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MaxA's ''Mr White'' long termer

Bonners1 said:
The quality of work/workmanship in Dubai is generally pretty shocking. We came back from there 3 yrs ago and whilst we had a great time, there's no getting away from the fact that it's still a 3rd world country. It may have shiny buildings and many other great things, but 80% of people who live there are from the developing world and that can be.....frustrating.

I opted for an M6 whilst there as decided it was unlikely I'd buy one in the UK. The number of M and Audi RS cars I had to look at and get checked over before I found one I'd accept was ridiculous. Few people there look after them, locals too rich to bother and many expats too poor to pay for it as its not cheap in Dxb.

Agreed. We have to have the maintenance company come in to the villa at least once a week for something or other ... :what:

I've been recommended an independent specialist by some guys on Rennlist, let's see if they can do a reasonable job. The OPC is ridiculously expensive, and the largest independent seems to be a specialist in upselling, rather than actually maintaining... :?
 
In other news, I'm finally heading down tomorrow to the Yas Marina GP circuit for a Porsche Club UAE Porsche Driving Very Fast Experience in Your Own Porsche Sponsored by Al Nabooda Porsche Dubai and Pirelli for Porsche Dubai UAE XXVCII. Or some such.

Sadly I'm only a novice, as it's "my first time" with the Club, so the new helmet that I carefully sourced and shipped at great expense and trouble was completely unnecessary. I can however leave it casually on the roof with my driving gloves and therefore pretend to look like a bad ass track rat. :roll:

It should however be fun, and maybe I'll get some tuition for my USD 310 (!). :sad:
 
A Novice at Yas Marina

The driving season in the Emirates starts around mid-October, when the temperatures finally start to sink below 40c, and I was at last on the E11 heading down towards Abu Dhabi's Yas Island for my first 'Driving Experience" with my local Porsche Club. I wasn't sure what to expect, as there wasn't much traffic on the Facebook page, but at least I'd a new buddy to meet – a Dane called Rasmus in his blue 997.2 C2S. We met at the distinctive Yas Viceroy – the hotel that's covered in lights in the middle of the Yas Marina Circuit – and we rolled around to the support pits gate entrance in good time.

Within minutes, the 911s, Turbos, GTs and Caymans were lining up like pretty much every car club meeting you've ever been to, with everybody attaching GoPros to every possible surface, introducing themselves, peering at tyres and brakes and bucket seats... It was still a blast to line up next to a GT3 (which rolled up on Omani plates); the driver of the GT4 climbed out and asked about break in periods: he'd just taken delivery and had rocked up at a trackday with 700km on the odo. The instant consensus was to drive it like your hair's on fire. These guys were proper enthusiasts. Cool.

Once registration opened, we spent some time checking in, admiring the girls legs, signing papers, collecting official lanyards, bracelets, getting stickered up and such. As my first time with the Club, I was a Novice. I had Group K stickers front and back. At the driver's briefing the Chairman (an 18 yea veteran) explained to us that we'd have two sessions, with each group led by an instructor in a lead car, and that we'd rotate within the groups such that we would each have turns directly behind the lead car to learn the lines. The track cones were carefully explained, especially the yellow turn in and green apex cones. Turned out these were pretty helpful. Yas Marina is a big track, and you don't want to miss the corner! In addition, the second instructor would move between cars and provide some one-to-one tuition.

There was also a sharp word about discipline: we needed to follow the line, stay tight, stay together, and just learn the racing line. We were in the Novice class for a good reason. Yas Marina is a big wide track, and we were running on the full 5.4km GP track under floodlights so it is pretty intimidating: the first time out you really don't know which way the track is going. Some of the corners were hidden behind walls, some were open and fully sighted and most kerbs were pretty flat.

It is a massive thrill to line up in the pits and wait for your group to roll onto the track: the lead car shot off and showed us the lines. My instructor – a nice Englishman called George – seemed really happy with my lines and really encouraged me to ride some kerbs, and use all the track (it's OK if you keep your inside wheels on the track); I found that really helpful to carry some speed. I ran in Sports mode, PASM on hard, and in the first session I let the PDK do the work, and just focused on steering, accelerating and braking: in the second, I drove in manual mode with the paddles, and soon learned that the using the PDK adds another level of interaction (and opportunities for mistakes!). If you keep revs over 4000rpm, the engine doesn't bog. And it never gets old to change up at 7500rpm.

There were a lot of cars on the track, with some groups running slower than others: once we got some open track, the speeds soon picked up and we were doing over 160kmh between corners and over 200kmh on the straights (although the main straight had a chicane for added giggles). The one thing that I missed was a helmet: not only does the Club not require the novices to wear a helmet, they didn't allow it. Maybe the helmets would add too much confidence?

The second session was a huge blast, once I stopped being surprised about which way the track went, quick enough to carry some read speed, use the gears, to go full throttle out of the hairpin right up to the redline, to get out of shape on one particular negative cambered corner (there's always one corner that you just can't get right, isn't there?). Things got hot – not only the cabin but also the tyres and brakes. I was soaked in sweat. The old P Zeros got a bit greasy in the second half of the session (as an aside, when I took them off a couple of days later, I found that they'd 'chunked' a bit in that some chunky bits had gone missing...).

I'd been afraid that the Club was full of 'rich boys with their daddie's cars" [as it had been described to me by some Emirati] but it was full of really down to earth guys, from all over (Europe, Asia, America, Middle East), all enthusiasts, all drivers, and all prepared to really use their cars: many were modified and fully stickered up. We had Carrera's, GT3s and RSs and such, all being used in anger – and some of them really sounding like the Porsche Cup cars at the Dubai 24 hours. This was the Club's 56th event and it showed: it was properly organised, disciplined and fun, and despite the cost (a not insignificant USD 300), it was a blast. And next time, I'll be in the Club class, we'll run a bit quicker, and I can wear the helmet that I already bought.
:grin: 8) :lol: :p :wink: :puh: :bye:
 
Yas Marina
 

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Great write up. That sounds a top day. The track always looks amazing at night and glad you enjoyed it.
 
Circuit Map

We used the support pits between turns 10 and 11, so the F1 turn 1 was a few corners away...

... and we had an additional chicane half way down the main straight. It was a bit dusty.
 

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Sounds very cool.

I'm in Dxb next month, happy to take your car for a spin if you like?

There's some very quiet roads down by Jebel Ali, officialy 80kph, where "people" have been know to do 265kph. 😱 Who needs Yas circuit when you've an empty desert.
 
MaxA said:
Yas Marina

:thumbs:

:envy:

ps. Your revised rear end looks really neat. :thumb:
 
Bonners1 said:
There's some very quiet roads down by Jebel Ali, officialy 80kph, where "people" have been know to do 265kph. 😱 Who needs Yas circuit when you've an empty desert.

Oh yes? The problem is, we're starting to see a lot more mobile cameras ... :?:
 
T8 said:
MaxA said:
Yas Marina

:thumbs:

:envy:

ps. Your revised rear end looks really neat. :thumb:

Thanks. It was a blast. And far less intimidating for a first timer than tight little non-FIA approved tracks with lots of elevation changes and no run off... :mrgreen:
 
Mr White

Back at home with fresh Michelins all round, rebuilt front shock mounts and new springs, a non-leaky front diff, no more yellow shark fins, a little bit of fettling, and an extended warranty (it's been a bit expensive, and I'll still need new brake discs and pads all round, and it seems that all four rims are bent... :evil:)
 

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Ouch all four wheels need work? I know it's your daily and you use it on track.... but all four wheels?
 
It seems that the rims are made of cheese.

In the normal course, the rims were rebalanced when fitted with the new tyres, and, after the front suspension overhaul, the suspension was fully realigned. But there was still wheel wobble, so the independent removed the rims again for testing. It seems that the fronts might be reparable but the rears aren't...

Right now, I'm still driving the car, and the wheel wobble is 'OK' in that it's a lot better than it was, but it is still noticeable at some speeds. I'll be getting new rims in due course when the bank account recovers.

I don't know what the explanation really is but it seems that the previous owner and Dubai speed bumps are the primary culprits - I've always taken it really easy over the bumps and potholes (you' be surprised at some of the roads around here), well, mostly easy, except for a few straddled kerbs at Yas, where they're really very flat!

Still, one of my old friends did have a lot of problems with the rims on his Boxster, so maybe it's a Porsche thing?
 
off roading in my 4x4
 

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I'm posting this here for my own future reference, it's a post from a guy called semicycler on Rennlist re modifications for using the car on track. And I'm firmly in the 'drive it til I die' camp.


"I'd do this for tracking:

1. TPC DSC control box to replace the OEM PASM control box for the active suspension, tightening up just the right corner when needed. (Honestly I'd do this first, above everything else including Bilstein B16s.)

2. Semi-solid engine mounts (as solids have too much NVH) from Rennline, RSS, Function First, all great stuff.

3. Fresh brake fluid and oil change (some do them before and after a track event. I top the oil off before and flush after, and always flush brakes after. I only flush the brakes before if it's been a few months since my last visit.)

4. Aggressive street alignment: get as much front negative camber as you can with the stock suspension, should be about -1.1 degrees.

5. Dedicated track brake pads - Pagid are popular, so are Performance Friction. They squeal when cold though so not great for the street. But when warmed up they are awesome at the track.

At this point on street tyres you have an awesome setup. Get some seat time in, then when ready go deeper down the slope:


5. Coilovers like Bilstein B16 DampTronics along with 997 GT3 camber plates (for the monoball and more negative camber). Pick a drop in the 0.5" to 1" range keeping the front to rear rake proper. GT3 drop specs are a good place to start. Be sure to get the car corner balanced during the alignment to the help with the handling.

6. Track alignment – with 997 GT3 specs as a starting point. If you are a novice at the track then Michelin Cup2 tires are overkill. If you stick with Michelin Pilot SuperSport or PilotSport2's then your front camber only needs to be about -1.5 to -1.8 or so. Camber plates alone are enough. Use GT3 alignment specs but stay at the low end of the rear toe spec to save tyre life and the high end of the front camber spec to get the car neutral, or even higher to about -1.8. Front to rear camber should be no more than 1 degree different otherwise handling is affected too much (keep the rear around -1.5 or so).

7. Anti-roll bars, and (if you are lowered) drop links to go along with them. Either used GT3 ones or H&R. (The drop links are only needed for moderate to severely lowered cars: they will remove the anti-roll bar preload when the car is lowered.)

8. Third radiator if your oil temps are too high.
Beyond this it gets expensive (it's expensive already but you get the point):

9. GT3 split style LCA's for even more negative camber, needed for track tyres.

10. Second set of light weight rims with track tyres: 18" wheels are popular because they are light and the rubber is cheaper than 19" flavours. (A second set lets you swap in track brake pads and tyres before your events, then swap back to street brake pads and tyres afterwards.)

11. Another track alignment for the track tyres. Front camber at -2.5 to -3.0 or so, rear about -2.0 to -2.5. (You will probably want to tune this to your taste at this point.)

12. Deeper oil sump. Some do this sooner: I believe the engine is fine until you run track tyres, then the g-forces are higher so the extra oil near the pickup helps prevent starvation. [Not an issue on the 997.2 DFI?]

13. Start replacing rubber bushings with solid monoballs - dogbones, LCA puck, inner LCA bushing, transmission mounts. But say goodbye to driving on the street except for the smoothest of roads: city driving will be a nightmare.

14. Track seats, roll cage, harness...

15. Better brakes - two-piece discs and hats are better and lighter (with the .2 4S, Turbo or GT3 6-pot calipers and 350mm discs).

16. Drop weight - remove aircon, radio, etc.

There are plenty of other things that are fun too on the noise side and the power side. Just understand the power gains are minimal with the NA engine, maybe 50HP in the best case – rear centre muffler delete exhaust for sound, 200 cell high flow cats for power, free flow headers, a tune etc. It's an expensive and slippery slope. Understand before you start what your end game is for the car (track conversion? back to stock for resale? drive it until it dies?). Then start modding."
 

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