2001 996 C2 CSR
Discussion
Lets start with some pics courtesy of EVO magazine. Article can be found here
https://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/911/15215/rpm-techni...
https://www.evo.co.uk/porsche/911/15215/rpm-techni...
So the article explains what this is better than I could. Its a modified 996 basically. RPM have been tweaking cars like this under the banner of CSR for a while now. My car was put together in 2014 and I bought it on Saturday. Then on Sunday we had snow so there hasn't been many photo opps. I did take a couple of videos to bore my mates but I'm not brave enough to share them with the world. I did take one snap at 7am.
Confession time. I already have a 996 and a 986 and a 981. So whats going on here?
In the long and distant past my first Porsche was a 986 Boxster gen 2 facelift. I used to believe the hype that a Boxster was not a real Porsche until I got to drive one at Thruxton on a driving experience type day where you drive a few different cars. The stand out car for me was the Boxster. It was that which made me decide to immediately buy one.
In the first 2 or 3 weeks of buying it I aquaplaned on the motorway and destroyed the car. It was rebuilt by my Insurance Co via an Approved Porsche Repairers and then I enjoyed the car for around 12 months. I loved that car. It was a Boxster S so the 3.2 version. It was a pretty basic car in terms of options and therefore had the standard suspension setup I believe. When I collected the car from the Repairers the owner basically took me aside to caution me. He explained that he had found the car was difficult to align even once he had replaced the damaged parts of the car. He therefore replaced some extra parts which he believed were already damaged prior to my accident. He also pointed to some of the tyres showing uneven wear and advised me to get 4 new tyres immediately which I did.
So I could have died that day and therefore I learned a valuable lesson. Always Always Always get every car I buy aligned immediately especially before committing to driving in heavy rain and always check I have good tyres especially on the inner edges and areas which are not easily visible. I didn't want to experience Aquaplaning ever again.
My next Porsche was a 997 C2S. When I got this I still had the Boxster but surprisingly I didn't drive the Boxster at all. I managed to do about 20,000 miles in the 997 in around 10 months. Compared to the Boxster it was just so much quicker, noisier, planted and even civilised all at the same time. It was my daily driver. It was still almost brand new and therefore had 3 years manufacturers warranty from Porsche. I thought IMS was some magazine which accountants read and bore score was how you talk about people you dislike.
During the Christmas break of 2005 I decided to nip over to Italy, like you do, while most of the continent was in the full throws of snow and blizzards. It was an epic journey which resulted in the now famous pics you see here - again - which I have been banding all over PH for years now. Yes Yes Yes there are being posted AGAIN. If you have seen these before you can skip to the end where I have added 4 bonus new pics.
Here I am in Italy at a car wash.
Here I am waiting to get on the Ferry on NY eve.
In the long and distant past my first Porsche was a 986 Boxster gen 2 facelift. I used to believe the hype that a Boxster was not a real Porsche until I got to drive one at Thruxton on a driving experience type day where you drive a few different cars. The stand out car for me was the Boxster. It was that which made me decide to immediately buy one.
In the first 2 or 3 weeks of buying it I aquaplaned on the motorway and destroyed the car. It was rebuilt by my Insurance Co via an Approved Porsche Repairers and then I enjoyed the car for around 12 months. I loved that car. It was a Boxster S so the 3.2 version. It was a pretty basic car in terms of options and therefore had the standard suspension setup I believe. When I collected the car from the Repairers the owner basically took me aside to caution me. He explained that he had found the car was difficult to align even once he had replaced the damaged parts of the car. He therefore replaced some extra parts which he believed were already damaged prior to my accident. He also pointed to some of the tyres showing uneven wear and advised me to get 4 new tyres immediately which I did.
So I could have died that day and therefore I learned a valuable lesson. Always Always Always get every car I buy aligned immediately especially before committing to driving in heavy rain and always check I have good tyres especially on the inner edges and areas which are not easily visible. I didn't want to experience Aquaplaning ever again.
My next Porsche was a 997 C2S. When I got this I still had the Boxster but surprisingly I didn't drive the Boxster at all. I managed to do about 20,000 miles in the 997 in around 10 months. Compared to the Boxster it was just so much quicker, noisier, planted and even civilised all at the same time. It was my daily driver. It was still almost brand new and therefore had 3 years manufacturers warranty from Porsche. I thought IMS was some magazine which accountants read and bore score was how you talk about people you dislike.
During the Christmas break of 2005 I decided to nip over to Italy, like you do, while most of the continent was in the full throws of snow and blizzards. It was an epic journey which resulted in the now famous pics you see here - again - which I have been banding all over PH for years now. Yes Yes Yes there are being posted AGAIN. If you have seen these before you can skip to the end where I have added 4 bonus new pics.
Here I am in Italy at a car wash.
Here I am waiting to get on the Ferry on NY eve.
My next Porsche was a 2012 981 Boxster S with PDK gearbox. I didn't really plan to buy this car. I just saw it advertised and thought I'd go for a look see. I had learned through these very pages that the original water cooled engine was known to be problematic but the 981 used a new engine and the PDK gearbox was tricky. I took the car for a little test drive and decided I had to have it. It had been almost 10 tears since I had driven a Porsche and I was immediately smitten. I enjoyed the car for around a year but I decided it lacked some drama or something was missing. It was a great all rounder which could do mundane stuff well and then excite a bit if you wanted to press on but I found the lack of feel a bit boring unless you were pushing it hard.
So I started to seek out something else with a bit more character and this is where the PH community persuaded me to try an early 996. I hunted round for a few months as not many cars came up for sale. Eventually I found one which was a bit rough around the edges but it had a big pile of bills for recent work. The main reason for all the work was the previous [previous] owner using the car for track days. This included some fancy KW Clubsport suspension, stiffer roll bars and bushes.
My plan was to live with the car for a bit and see if I liked it. The short answer is I did. My original 996 was rock hard and basically a bit too hard for daily driving. I still had the 981 and the 2 cars were polar opposites. I enjoyed driving the 996 better but if I just wanted to get from A to B then the 981 was a better choice. I started thinking about maybe selling both and trying another 997 with the newer engine or maybe a 987 when I had another Aquaplaning incident.
Yes I destroyed another Boxster by Aquaplaning but this time I knew the car was properly aligned and I had good matching tyres. The insurance company decided it was not economical to repair so they said the car was a write off. Being a sucker for a deal I asked about the option to buy back the wreckage and was surprised at how cheap this was and seemed to good to pass on so I bought back the wreck. The plan was to fix it up which has taken a little longer than I first thought but we are nearly there, maybe.
The upshot to all of this is I started daily driving the 996 full time in all weathers and all year round. This was back in the days when people drove to work - imagine that. I stopped thinking about trying different newer models and decided the 996 is the car for me and importantly the original 3.4 version. Thats the short version, I promise. I thought why not just stick with the car I have instead of constantly looking for the next car. I started thinking about tidying it up, maybe a repaint, maybe some mods to soften up the ride and maybe some small improvements here and there. Around 4 or 5 months ago I saw the CSR car for sale. At the time I thought that's nice and perhaps some of those mods I could copy. But I didn't think about buying it because I had decided I had found my 996 and I needed to stick instead of constantly chasing the next car. Then I saw it advertised for sale again and thought you know what why the hell not. It basically has all the mods I'd like to do to mine - sort of - and therefore I can just buy a different car which is similar to mine but all the work has been done already.
Ok I think that's enough waffling from me for now.
I will just say that the car feels good. There is plenty of feedback, the interior is very squeak and rattle free - its not perfect - the bodywork is in very good shape and importantly the suspension has some compliance compared to my other 996. In summary it feels like the 996 I have been thinking about creating with mine. Hopefully this is the car for Me.
So I started to seek out something else with a bit more character and this is where the PH community persuaded me to try an early 996. I hunted round for a few months as not many cars came up for sale. Eventually I found one which was a bit rough around the edges but it had a big pile of bills for recent work. The main reason for all the work was the previous [previous] owner using the car for track days. This included some fancy KW Clubsport suspension, stiffer roll bars and bushes.
My plan was to live with the car for a bit and see if I liked it. The short answer is I did. My original 996 was rock hard and basically a bit too hard for daily driving. I still had the 981 and the 2 cars were polar opposites. I enjoyed driving the 996 better but if I just wanted to get from A to B then the 981 was a better choice. I started thinking about maybe selling both and trying another 997 with the newer engine or maybe a 987 when I had another Aquaplaning incident.
Yes I destroyed another Boxster by Aquaplaning but this time I knew the car was properly aligned and I had good matching tyres. The insurance company decided it was not economical to repair so they said the car was a write off. Being a sucker for a deal I asked about the option to buy back the wreckage and was surprised at how cheap this was and seemed to good to pass on so I bought back the wreck. The plan was to fix it up which has taken a little longer than I first thought but we are nearly there, maybe.
The upshot to all of this is I started daily driving the 996 full time in all weathers and all year round. This was back in the days when people drove to work - imagine that. I stopped thinking about trying different newer models and decided the 996 is the car for me and importantly the original 3.4 version. Thats the short version, I promise. I thought why not just stick with the car I have instead of constantly looking for the next car. I started thinking about tidying it up, maybe a repaint, maybe some mods to soften up the ride and maybe some small improvements here and there. Around 4 or 5 months ago I saw the CSR car for sale. At the time I thought that's nice and perhaps some of those mods I could copy. But I didn't think about buying it because I had decided I had found my 996 and I needed to stick instead of constantly chasing the next car. Then I saw it advertised for sale again and thought you know what why the hell not. It basically has all the mods I'd like to do to mine - sort of - and therefore I can just buy a different car which is similar to mine but all the work has been done already.
Ok I think that's enough waffling from me for now.
I will just say that the car feels good. There is plenty of feedback, the interior is very squeak and rattle free - its not perfect - the bodywork is in very good shape and importantly the suspension has some compliance compared to my other 996. In summary it feels like the 996 I have been thinking about creating with mine. Hopefully this is the car for Me.
Filibuster said:
Top man!!! The Porsche badges irked me a bit .... Must look lovely with subtle grey RECARO lettering.
Also I'm a sucker for the wooden gear knobs, what wood/design did you go for?
Lovely car, inside and out! You did well buying this one. Again Bravo!
ThanksAlso I'm a sucker for the wooden gear knobs, what wood/design did you go for?
Lovely car, inside and out! You did well buying this one. Again Bravo!
Looks like the wooden knob is just pushed on with the alloy tube as a single piece. Presumably bought from somewhere as is.
bencollins4 said:
I was also very interested in this and noticed it has disappeared. With two small children a sort of 4 seat 996 GT3 at half the price seemed like a good idea! Enjoy!
Well the ad was a bit misleading because with the Recaro seats no one or no thing is getting in the back. So on my list is to remove the rear seats altogether seeing as they are useless. 
Went to show off to a couple of my mates last night. One of them also commented on the light steering feel when just turning in which happens occasionally. I still want to get my guy to check the alignment. Thats on the To Do list after the MOT which is due in a few weeks so I'd like to get that done sooner rather than later.
LazyMechanic said:
ATM said:
Went to show off to a couple of my mates last night. One of them also commented on the light steering feel when just turning in which happens occasionally. I still want to get my guy to check the alignment. Thats on the To Do list after the MOT which is due in a few weeks so I'd like to get that done sooner rather than later.
Zero toe transforms the steering on these. Then roughly 2º of negative camber on the back and front and a bit of toe in on the rear will stop it feeling like the back is going to kick out, but give you a nice weighty feel and will go exactly where you point it.
I have had my alignment done 5 times since doing all my suspension recently. It think it felt wrong to have no toe in on the front, but as soon as I did the car just felt so right.
My other 996 was setup like - pic below - and that turns in like a M F'er compared to this one.
Bright Halo said:
TheJimi said:
CSR is cracking, I remember reading about it in EVO.
As for the aquaplaning - are Boxsters particularly susceptible? (and I'm not being facetious either - I genuinely don't know!)
I don’t think so.As for the aquaplaning - are Boxsters particularly susceptible? (and I'm not being facetious either - I genuinely don't know!)
Mine is on semi slicks and I haven’t had a problem (so far)
Light weight
Fat Tyres
Speed
Tread depth
Tire design for getting through water
The above are your enemies when it comes to standing water. So generally I would say all Porsche sports cars are more risky than your average city car due to their lowish weight, fat tyres and less weight over the front.
I have never aquaplaned in any other cars. Little video showing what can happen. The car just goes light, rotates, then grips and spits you off in whatever direction it is pointing.
I dont want to say I a a brilliant driver. But you would need to be seriously good to catch this and save it.
DuncanM said:
Sorry OP, but writing off two cars, in the exact same way, and not acknowledging that your driving needs to change in the conditions that both incidents occurred?
Skinnier tyres won't help you, driving to the conditions will.
CSR looks great, very tasteful for a modified Porsche.
You're absolutely right. I do blame myself. But even driving to the conditions with skinny tyres will be safer than fat tyres. Surely we can agree to that?Skinnier tyres won't help you, driving to the conditions will.
CSR looks great, very tasteful for a modified Porsche.
DuncanM said:
ATM said:
You're absolutely right. I do blame myself. But even driving to the conditions with skinny tyres will be safer than fat tyres. Surely we can agree to that?
I guess so to a point, but for me, driving fast in those conditions, in a sports car = recipe for disaster.Best just to pootle around and get home safely when it's that wet - both incidents must have been scary?
I hate motorways for fast driving, dangerous places at the best of times + unmarked cars etc.
But even at 70 [not sure if I was actually doing 70 because of poor visibility] you can still spin off in a light sports car with fat tyres.
DuncanM said:
Slippydiff said:
Ah I see, you just don’t want to accept what others are telling you 
No matter, keep “believing” what you want to whilst it’s still a free (ish) world
I'm not sure what you're getting at tbh, I have said that acceleration doesn't cause aquaplaning, more that it will certainly assist in you binning two Boxsters No matter, keep “believing” what you want to whilst it’s still a free (ish) world
I have no interest in giving the OP a virtual "not your fault hug" relating to aquaplaning, he's binned two cars in exactly the same circumstances - by his own admission.
I have taken responsibility.
I'm a big boy.
ATM said:
Went to show off to a couple of my mates last night. One of them also commented on the light steering feel when just turning in which happens occasionally. I still want to get my guy to check the alignment. Thats on the To Do list after the MOT which is due in a few weeks so I'd like to get that done sooner rather than later.
Car related news:Booked in for MOT on Tuesday
ooid said:
ATM said:
The famous shot of "Stuttgart's dark horses" 
Do you still have the scar-face 981 and 996 c2? Do not tell me you have 4 porks now in the driveway, and none of them is Air-Cooled!
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