kgorman

I thought I would start a thread about self-supporting a Cup. Hopefully it can get to be sticky FAQ type post with everyones help on various nuances of owning a cup. Please chime in.

Myself, I have been around cups for some time, supporting them in races, wiring/motec work, etc. But never owned one myself. Now I do, so now this issue comes into play. For the most part this stuff works for all cups, I will try to notate model differences where appropriate. There is a lot of knowledge about these cars way beyond mine, so I am hoping a few individuals or teams can reply with tips and tricks.

So here goes, please chime in to make this thread better and correct mistakes I make! This is just my opinion, no liability for you in any way. ;-)

Manual
If you don't have a manual for your year, get one. You need one to operate a cup. Setup notes, torque values, etc are all in there.

Air Jacks:
You will need to get around 400PSI to lift the car. AirGas has the K sized cylinders of Nitrogen for this purpose. You will need a high pressure regulator, high pressure hose, and a wand.

I just purchased a hose from Parker. Your city probably has a Parker Hydraulics office, they make stuff while you wait. I got 25' of 3000PSI hose with pipe fitting ends and quick disconnects for < $200. Goodyear Gorilla hose is supposed to be good too. The disconnects I got are dry break, so when you take them off a fitting they don't spew 450PSI out and cause a potential hazard.

Strap the cylinder to the wall of your trailer. It's heavy. Use a ratchet strap to E-track or buy a pit-pal brace for this purpose. Use a bit of zip tie or rope to tie a crescent wrench around the bottle, you need it to connect and disconnect the regulator each time. Don't leave the regulator on there, thats a hazard. Put the protective bell cover on the cylinder after each use and during transport.

To lift the car you place the want onto the hood fitting, then turn on the regulator slowly to 400PSI. You can then close the regulator leaving 400PSI in the car. You can remove the wand afterwards (especially if you have a quick disconnect fitting). The car will stay up until you release the valve on the hood. Don't lower it on your foot. Torque the wheels when they are on the ground. It's ok to lift it with a driver on board (?). If you are changing wheels in a pit stop on the clock, set your gun to the correct torque value and go for it. If you are just doing it in the paddock before a session, lower it, set the gun lower and use the torque wrench. Safety first.

Yes, you can run air tools off the cylinder. Yes you can inflate tires. Be sure to change the regulator setting before you do so.

Jacks are available for safety when working under a cup. Don't go under a cup when it's up on jackstands just held there by air pressure. Either way, Cup Car Solutions has the bits you need: http://cupcarsolutions.com/

Jacks require periodic maintenance, say every 2 years or when they leak.

Regulator:
https://www.amazon.com/Gas-Regulator.../dp/B001DDXVZY

Hose:
Go to Parker near you or get Goodyear Gorilla rated for 500PSI at least.

Fittings:
Parker

Gas Cylinder:
Nitrogen. Get an account at AirGas locally. They also have regulators, but are a bit more expensive.

Wand:
If you don't have the one that came with the car, go here:
http://cupcarsolutions.com/

Wheels
Most cars come with 3 piece BBS wheels that are centerlock style. For a 996 cup you will need a 32mm impact socket and a torque wrench that can do 350ft lbs. Best is to have either a air impact or battery impact that can pull off the nut and put on the nut, then use the torque wrench to make sure it's to spec. You need to make sure you use Optimoly HT on the threads, keep it lubed. Set the gun for something less than 350ft lbs, there is some discussion of messing up axles with too much juice. Then finish with torque wrench.

Torque Wrench:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

First Day
The first day in your Cup should be all about getting used to it. A 996 is a bit easier because of the gearbox. It's an H pattern vs sequential. Have your coach, a pro driver or one of your experienced Cup driver friends help your first day. The tires cold are terrible and until there is heat in them the car will be horrible. The transmission sounds like a box or rocks, thats normal. Getting it moving in the pits is scary (clutch) thats normal.

Keep track of normal temps for gearbox, oil, tires, etc. Keep good notes. Keep good notes on hours of everything. Your first day is a good time to get a notebook started. I log hours on MoTeC, YMMV. You or the next owner will appreciate it later.

Trailering
A cup is very low and will need special care when trailering.

- Use the tie down loops that came with the cup that lock onto the centerlock wheels. This makes it much easier to tie it down. This also means you need a way to pull off the wheels in the pits. See above.
- Race Ramps or 2x10's will be needed for almost every trailer to get it on there without splitter disasters.
- Use a winch as you can. The clutch will get worn out quickly using it to drive onto/into trailers.

dogger15

Talk about good timing! I just bought my first cup car so this will be a big help.

The tip about where to go for the high pressure hose fittings is good to know.

Now I have to see if Porsche put together a manual for my car.

nimbus_f3

Looking forward to plenty of posts to this thread. I purchased my 2004 996 Cup, 2 years ago but have not had a lot of opportunity to use as yet.
Things that I struggle with are coming to grips with the Motec data which I'm sure will assist me with improving lap times but have a had a few problems with getting the beacon to split the laps consistently, often ending up with one long lap for the entire race. Also would appreciate assistance with shock and bar settings and a good methodical approach to getting these optimised.
Appreciate the post and what's been covered so far.

tedean

I have two nitrogen cylinders and two regulators, one for lifting the car, one for the tires. When the lift cylinder gets below 400 and cannot lift the car up, switch it for use on the tires until it is too low to use (75psi or so). Search the forum for a spares list, a topic discussed and worth reading/reposting to the new owners.

jeffGT3

Awesome thread, great posts. Thanks! Not a Cup owner yet, but someday...

MSR Racer

This is very good. I think the tougher part of self supporting is to have a good shop that will do routine maintanance well. Everything in the car except the basic chassis, body panels and the cage is a timeout part. Car is also extremely sensitive to little changes in the suspension components. I think it is awesome to be able to self supprt and race but it is a big ask

tiara4300

I have a few basic things to add to your list. These things are a must for the trailer
Drum of fuel. Don't want to rely on what may be available at the track. We use VP 103
Toolbox: Want to be able to adjust wing and swaybars on the fly.
Brake fluid and plenty of it. We use Motul 660. For that matter you should also have a full set of pads and rotors in the trailer. We also have caliper bleed screws and hardware for the rotor hats.
Helicopter tape.
Spare wheel nuts and lock hardware.
Spare windshield decals for the shaded part. Many times had to call out glass company on the road.
Spare splitters.
A small wetvac. I can't tell you how often ours has come in handy.
Spare tire pressure guage, they always seem to crap out at the worst time.
Dipstick to check oil. Few liters of oil to top off as well.
On 997 and 991 cup you will want to drain and fill the gearbox after every event. Also keep enough fluid to do a change trackside if gearbox ever acts up.
Will also want a catch pan and kitty litter, just incase of a spill.

MirageJHU

It sounds like you're not setting the event up in the data logger. You need to have a lat/long for start finish for each track you go to. You do this through the MoTeC ADL program (different versions depending on the dash you have)

dogger15

Now I have a spare parts needed list - thanks for that.

I spent a lot of time researching and planning my trailer interior layout and also what kind of equipment I would need to support my car in the garage and at the track.
Like was suggested earlier, I will have a shop perform the needed inspections and take care of the big stuff, but I plan to do the day to day maintenance myself.

For anyone interested, here are the details of the set up I'm using to supply and transport Nitrogen gas.

Like the OP suggested, the first thing I did I was set up an account with the local Airgas to supply my shop with a large (T) cylinder of Nitrogen. This is my supply bottle
and never leaves the shop. This arrangement eliminates the need for me to have to load a couple hundred pounds of steel cylinder in the back of my truck every time I
need a refill. Instead, I just call Airgas and they send a truck over to swap the cylinder out.

I have two Aluminum cylinders in my trailer. I use the supply bottle and a trans fill kit marketed by prestacycle:
http://www.prestacycle.com/product/p...transfill-kit/
to fill these bottles. One bottle is 60 cu ft (24"X 7") and weighs less than 25 lbs. I mount this one to a powerTank floor bracket along with the same company's regulator
and regulator guard:
http://powertank.com/products/sfID1/17/productID/220
This whole set up weighs less than 30 lbs (without hose and wand), is portable (the regulator guard doubles as a handle), and the guard is shaped to protect the regulator
while installed allowing the regulator to be safely left on the cylinder. I keep this cylinder in my pit cart so it can be wheeled wherever I need it. The other bottle is a
Catalina Cylinders 140 cu ft (48"X 8") and weighs 50 lbs. This one is mounted to the wall of my trailer using Airgas cylinder mounts:
http://www.airgas.com/product/Gas-Eq.../p/RAD64003554
I use this cylinder and a second regulator and hose as a trailer source of nitrogen and also to refill my portable source as necessary.

I decided to go with the Aluminum cylinders vs Steel so I would have less weight to lug around and to lower the content weight of my trailer - especially now. Since I have
a spare parts needed list, I'll be stocking several hundred pounds of spares onboard.

nimbus_f3

Thanks for the suggestion Annand. Heading off to a track day next weekend and will have another go at getting this consistent.

MSR Racer

You need to download dash software and configure it. You may need a data guy to test and setup the system the first time. IF it has the GPS module, you can use GPS coordinates for lap times.

kgorman

I like the idea of a pit cart.. Anyone doing something like this that's not a $3000 cart?

Nizer

Checkbook

oemexp

Ah, the most important tool in the trailer! Only exception is being a credit card carrying member of the racing community.

dogger15

How about $2500. Here's the cart I'm using:





It's 42" wide X 32" tall X 24" deep. All Aluminum construction and weighs
under 500 lbs fully loaded with hand tools, N2 set up, chemicals, etc.
The drawers are the same width and depth as a standard Craftsman
roll cabinet. This worked great for me because I had the Craftsman
set up in my last trailer so I was able to lift the foam drawer liners
with the cut outs for each tool out of the Craftsman and put them
in this cart. It comes with Line X type bedliner on the top and in the
storage areas.

It comes with tie down fittings on each side so I secure it with a pair of
ratchet straps to some L track I had installed on the deck of my trailer
just in front of the cabinets.

Even with the weight, it rolls and maneuvers easily on pneumatic tires.

It's made by Redline Stands Racing (RSR). They make bigger ones if you
have space to spare in your trailer.