hanging around chit chatting instead of driving

 

[Cunno]

and taking 2-3 laps to sort out gaps to get a bit of room and running out of time.

That's where you went wrong, let everyone overtake asap and let the gap build. That's what I was doing in my first lap which worked well :grin:

Still prefer opl overall though, with sessions you just spend more time hanging around chit chatting instead of driving

Only works if much slower than everyone else Roro :grin: :grin: :grin:

 

[Roro]

:sad:

:floor:

 

[Roro]

Sorted new steering wheel today, with a little help from Sid @ Porsche Torque

Not sure what to do with both my old steering wheels now!

 

[1marc]

Compliments it very well. 👍

 

[Senoj]

Looks nice 👌. Suggest pump your tyres up before testing though :floor:

 

[Cunno]

More details please:
Size of wheel?
Air bags?
Cost?
Where purchased?

 

[Roro]

@marc :thumb:

@senoj looks like you don't need to go to Specsavers :grin:

@cunno eBay! Wheel size is same as the original wheel, i compared. Its a re trimmed PDK wheel. I bought it then removed the paddles and bought a new back cover (OPC Reading) for manual cars so you don't see any holes from the missing paddles. Fitting was plug n play, wheel came with the required harness and airbag connector is the same for Macan / 991 / 981 / 997. Easy because no multifunction crap to mess around with. Cost about 1200/1300 for everything

 

[andyp]

Nice to meet you at Donington yesterday, especially after reading most of this thread in the last month or so. Thanks for sharing some of ur experiences and all the advice to a newbie 97 owner.; much appreciated 👍🏻

Car looks awesome!

Cheers

Andy

 

[Roro]

Hey Andy it was a pleasure to meet you yesterday! Your car took me back - it looked eerily similar to mine when I first got it. Yours looked like a lovely original example. These cars have become a rarity on track nowadays, much like the 996s. How did you find it, was everything ok or anything you want to improve?

I thought it was quite a busy trackday, I spoke to one chap who felt rather intimidated by it all. There must have been at least 50 or 60 cars, a lot of which I would class as 'very fast machinery' - no shortage of GT4s, GT4RSs, 991/992 GT3s/RSs - the works. However, what caught me off guard was the invasion of Spyders, at one point I counted 12 of them - a proper swarm!

Towards the afternoon the track started feeling a bit slippy (I also saw a couple of cars have a squiggly moment, 1 rather hairy), but there were no red flags. Open pitlane too which was nice

Overall I much prefer the Porsche-only trackdays, I'll probably seek these out in future

 

[andyp]

Hey Andy it was a pleasure to meet you yesterday! Your car took me back - it looked eerily similar to mine when I first got it. Yours looked like a lovely original example. These cars have become a rarity on track nowadays, much like the 996s. How did you find it, was everything ok or anything you want to improve?

I won't lie, it's a fun car on track; very forgiving and very 'interactive'. However, I bought it to really use as a road car so I think the only mod I would do is to put a DSC controller on it to make it more comfy on the road and a bit sharper on track, and possibly upgrade the seats to folding buckets (if I can find some at a decent price).

In terms of capabilities, I think I was surprised that it managed to keep up (in a fashion) with most newer GT3s and the GT4s, but not really able to hang onto the big-boy RS's. Thing is it has 6 year old P-Zeros (which seemed to drop off a cliff when they overheated) and the brakes started to go a bit if I was too enthusiastic late-braking into the hairpin, so I didn't really push it 10/10th.

That's not to say that I won't do the odd trackday in it, but then I would probably get a spare set of wheels with sticky tires. I might have a think about brakes, but since I want to keep this as a pleasant street car I wouldn't want to put track-focussed pads or discs on it as they tend to be poor in cold weather and squeal a lot. (I have too many other cars with permanently squeaky brakes!)

BTW. Love the colour of the wheels! If you ever think of changing let me know and I'll buy them off you!

 

[Roro]

I would say that while the DSC is a worthwhile mod, don't expect the car to ride like a limo or anything. It does improve compliance and damping, and it makes the PASM usable (i never used it before installing the DSC). It's also possible to configure it with different files depending on your tastes, but I'm yet to explore that myself

My brake setup is OEM discs and RS29 pads, which i find perfectly fine for my usage which is mainly road with a couple of trackdays per year. I find the trick with pads like this is to be quite firm with them, gentle usage and dabbing while driving will polish them and lead to squealing

As for the wheels, no worries, I'll give you first refusal if I decide to sell them

 

[andyp]

I find the trick with pads like this is to be quite firm with them, gentle usage and dabbing while driving will polish them and lead to squealing

I think I mentioned when we spoke that most my other cars are either more track focussed or (modded) retro/classic cars; they all have squeaky brakes. For a change, I thought it would be nice to have one road car which I keep more standard and won't have squeaky bakes! :lol:

 

[Roro]

I find the trick with pads like this is to be quite firm with them, gentle usage and dabbing while driving will polish them and lead to squealing

I think I mentioned when we spoke that most my other cars are either more track focussed or (modded) retro/classic cars; they all have squeaky brakes. For a change, I thought it would be nice to have one road car which I keep more standard and won't have squeaky bakes! :lol:

Yes I remember, I was just saying how I manage to avoid the squealing even with more track friendly pads. If your aim though is to keep the car as standard as possible, then I wouldn't touch anything not even the DSC. The minute you start fiddling with anything is when you'll start falling down the slippery modding slope :grin: you already mentioned the folding buckets and wheels, then you'll start thinking about a juicy exhaust, and I think we discussed engine mounts briefly too. I think I can see which way this is going