Driving CarreraLightweightRacing's 996 'CLR' (briefly)
Discussion
MDL111 said:
ATM said:
Hang on this door looks bent.
assuming the car next to it is your 997 RS - didn't you have a front cage in there? (looks like half cage only in this pic)
Don't tell the mrs.You can just about make out the front cage extension at the back of this picture.
edc said:
Did you think about an off-the-shelf carbon fibre bonnet rather than manufacturing your own? Is yours lighter or cheaper or have something in the design that you particularly wanted?
I wanted control of as much of this project as possible and the USP having my own design, can't do any harm??? And where is the fun is buying off-the-shelf stuff, that would just be too sensible Bonnet is 9kg lighter than OEM. I am having the following carbon panels made for both 996 (Gen 1&2) and 997:
-Bonnet
-Front wings
-Doors
-Door cards (raw carbon)
-Mirrors (polished)
-Roof
-Ducktail
CarreraLightweightRacing said:
I wanted control of as much of this project as possible and the USP having my own design, can't do any harm??? And where is the fun is buying off-the-shelf stuff, that would just be too sensible
Bonnet is 9kg lighter than OEM. I am having the following carbon panels made for both 996 (Gen 1&2) and 997:
-Bonnet
-Front wings
-Doors
-Door cards (raw carbon)
-Mirrors (polished)
-Roof
-Ducktail
I thought that might be your answer and fair play. If you do do a commercial run of bonnet and wings I'd be interested to keep tabs of cost and weight, specs of fixings and bracketery etc.Bonnet is 9kg lighter than OEM. I am having the following carbon panels made for both 996 (Gen 1&2) and 997:
-Bonnet
-Front wings
-Doors
-Door cards (raw carbon)
-Mirrors (polished)
-Roof
-Ducktail
Slippydiff said:
ATM said:
Slippydiff said:
ATM said:
Hang on this door looks bent.
Not sure if serious .... 
The door skin is crumpled inwards a fair amount.
As already mentioned above and quoted again for clarity
:"Look at lower rear mounting point of the wing; it isn't attached, this was just plonked on to take a picture. There was a bit of work involved to get to a point of being able to bolt it on, just this picture is prior to drilling and fine tuning to fit"
CarreraLightweightRacing said:
Slippydiff said:
ATM said:
Slippydiff said:
ATM said:
Hang on this door looks bent.
Not sure if serious .... The door skin is crumpled inwards a fair amount.
As already mentioned above and quoted again for clarity
:"Look at lower rear mounting point of the wing; it isn't attached, this was just plonked on to take a picture. There was a bit of work involved to get to a point of being able to bolt it on, just this picture is prior to drilling and fine tuning to fit"
SRT Hellcat said:
My hats off to you CLR. Taking a vanilla 996 and creating such a work of art is truly outstanding. A brave move that I truly hope pays you dividends. Good luck my friend. Just don't grow a beard and wear scruffy clothes. That would be too much. But I do love Magnus
You raise a good point there SRT. A good friend also questioned me about this yesterday. It's really difficult to know for sure but I see it like this:Primarily I feel the 996 is about the best 911 platform Porsche AG have put together to date (now this is already a very subjective, possibly antagonistic statement) and my aim is to perfect it; not make the quickest or prettiest but to make a car that will set your pants on fire and reward in ways, every time you drive it, that the off-the-shelf special variants can't get remotely close to. I'm under no illusions Porsche couldn't create something far better than what I am attempting themselves, but with regulatory, financial and mass appeal constraints to meet, the like of an 'ST' or original 'R' ever rolling out of Stuttgart again are non-existent.
Now most probably think I am crazy to take the unloved, even hated by some (fried eggs, first water-cooled, M96...) 911 and spend all my time, energy and money Trevving it up. Well my argument is 'Singer' take a boggo 964; remember not so long back these could be had for £8k, unloved... work their magic on them and create something most regard as very special indeed.
Don't get me wrong, not for one minute am I trying to emulate a Singer; Rob starts with his idea of the perfect 911 and effectively forward-dates it with much 993 tech and I take a 996/997 and back-date the tech, to filter out all the non-essential, intrusive systems and focus on making the driver interface points as good as can be. For me the 996 and 997.1 are just at the right point, in automotive evolutionary terms, before things started to go wrong. Anything earlier and manufacturer's are still on the learning curve and anything later and it becomes more tricky to unwind the tech and safety features and the chassis size is a bit off-putting. Also it just doesn't quite work for me, using a very modern platform.
Right now I have no idea what way to take this project in the future, I'm no marketing or salesman, my IT skill are non-existent and I may have thrown lots of money (I don't have) chasing a dream, that in reality leads to massive financial losses, near divorce everyday
and a loss of years of my life locked up in my man-cave often until 3 in the morning, knocking up silly drawings or washing vaporised carbon fibres out of my eyes.Who knows! what I am confident of, is that this car will be off the scale as a drivers weapon and every time I get behind the wheel I know I will be in a place where happiness is defined; where a smile is controlled directly by the IGN switch position
and don't worry you're safe G, there'll be no excessive beard growth or trendy clothes
dom9 said:
Great thread CLR - Been following this on 'the other forum' and I'm glad it's here now
Thank you Dom some people only use PH others 911UK so my apologies if it appears I have repeated myself. I generally update the original thread but was asked recently here for an update and it looks like I may have got a bit carried away. Thanks for the updates CLR,
Mini question from my side, I believe you mentioned it's hartech engine. Can you also describe some mods/upgrades done in the engine or it's proper stock engine with a rebuild? Any specific updates in there also increased performance/lightweight would be interesting to hear.
Mini question from my side, I believe you mentioned it's hartech engine. Can you also describe some mods/upgrades done in the engine or it's proper stock engine with a rebuild? Any specific updates in there also increased performance/lightweight would be interesting to hear.
Hi ooid, it had a full closed deck rebuild by Hartech just before I bought it. In terms of what I have done; my efforts have been concentrated into the areas of inertia negation, improving reliability and sonorous improvements. Absolute power isn't the key objective. My thinking is that around 300BHP/ton is just about the best possible ratio for a driver's car.
So in terms of mods, I have fitted a BMC panel filter and CAI kit with Heimholz resonator removal to improve induction roar. I have fitted an Inconel625 exhaust with carbon tips. LTT (71.C) and new water pump. LWFW and sprung type stage 2 clutch. RSS engine mounts. CLR gearbox mount mod. Bored out the throttle. Will use VGS Motorsport to map the car. I have removed much of the engine driven ancillaries and redesigned pulleys, mounts belt including routing, under-drive pulley... These have a big impact on reducing parasitic drag of the engine. PAS and A/C removed. RS cooling mod. So a total of 49kg removed from the engine but crucially the engine reliability has been improved by reducing sources of heat soak from all the ancillaries, allowing more air circulation, easier access for servicing, improved throttle response, far better weight distribution... All these little changes should add up to create quite an effect. The power to weight ratio when complete will be pretty much the same as a 997.2GT3.
If I go commercial with this, I may offer a 400BHP N/A version but I really don't see the need as the projected 330bhp or so, with a 1086kg dry weight should be just about perfect.
So in terms of mods, I have fitted a BMC panel filter and CAI kit with Heimholz resonator removal to improve induction roar. I have fitted an Inconel625 exhaust with carbon tips. LTT (71.C) and new water pump. LWFW and sprung type stage 2 clutch. RSS engine mounts. CLR gearbox mount mod. Bored out the throttle. Will use VGS Motorsport to map the car. I have removed much of the engine driven ancillaries and redesigned pulleys, mounts belt including routing, under-drive pulley... These have a big impact on reducing parasitic drag of the engine. PAS and A/C removed. RS cooling mod. So a total of 49kg removed from the engine but crucially the engine reliability has been improved by reducing sources of heat soak from all the ancillaries, allowing more air circulation, easier access for servicing, improved throttle response, far better weight distribution... All these little changes should add up to create quite an effect. The power to weight ratio when complete will be pretty much the same as a 997.2GT3.
If I go commercial with this, I may offer a 400BHP N/A version but I really don't see the need as the projected 330bhp or so, with a 1086kg dry weight should be just about perfect.
CarreraLightweightRacing said:
Hi ooid, it had a full closed deck rebuild by Hartech just before I bought it. In terms of what I have done; my efforts have been concentrated into the areas of inertia negation, improving reliability and sonorous improvements. Absolute power isn't the key objective. My thinking is that around 300BHP/ton is just about the best possible ratio for a driver's car.
So in terms of mods, I have fitted a BMC panel filter and CAI kit with Heimholz resonator removal to improve induction roar. I have fitted an Inconel625 exhaust with carbon tips. LTT (71.C) and new water pump. LWFW and sprung type stage 2 clutch. RSS engine mounts. CLR gearbox mount mod. Bored out the throttle. Will use VGS Motorsport to map the car. I have removed much of the engine driven ancillaries and redesigned pulleys, mounts belt including routing, under-drive pulley... These have a big impact on reducing parasitic drag of the engine. PAS and A/C removed. RS cooling mod. So a total of 49kg removed from the engine but crucially the engine reliability has been improved by reducing sources of heat soak from all the ancillaries, allowing more air circulation, easier access for servicing, improved throttle response, far better weight distribution... All these little changes should add up to create quite an effect. The power to weight ratio when complete will be pretty much the same as a 997.2GT3.
If I go commercial with this, I may offer a 400BHP N/A version but I really don't see the need as the projected 330bhp or so, with a 1086kg dry weight should be just about perfect.
I wholeheartedly concur with this approach (for whatever that might be worth!). Great work on the body panels and other changes too, it will be a very special drive I'm sure. This thread is a rare treat to read every time I log on So in terms of mods, I have fitted a BMC panel filter and CAI kit with Heimholz resonator removal to improve induction roar. I have fitted an Inconel625 exhaust with carbon tips. LTT (71.C) and new water pump. LWFW and sprung type stage 2 clutch. RSS engine mounts. CLR gearbox mount mod. Bored out the throttle. Will use VGS Motorsport to map the car. I have removed much of the engine driven ancillaries and redesigned pulleys, mounts belt including routing, under-drive pulley... These have a big impact on reducing parasitic drag of the engine. PAS and A/C removed. RS cooling mod. So a total of 49kg removed from the engine but crucially the engine reliability has been improved by reducing sources of heat soak from all the ancillaries, allowing more air circulation, easier access for servicing, improved throttle response, far better weight distribution... All these little changes should add up to create quite an effect. The power to weight ratio when complete will be pretty much the same as a 997.2GT3.
If I go commercial with this, I may offer a 400BHP N/A version but I really don't see the need as the projected 330bhp or so, with a 1086kg dry weight should be just about perfect.
I think the point about the 996 platform is good one - it blends the developments that are worthwhile with enough of the core unmolested that it is ripe for this kind of approach, as noted by other in thread. Good hunting and very much looking forward to the finished article (and hopefully a commercial offering so more of us can partake - financial means permitting!)
CarreraLightweightRacing said:
I have fitted a BMC panel filter and CAI kit with Heimholz resonator removal to improve induction roar.
Does this really help with bringing much more cold air into the system? If so, I guess this would also be a great/cheap upgrade in addition to Low Temp thermostat and water pump upgrade for m96/97 coolant inefficiencies. One thing really clear from rare examples like your project, a bit of essential improvement/upgrades on these cars make seriously affordable everyday Porsche 911!
- Closed deck design
- Improved Cooling (No bloody A.C.)
- Thermostat & Waterpump
- Upgraded IMS & Clutch
Enjoy the next trouble free 15 years!
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