When good cars go bad
11-17-2010, 11:53 AM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
When good cars go bad
Busy track weekend at Thunderhill, instructing plus our own invite only day Monday (open track/open passing). Had my yellow 993 plus the Spec Miata. Friend I share the garage with is the guy with the 910, but that's out of commission. So he's up there with a car I sold him years ago, a '74 that was my first track/race car when I got back into it in the early '90s. I used to run it with SC bodywork and a 3.5L that I cobbled together. When I sold it to him it had turned into a widebody, with decent suspension (raised spindles/big t-bars/stabilizers), 930 brakes, 245 and 315 tires, etc.
Over the year it's kind of deteriorated though. So I hop in mid-afternoon with him and go. Realize I've been driving the 993 that is one of the best ones out there (as always, thanks to Kim for writing the checks, and Steve W. for building it). We're running bypass config as we've got teams testing for next months 25 Hours. Had just mounted new RA1s, left them at full tread. Best time was a mid-2:01. Gotten into the 2:07s with the Miata. Roll through a few laps in the old '74 and the best was in the 2:14s.
And what work it was. The car had balance, but hitting the bump stops because it's so low now. The currently installed stock 3.6L is anemic. Shifting reminded me of a 914 tailshifter.
Bottom line here is that the car is no faster than if it were in peak, 100% stock form. (I'd say at least give me 225/50s all the way around, though.) For comparison, my similarly suspended '73S with a tired engine on Kumho V700s was good for about 2:07 back then. Knock off 5 seconds going back to stock suspension and street tires.
Sometimes the sum is a whole lot less than the parts!
Photo 1 is car as it is now, but picture is about 5 years old. Photo 2 is how I used to run it in from about '93-'97 when I did the widebody conversion.
Over the year it's kind of deteriorated though. So I hop in mid-afternoon with him and go. Realize I've been driving the 993 that is one of the best ones out there (as always, thanks to Kim for writing the checks, and Steve W. for building it). We're running bypass config as we've got teams testing for next months 25 Hours. Had just mounted new RA1s, left them at full tread. Best time was a mid-2:01. Gotten into the 2:07s with the Miata. Roll through a few laps in the old '74 and the best was in the 2:14s.
And what work it was. The car had balance, but hitting the bump stops because it's so low now. The currently installed stock 3.6L is anemic. Shifting reminded me of a 914 tailshifter.
Bottom line here is that the car is no faster than if it were in peak, 100% stock form. (I'd say at least give me 225/50s all the way around, though.) For comparison, my similarly suspended '73S with a tired engine on Kumho V700s was good for about 2:07 back then. Knock off 5 seconds going back to stock suspension and street tires.
Sometimes the sum is a whole lot less than the parts!
Photo 1 is car as it is now, but picture is about 5 years old. Photo 2 is how I used to run it in from about '93-'97 when I did the widebody conversion.
