Woodruffian

I have decided that I will be purchasing a 911sc. The car will start out as a weekend driver/track car. It may ultimately become a dedicated race car (2+ years out).

Knowing this, would you suggest purchasing a roller and completing the build with racing in mind? Or is it better to get a stock 911sc and convert it over time?

My thoughts are that with the roller I can build the car up from scratch and adjust it as I gain more experience. If I follow this path I will of course need to find a roller.

Alternative plan: buy a kick around 911sc and drive it for 2 years then sell it and put the funds into a roller to be converted to a racer.

As we used to say in Texas, I throw myself upon the mercy of the Rennlist.

73911

Buy a decent 911 to drive around.

You can always take it to the track to drive around a couple of times.

Most people only run 1 or 2 track events and never come back. The attrition rate for racing is even greater. That's why you can buy race cars all day long for $0.50 on the $1.00.

The trick is to not spend any money on the car until you have at least 6 days on the track. Most people find driving around town a lot more fun then driving on the track.



Richard Newton

tcsracing1

you can start with a preowned SC race car for around $30k.
Or you can start with a street car for around $30k.

Both cars will want money spent on them.

Personally, i would rather build one from the ground up for racing, so the less crap already done to the car the better.

Given me a dead body that is rust free and requires engine rebuild for low 20s.

GTgears

This car is a bargain and still street legal. No affiliation.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...car-black.html

theiceman

I think even "kick around" SCs are getting quite expensive.

Woodruffian

Thank you for the feedback. I have found it very useful.

I have noticed the 911sc appreciation lately. It may be a better move to go with a 987 for a few years. That will give me something to track and keep my wife happy at the same time.

That will also allow me to prove to myself that I will be more of a track regular.

GTgears

If you really want to make the wife happy get a Boxster.

Edward

Yes, amazing what has happened to my "lowly" little SC ...not that I am complaining mind you. But with values being what they are I've become more paranoid of theft, particularly with two random guys insisting they'd buy from me on the spot in the past 3 months.

Edward

tgil

Since you opened up the door to something other than an older Aircooled. I look at many sites and yes now the SC coupes are really going up, like anything decent and even high miles is $35k or more. I know a guy in Lebanon, PA who just sold 2 like that. Good luck finding even one with 150k miles rust free for under $30k unless the owner is clueless or just doesn't care about the current market.
I want to get back into DE, did 5 Porche events up til about year ago (with a 996 C4S), and I dont want to take either of my current cars. The 996s (any variant but the turbo) are less than an SC in many cases and are real beasts stock or even with say just a new exhaust set up which I did on my 03 C4S. (headers, free flow cats, muffler and intake from Fabspeed).
A friend recommended a Cayman , but after looking I was surprised how relatively cheap the 996s are. I highly recommend 03/04 years which have better headlights and interiors, and 3.6l vs 3.4l, and if you dont mind AWD, the 996 C4s has turbo body, brakes, upgraded interior, and aero package. I did my IMS/ISB prophylactically so I would only buy one with that done or use it as a bargaining chip.
Good luck and enjoy your search.

race911

And I've had two friends grenade M96s from oiling issues in the past couple of years. (I'll throw in an original owner Boxster S, track rat from Day One, who's on his third engine at about 100K miles.)

So it's not all about the intermediate shaft bearing.

tcsracing1

is there any 996 carrera that would make a nice stock PCA race car?

GTgears

Sure there are. Just get an accusump and the high G oiling issues go away. Plenty of 996 race cars out there and if the m96 was that bad spec Booster wouldn't be as popular as it is. The 996 runs in H or Gtb1 if you really build it like an old Koni challenge car. I drove one at the Ridge and the 997 gt3 guys were giving me wavebys.

I bought a '99 Booster last Friday. I'm not scared to track it. Plus if you grenade the engine its $5-6k including labor. Find me a 3.0as engine in good condition that costs less than that, for just the engine.

tcsracing1

That is what i was thinking.
Given the cost of 78-83SC D and E class race builds and rebuilds, a 996 Carrera H class has to be a decent little racer, especially for the money.

JCP911S

OP... you are wandering into a very expensive space... be careful.

First, I would be very specific about your objectives... "kinda" doing it, and "kinda" figuring it out as you "kinda" go along will cost you $40K+ in wasted expenses.

If you are going to race, pick a series (e.g. PCA Club Racing), pick a class, and buy a fully prepped car for that series and class... always plenty of them for sale. DO NOT BUILD A CAR UNLESS YOU WANT TO **** AWAY HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY!

If you just want a nice car to drive and do a couple of DE events a year, then just buy a pure stock street car of your choice (an SC/Carrara will work, as will a Boxster, Cayman, or 996/997 911), and have fun.

DO NOT take a perfectly good street car, and "build" some mongrelized "Track" car... a loser for sure... it will cost you lot$ of money and be worthless as a race car or a street car, and you can't sell it.

73911

Several decades ago I turned a perfectly good street car into a dedicated track car.

Never again.

I've had a lot of fun with it but the car has no value at this point. It's not a race car with provenance and it's not street legal. I think the market for this sort of car consists of about 3 people.

Hey - I learned something. And, I still have the car.

Richard Newton
What Sort of Insurance Do You Carry?