Had an awesome time at Bedford Autodrome on Fri evening :)
Discussion
Got my first track time in the 993 having not taken a 911 round a circuit in 3 years or so and it was so much fun 
The track (SW Circuit) was absolutely soaked, standing water, hail, showers, the works and I can categorically say it was the most fun I've ever had on track 
Rear engined, no stability/traction control and those conditions was always going to be interesting but it was even more tricky than I thought. I must have spun at nothing more than 25-30mph 5 times. The delicacy with which you had to apply throttle after apexes was unreal. Funnily enough, when the back started to let go on the faster exits it was easier to catch, it was the slow stuff that was tricky!
It was so satisfying getting the hang of managing the over steer coming out of corners, constantly catching the back and adjusting, made all the more exciting by knowing that if you got it wrong there was nothing to save you
It was a completely different beast from my old 6C4S (which admittedly I only tracked in the mostly dry) where all you got was perennial mild understeer out of anything other than the hairpin. In fact, I didn't have one moment of understeer in the 993 all evening. Porsche Torque has just had it, fitted a new steering rack and had the geo done, they must have used GT3-esque settings 
I'm convinced that overall I had *much* more fun than the stability/traction control heroes who just mashed the throttle out of every corner
Final interesting note, in my 6C4S on the main straight, I used to be able to get it up to about 125mph indicated before having to get on the anchors leaving some safety margin. In the 993, 125mph seemed to come up quite a bit easier leaving much more distance to brake, even in the wet. Strange! Maybe I'm remembering wrong
Anyway, if you have a 993 and haven't had it on track, do it!
ETF grammar
The track (SW Circuit) was absolutely soaked, standing water, hail, showers, the works and I can categorically say it was the most fun I've ever had on track Rear engined, no stability/traction control and those conditions was always going to be interesting but it was even more tricky than I thought. I must have spun at nothing more than 25-30mph 5 times. The delicacy with which you had to apply throttle after apexes was unreal. Funnily enough, when the back started to let go on the faster exits it was easier to catch, it was the slow stuff that was tricky!It was so satisfying getting the hang of managing the over steer coming out of corners, constantly catching the back and adjusting, made all the more exciting by knowing that if you got it wrong there was nothing to save you
It was a completely different beast from my old 6C4S (which admittedly I only tracked in the mostly dry) where all you got was perennial mild understeer out of anything other than the hairpin. In fact, I didn't have one moment of understeer in the 993 all evening. Porsche Torque has just had it, fitted a new steering rack and had the geo done, they must have used GT3-esque settings I'm convinced that overall I had *much* more fun than the stability/traction control heroes who just mashed the throttle out of every corner
Final interesting note, in my 6C4S on the main straight, I used to be able to get it up to about 125mph indicated before having to get on the anchors leaving some safety margin. In the 993, 125mph seemed to come up quite a bit easier leaving much more distance to brake, even in the wet. Strange! Maybe I'm remembering wrong
Anyway, if you have a 993 and haven't had it on track, do it!
ETF grammar
Edited by Mario149 on Tuesday 28th May 18:57
Edited by Mario149 on Tuesday 28th May 18:57
Sounds like great fun. I have never actually done a track day in the wet, it's always sunny for some reason!
Had my 993 out at Blyton last month and it was a blast, whilst I was hardly drifting it, I got a few slides in, very satisfying!
I totally agree on the handling 'aids'. They ruin the fun!
Had my 993 out at Blyton last month and it was a blast, whilst I was hardly drifting it, I got a few slides in, very satisfying!
I totally agree on the handling 'aids'. They ruin the fun!
Mario149 said:
Got my first track time in the 993 having not taken a 911 round a circuit in 3 years or so and it was so much fun The track (SW Circuit) was absolutely soaked, standing water, hail, showers, the works and I can categorically say it was the most fun I've ever had on track Rear engined, no stability/traction control and those conditions was always going to be interesting but it was even more tricky than I thought. I must have spun at nothing more than 25-30mph 5 times. The delicacy with which you had to apply throttle after apexes was unreal. Funnily enough, when the back started to let go on the faster exits it was easier to catch, it was the slow stuff that was tricky!
It was so satisfying getting the hang of managing the over steer coming out of corners, constantly catching the back and adjusting, made all the more exciting by knowing that if you got it wrong there was nothing to save you It was a completely different beast from my old 6C4S (which admittedly I only tracked in the mostly dry) where all you got was perennial mild understeer out of anything other than the hairpin. In fact, I didn't have one moment of understeer in the 993 all evening. Porsche Torque has just had it, fitted a new steering rack and had the geo done, they must have used GT3-esque settings
I'm convinced that overall I had *much* more fun than the stability/traction control heroes who just mashed the throttle out of every corner
Final interesting note, in my 6C4S on the main straight, I used to be able to get it up to about 125mph indicated before having to get on the anchors leaving some safety margin. In the 993, 125mph seemed to come up quite a bit easier leaving much more distance to brake, even in the wet. Strange! Maybe I'm remembering wrong
Anyway, if you have a 993 and haven't had it on track, do it!
ETF grammar
My mate Toby was there in his silver 997.2 C4S - so he would have been one of those PSM managed heroes ..... The track (SW Circuit) was absolutely soaked, standing water, hail, showers, the works and I can categorically say it was the most fun I've ever had on track Rear engined, no stability/traction control and those conditions was always going to be interesting but it was even more tricky than I thought. I must have spun at nothing more than 25-30mph 5 times. The delicacy with which you had to apply throttle after apexes was unreal. Funnily enough, when the back started to let go on the faster exits it was easier to catch, it was the slow stuff that was tricky!It was so satisfying getting the hang of managing the over steer coming out of corners, constantly catching the back and adjusting, made all the more exciting by knowing that if you got it wrong there was nothing to save you
It was a completely different beast from my old 6C4S (which admittedly I only tracked in the mostly dry) where all you got was perennial mild understeer out of anything other than the hairpin. In fact, I didn't have one moment of understeer in the 993 all evening. Porsche Torque has just had it, fitted a new steering rack and had the geo done, they must have used GT3-esque settings I'm convinced that overall I had *much* more fun than the stability/traction control heroes who just mashed the throttle out of every corner
Final interesting note, in my 6C4S on the main straight, I used to be able to get it up to about 125mph indicated before having to get on the anchors leaving some safety margin. In the 993, 125mph seemed to come up quite a bit easier leaving much more distance to brake, even in the wet. Strange! Maybe I'm remembering wrong
Anyway, if you have a 993 and haven't had it on track, do it!
ETF grammar
Edited by Mario149 on Tuesday 28th May 18:57
Edited by Mario149 on Tuesday 28th May 18:57
Sounds like you had great fun....next stop, our Porsche day at Donington?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
boxsey said:
Sounds like you had great fun....next stop, our Porsche day at Donington?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Oooo! Tempting!http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
MadMark981 said:
Was he driving like a cock? 
Haha! Not that I recall to be fair. From memory it was mainly the the FWD and scooby-type cars that were an issue. I'd tiptoe into the corner to make sure the rear didn't swing out, so they'd be right up my chuff meaning I had to be extra careful applying power out of the apex otherwise I'd spin and they'd go into me. As a result, it meant I'd exit corners even slower than if they weren't there! You can understand them doing it once, but a modicum of thought after that wouldn't have gone amiss afterwards! "Hmmm....the rear engined 20 year old car is entering the corner slowly again, I wonder why? Hmmm....the back end seems to be trying to step out when exiting corner, is it smart to follow 3 feet from the rear bumper?" ....these are not questions that entered those drivers' heads My estimation of their thought processes dropped even further when we repeatedly saw them spinning out on the final corner in front of the pits. There's a slight camber/surface/elevation change (never worked out what it was) that would kick off the oversteer on an otherwise stable corner exit about 60% of the way round the bend every time. They never seemed to notice this and adjust accordingly....Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff