944 track fun?
Discussion
Anyone got any experience of using 944's as a weekend/ track car? Any recommendations on best model to use etc.? Best modifications? My plan is buy a 944 for about £5k - £7k, then mod it up a little bit, but not so much that I can't still do road driving/ European blasts etc.. I posted this before on the "track day" section - thought I might get some different responses here. Thanks
sjm18 said:
Anyone got any experience of using 944's as a weekend/ track car? Any recommendations on best model to use etc.? Best modifications? My plan is buy a 944 for about £5k - £7k, then mod it up a little bit, but not so much that I can't still do road driving/ European blasts etc.. I posted this before on the "track day" section - thought I might get some different responses here. Thanks
Like the man said, a 944 S2 makes a good basis. I started with a 924S, just because they are lighter, and easy to make lighter still. I also commute in the car, though some of the mods (Recaro Apex, Shroth 5 point harness) do make it a palaver to get in and out of.
Of all the things I've done, I think the biggest difference was a decent suspension & front camber mounts. I went for KW Variant3 as beeing a good road/track compromise. Some beefy anti-roll bars help the handling.
I bought a 1989 944 Turbo (250) for £5750 at the end of last year. It is completely standard apart from big black brakes & MO30 anti-roll bar. I have it insured for 3000m a year and have used it a few times on the road and on 3 track days (Silverstone x2 & Cadwell Park). It handles extremely well and is tremendous on track with a lot of grunt. The instructor that I had in the car recently was astonished at its performance and several people commented that it was surprisingly quick and capable.
It feels very stiff on the road but still usable, although on the track it could be stiffer still.
To be honest I am not sure where else you can get such a capable dual purpose car for the money. I have not investigated upgrades yet (budget won't stretch to that!) but I am led to believe that KW3 suspension is a useful track upgrade whilst the engine will take a lot of tuning (c350 bhp) & still be reliable.
It feels very stiff on the road but still usable, although on the track it could be stiffer still.
To be honest I am not sure where else you can get such a capable dual purpose car for the money. I have not investigated upgrades yet (budget won't stretch to that!) but I am led to believe that KW3 suspension is a useful track upgrade whilst the engine will take a lot of tuning (c350 bhp) & still be reliable.
sjm18 said:
Thanks guys. I was thinking/ hoping to get in to a reasonable S2 for that money, and then just thinking of doing the usual things to strip weight out of it, beef the brakes perhaps, and get rolling. Never done a track day in my life, but want to give it a blast for a year or so.
I think the consensus of opinion amongst those that track 944 S2/turbo is that suspension refresh/change to anything other then the stock sachs shocks on the S2 is more or less a prerequisite. Many go for the KW setup but I have the koni approach with 968 M030 anti roll bars since its cheaper and seems to do the job well enough. Brakes are tricky, again the consensus is that a hard driven S2 will cook its brakes in a couple of laps. However with some combination of 968 ducts, track pads and/or cross-drilled disks and fresh fluid like ATE blue you may find thats enough. Many ppl fit the big black calipers (928 GTS?), and some I have heard say that turbo M030 calipers are more then adequate. One last point to consider is the seat. If like me you are a svelte 11 stone or less then you may fit nicely in the seats, and with something like a CGlock fitted could be well kept in place. Many people however do not fit these Porsche seats very well and would find that a racing bucket seat would be much more comfortable and supportive.
Easiest way to save weight is to strip out the spare wheel/compressor/tools and rear carpet. This saves a lot of weight and can always be put back in again easilly enough. It also makes for enough space to carry a spare set of wheels with slick tyres on. Then you are really talking.
Whilst we are on the subject, I'm down in Maidenhead and have never been to a race track in my life(unless you count a drag srip) Would like some recommendations for a novice track day thats near me ? I really need some good instruction !! Hope to be ready by May after I've done the cam belt change and some other jobs.
just to add to what others are saying, I took a completely standard s2 round Oulton Park and it was way too soft. also, the brakes did cook themselves after a few hard laps 
even with better brake fluid and EBC red pads.
these chaps provide excellent torsion bars that are much stiffer than the thickest Porsche items www.swayaway.com/ pain in the arse setting the ride height again afterwards though.
even with better brake fluid and EBC red pads. these chaps provide excellent torsion bars that are much stiffer than the thickest Porsche items www.swayaway.com/ pain in the arse setting the ride height again afterwards though.
924racer said:
just to add to what others are saying, I took a completely standard s2 round Oulton Park and it was way too soft. also, the brakes did cook themselves after a few hard laps even with better brake fluid and EBC red pads.
these chaps provide excellent torsion bars that are much stiffer than the thickest Porsche items www.swayaway.com/ pain in the arse setting the ride height again afterwards though.
even with better brake fluid and EBC red pads. these chaps provide excellent torsion bars that are much stiffer than the thickest Porsche items www.swayaway.com/ pain in the arse setting the ride height again afterwards though.
I have their 27mm ones in the back of me S2 with H&R 190 to 220 lb/inch rising rate springs on the front. Ride is surprisingly good but fairly noisy. ISTR that you can't get these spings anymore they where a special that paragon products where selling a couple of years ago. Fitting koni 944 M030 rear shocks and 968 M030 rear ARB was a doddle. Dropping the torsion tube to fit new torsion bars was a nightmare that ended up with all new mounts, brake pipes and fuel pipes + of course the many hours to get it more or less level. It is a nightmare job that is worth doing yourself if you can purely because a garage will charge several large for all the labour involved.
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