Roro said:
My plan is to only keep the car for about 12-18 months then trade up again at OPC and continue doing so
So much for that - it's been 3 years!
I wouldn't say that everything has been perfect the last 3 years, because it hasn't - but by and large, it's been pretty close.
The car is now 7 years old, and it has done well over half it's total mileage in my possession. I bought it with just under 12,000 on the clock and its now done just over 30,000. I should have added a few thousand more by the end of the year.
When I bought this car I had never done a trackday, and I've now done about a dozen in all, all of them in the GT3. I feel very fortunate to be able to track this car regularly, and I intend to continue doing so for as long as I can.
I'd say I've become a 'better' driver technically than I was before I bought this car, and getting to know how to handle a GT3 on track is probably one of the most rewarding driving experiences anyone could hope for. I feel very lucky.
Trackdays are definitely addictive, and this new hobby seems to be turning into a bit of an obsession. After 3 years my view is that there is no point having a GT3 if you're not going to drive it on track, and for me trackdays are now the main point of ownership. It's just too good to waste driving solely on the road. Driving on track is such a liberating experience. To me it's a no brainer paying a few hundred pounds in trackday fees now and then, and having a higher
Insurance premium, for the privilege of driving as fast as i like on a track. Far more preferable to driving fast on road and ending up with fines or points on the licence.
I'm learning something new on every trackday. At the last event at Silverstone the learning curve took another jump through instruction from Euan Hankey. Euan's tuition was quite eye opening. It's since helped focus my mind on the 3 main states a car can be in - important on road but more so on track - weight at the back (accelerating), level (lift-off), and weight at the front (braking). Controlling those different states effectively is the key to being fast (... and staying on track). Of course, there are varying states in between, but that's where skill and experience comes in, recognising when the transitions are going to happen, and balancing the car properly when managing them. At the moment it's proving clear that I have no natural ability to drive on track really fast but hopefully that will come with time :floor:
An example of where tuition was truly eye opening was coming around Abbey (I think it was that one) and the back end started feeling a little toooo light. It was also raining and so the track was soaked. Uh oh. Euan said "accelerate" (which felt completely the wrong thing to do, and probably the opposite to what I would have done!), but I did what he said, and the car just squatted down and calmly navigated the corner. I prefer not to think what would have happened had I lifted off completely, in those conditions almost certainly a spin. (That was to come later when the car in front decided to brake unexpectedly hard going into Maggots...)
One thing that puzzles me nowadays are the GT3 classifieds that say "never used on track". Using your GT3 on track is having your cake and eating it. Also, a GT3 that has been used on track is more likely to have had plenty of money thrown at it - brakes, tyres, oil/fluids, bushes, suspension components. Compare to a car that has never needed these changing due to lack of use - many parts are likely to have just corroded over time.
.... Just don't mention the costs involved with regularly tracking a GT3. :roll:
In terms of things I've done to improve the car for track use, last year I fitted a Motorsport Cup LSD (that alone made a huge improvement to acceleration out of corners and braking stability), GT2 ARB, 5mm spacers and 245 tyres on the front. At some stage I will probably get a spare set of wheels and fit them with Cup2 tyres for track use. In the meantime, Michelin Pilot Super Sports are proving a very good compromise between road and track - superb on road perfomance yet very solid on track performance, especially in the wet!
I've also done a fair amount of extra servicing / oil changes, and experimenting with different geo settings. With regards to the latter I've concluded that Centre Gravity is the only place worth visiting. Other places are good as well, but what you get with Centre Gravity which you don't with the others is bags of knowledge (priceless) as well as the job done (not priceless).
I've now got Recaro buckets (actually, one off eBay and the other is on order, still waiting 2 months later!) and will be fitting those along with Brey Krause harness bar and harnesses in the not too distant future. Buckets and harnesses just seemed the logical way to go.
Although the car is not a Clubsport, I don't feel disadvantaged. Sure, life would have been simpler had I bought a Clubsport in the first place, but I now know much more about modding a GT3, which isn't a bad thing. Plus, if I ever sold the car I could always return to standard and sell with the buckets and harness gear should the new owner decide to go in that direction themselves. Not everyone that buys a GT3 will use it on track, having driven to the continent many times, the car does make a very good continental cruiser, probably more so with Sports seats as opposed to buckets.
Fitting a Hayward & Scott exhaust bypass / x-pipe was a good move in hindsight, it provided some weight saving (about 11kg net) as well as extra noise. I may go for a fruity exhaust system with more power down the line, but that's not a priority at the moment. I'm starting to think about what to do when the side mufflers wear out and I'm too loud for UK trackdays (I'm guessing the absence of a centre muffler means the side mufflers are having to work harder). I'll probably just do more European trackdays instead... Quiet [sports] cars are dull... Or just search out better trackday mufflers.
As for the faults I alluded to at the beginning. The biggest issue has been the annoying creaking noise from the front of the car, which I eventually had fixed at a cost of just under £1100 (front damper rebuild + geo).
This issue had plagued me for almost 2 years, with Porsche quite unbelievably not being able to diagnose and fix the problem. During the process of trying to fix the creak I had the front coil springs and both LCA replaced (unnecessarily as it turns out, since the problem was not with these rather the front dampers). I'm very disappointed with Porsche about this, but all big organisations have their failings and Porsche is no exception.
http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=76942
Here's a list of other faults / annoyances for completeness:
- Starter motor replaced at 29k miles
- RMS (fixed same time as starter motor)
- TPMS sensors replaced at 28k miles
- Potential aircon issues on the horizon.... At 30k
miles....
- Smeary windows since I got the car
- Frequent punctures (I forget now how many I have had on this car, about 6 or 7, not including one resulting from pothole damage)
As a long-term-owner-without-really-intending-to-be, the thing that concerns me most now is the coolant pipes. I've read about these coming apart and leading to catastrophe, so this is something I intend to investigate next. Cost to fix is engine out so I presume around £2k to sort. Ouch. I'm yet to speak to anyone for a quote on this work.
I'm toying with the 3.9 conversion at the same time as the coolant pipes (... well, if "they've" got the engine out.... then ... ), but that decision will be made at some yet to be determined point in the future, following quite a lot of alcohol.
.... Along with the riviera blue respray....
The things that niggle away at me after 3 years (longest I've ever lived with any car I've owned), are the same things that niggled away at me from day 1. The Satnav for one (must have been an ancient design even the day the car launched), and the manner in which you turn off the heater (hold the lower fan speed button - really, why no "off" button??). But.... That's all.
Overall, I'm really not sure what else anyone could want in a raw animalistic sports car. The looks, the performance, the sound, everything is spot on (especially / despite my minor meddling in each of those areas). Because the car sets the bar so high I doubt I'll ever master it. I'm definitely no Walter Rorhl! However this is what makes me want to drive it more and more on track, and why the 991 doesn't appeal so much. I know the newer car is likely to be quicker than my GT3 around a track, but for me the excitement of my GT3 comes from the challenge of understanding how to handle the car correctly to get the best out of it. From what I've read and seen on YouTube the newer GT3 no longer handles like a 911, and is very easy and safe to drive. What's the point in that? I may as well get an R8 if I'm 'not buying a 911'. The ease of driving fast and safer handling is in many ways obviously a good thing, but driving an automatic on track isn't as challenging / demanding as learning to master a manual gear change on track. Yes, F1 cars... Cup cars.... All auto... Blah blah... I'm not driving to win a race I'm driving just for fun.... I'll eat my words when I get a racing license (ie never!).
This car is great. I just want to f'ing drive it.
... Oh yeah .... Did I say don't mention the costs?
This car has never been tracked.
