advice on GT2 for trackday use

[daved6]

I recently collected my 2003 GT2 which I plan to use for weekends and trackdays, has anyone got any advice regarding track use ?

I'm used to driving Evo's and Radicals, but I've never driven any porsche on road or track before.

[dazren]

This thread had some interesting stuff on driving 911s.

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=66416&f=48&h=0

DAZ

[GuyR]

Be very careful with the PCCB brakes, they can be destroyed by over-hard track use, or the wrong pads (use porsche yellows or greens). The discs are £5,500+vat each from porsche to replace, although they may be cheaper from other sources.

What colour is yours (mines black)?

[dazren]

Guy have you considered switching to the Brembo steel brakes and putting the PCCB's into storage until you sell the car? Allows for a lot more hooning about and trackwork. I don't think I'd want to do a Bruntingthorpe day on PCCBs.

DAZ

[GuyR]

Daz,

My OPC have actually recommended switching to steel discs and storing the PCCBs if I intend to track the car, given the relative cost of replacement (£500 vs £5000 per disc). I'm awaiting a quote and details on steel conversion (though I may just keep PCCB and use gently which kind of defeats the point).

My first set of PCCBs discs were replaced at 11,000 miles.

[clubsport]

Hi Guy, when you say quote are you hoping that they help you out? On the basis that the cars as wonderful as they are are perhaps supplied unfit for the purpose intended?

[jeremyc]

You'll have to excuse me if I've missed something here (or this has been discussed extensively before), but isn't PCCB supposed to be the best thing in braking available? I get the message with regard to higher braking efficiency, massively reduced fade and reduced unsprung weight, but what is it about OPCs recommending that they are not used for track days? Porsche would seem to think they're ideal (my emphasis):

Porsche website said:

...a powerful new technology designed to cope with even the most extreme conditions on racetrack and road.

Porsche website said:

Abrasion is extremely low compared with metal discs, with each PCCB disc offering a service life of approximately 300,000 km.

Sorry to hear of your problems Guy - are Porsche doing something about what would appear to be not fit-for-purpose brakes?

[dazren]

JC

When you have a spare hour read through the link in this thread. Porsche appear to have changed their tune.........

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?f=48&h=0&t=68271

DAZ

[clubsport]

Jeremy not may of us have them...but if you go on to the www.rennlist.com and other stateside forums where more PCCB users reside, it looks like a nightmare.
There appear to be quite a few busy lawyers!

[993rsr]

The problem with the PCCB (speaking from experience as the previous custodian of Guy R's car) is that in order to preserve the life of the disc, the material in pads you can buy (there are three grades available from your OPC) is very soft.

After coming from a car with the best standard brakes of any road car (993rs) I was very underwhelmed.

Fade, noise, finite pad life on track.

The technology is not there yet for PCCB, and at the moment it is in my opinion totally compromised.

Best bet is to exchange the PCCB discs for steels and aggresive pads as had been suggested.

[GuyR]

There are very few PCCB equipped cars out there to date (GT2s mainly) of which few have been driven hard on trackdays.

My PCCB discs were crumbling and had pitting on the surface. Given that I had owned the car for only a few weeks, when I realised this (as 3rd owner) I took the car to my OPC. They examined them and declared them as needing replacement due to damage. After the discs were inspected by Reading and as they realised it was clearly not my fault, they very quickly and kindly replaced them for free (at large expense). However, they made it clear that they would not do so again, as discs are considered as 'wear and tear' items under warranty terms and that PCCB will wear quickly if used hard.

I was therefore very happy about Porsche response to this incident, however I am left very nervous about the future of PCCB discs. I am sure they will live for a long time on street-use, but feel that they are not the 'indestructible disc' they were first marketed as.

Of course, this would not be a problem if the disc were cheaper to replace.

Guy

PS I agree with John (993RSR) that the PCCBs are not as good as the brakes on my old 993RS.

>> Edited by GuyR on Friday 12th December 17:02

>> Edited by GuyR on Friday 12th December 17:03

[993rsr]

Guy - quite right they replaced your discs for you.

Strange thing is the car had been into my OPC a few hundred miles before you bought the car, and they had declared everything to be ok! Bit worrying considering I'd only done two track days.

A friend of mine had to fight tooth and nail to get one disc replaced.

[993rsr]

There are some other interesting, if very expensive options to the direct replacement of the PCCB discs with the same size steel rotors, namely by people such as Sportec.

With reference to the disc problems on PCCB, I have heard from one owner outside the UK that his front discs actually fell apart after one session at Spa!

Porsche have flatly refused to replace them because the damage was caused on track.

[clubsport]

What was the guy thinking taking a GT2 to Spa?
Porsche clearly intended PCCB to be used on the Kings Road with the occasional trip to Waitrose.



edited because i can't spell

>> Edited by clubsport on Friday 12th December 17:33

[993rsr]

Surely King's Road then Fortnum and Masons?

[pesty]

Is it just Porsche that are having problems?

dosn't the Koenegsegg* use ceramic brakes made by Tarox?

You can buy Tarox ceramic disks for most performance cars and they are markeing them the same as Porche have.

Ps interested cos I used 3 sets of disks on the scooby

[daved6]

Thanks for the input, must admit I'm pretty p*ssed off with the brake issue, I spent thousands sorting the Evo's brakes out!! after spending nearly 100k on the porker I didn't think I'd have the same issue

Still I am planning to take it to Spa along with my SR3 next spring, after reading this I'll use the GT2 for siting laps only then.

How good is the Porsche 2 year warranty? would it cover the discs if they required replacing, as the car has only done less than 2K miles ?





Shame the salesman failed to mention the problem, mind you I wouldn't take it back their for any service work after the very poor service I received during my purchase.



>> Edited by daved6 on Friday 12th December 21:51

[JamieBeeston]

GuyR/David.

You guys got any fotos of your cars ?

I am trying to build up a picture profile for the domains I own, and need some nice shots for gt2.co.uk

Finding nice 'non press' pix of Gt2's is rather difficult.

So far all I have is the written off one, but it doesnt seem right to use that on its own.

Appreciate anything you could whip up. just mail to [e-mail]

thnx chaps

[993rsr]

Daved6, the important thing to remember if/when your PCCB discs need replacing it that you have never been on a track with them, have you!

[Tpup]

Porsche's new position is that PCCBs are good for only 1,500 miles of track use before they need replacement...

Roy