mtnspeed

Getting a full set of RE-11's this week. Granted, I believe I am going to stick with the Cup II's for now. 7.5 in front and 8.5 in rear. Its the easiest way without making tons of changes at this point.

In regards to entering the corners...can't say for sure, but even in the tighter corners when I did have the chance to "work it" a bit more it was still and issue. My front's were sooooo bad that I simply don't think anything was going to help me out much unless I wanted to try drift exercises. I am going to have a local race shop look at it and dial it in a bit for me this week. Ought to give me a little time with it before my next DE event. Gotta start somewhere.

Now, off to determining what pads I am going to put on the car as well. Thinking Pagid Oranges or KPF's at this juncture.

333pg333

Even with the best of tyres and suspension it only takes your setup to be out by mm's and the car can handle like a drunk pig. Get your new tyres, try and replace any old rubber bushings and then take it to a shop to setup correctly. Corner balance is a good idea too. You'll be amazed at how much better the car will handle.

mtnspeed

Exactly what I am doing. Can't wait to see how it feels after that. I can see myself "not so slowly" moving towards a exclusive track car. Sigh....just not sure if I will want to make my mint 968 into one. Granted, its not like they are a collectors item anyway.

ninefiveone

You're getting some good advice and some not-so-good advice here. It was your first track weekend. You've got a lot to learn still so don't worry about the car setup so much. Did an instructor drive your car at all? 90% of how the car performs is about the driver, not the setup.

Also, you don't know what your driving style is yet. You need more seat time before you know exactly what you want out of the car. Get a lot more track days under your belt and then you'll know what you really need to change on the car.

Until then I would just do simple and cost-effective adjustments that get the car to "well-performing stock."
- Get a proper stock alignment with a touch more camber (2.0 should be fine)
- Get decent summer tires (RE-11 is a great choice)
- Bleed the brakes, and put some pagid blacks in for track days. I wouldn't bother with the oranges. squeal way more than the blacks and don't last as long
- Adjust both shocks to their middle settings

I definitely would not:
- change spring changes
- add a splitter (does nothing at the speeds you see in most track corners at most tracks)
- lower the car
- monkey with shock settings
- get new rims

Once you've learned the various things that you can do as a driver that change how the car responds in the corners, you can then figure out how you want to change the car. Otherwise you end up spending all your time and money wondering why the car isn't doing what you think it will.

fressssssh

I'm really learning a lot from this thread. Please keep the tips/advice coming. Haha.

M758

Please match front and rear tires. Don't put new on the front and old on the rear. You will then probably get oversteer once you scrubb in the fronts a little.


Look tracking a car with any effort requires solid tires. This means tires that are balanced and equal. You can get by on the street with an old tire here and there, but on the track it will cause handling problems. On my race car I am very carefull to only run tires are full sets. This means I buy a set of tires and run them as a set. I try to never mix a set of tires because it will throw off the balance of the car. I have at times used an emergency tire and it always results in odd balance. I however have enough experience to feel that it is tire related and just try to drive around the issue.

Since you are new to this get a nice even set of tires. Even if you have to get a cheaper tire do that so you get a balanced car. 10% less grip, but a balanced chassis will be much better and more fun to drive than more grip, but no balanced. For a time I autocross a stock 83 944 on street tires. Not much overall grip, but I was able to get it to balance very nicely. That made the car fun to drive as I could slide it around corners with ease. I was able to make it one of top cars in my PCA autocross group on street tires. Just due to have it balance right and knowing how to slide the car around. I could not compete with the guys on R-tires, but so what. It was still a blast to drive because it responded well.

So get full set of new tires to create a solid foundation. Then make sure you have the car balanced. Once you start to track the car more tires will be just a consumable. You will count you tires not in miles, but in track days.

M758

I did my first track day in my Street 944 Turbo S. That car was stock and just had a decient alignment and solid tires. The car was fun to drive, but after a few events I worried about damaging it. This was 1999 and so the car was still relativly new and in solid shape. Not show quality, but nice driver. Around here we have alot sand and gravel off track and as such most track cars have what we call track rash. That is where the front of the car gets chewed up from rock debris. Sticky tires kick up all kinds of rocks and when on track and you get peppered.

So I chose to build an old 84 944 I dragged out of some guys front yard. The car was about ready to go to junk pile so there was no way I could make it any worse. So perfect track only car that if it got sandblasted who cares and if got fender smashed in from an encounder with a tire wall... Well bring out the hammer so that I did not miss and track time. Plus being a low powerer NA I would limit my costs as consumables were cheaper than for a turbo. Plus I could mod the 944 suspension as much as I wanted and not worry about street comfort. Heck I have never even driven that car on the street in 11 years.

Anway smartest thing I ever did because that 944 has turned into a great race car. Faster at the track than my 944 Turbo S in stock form despite being down 100 hp and great to abuse. Over the years I have had to do some body work and had to repaint the car. The front nose 3 times in fact. I hit tire wall once and had couple minor car to car contact while racing. Nothing major, but when you put in over 100 races with tight competition some times light contact can occur even if you are doing it right.

Still the car just takes it. Since I run 225/50 R15 tires they are cheaper and I can rotate them around the car ensure even wear. Plus I run smaller brakes than my Turbo S or 968 M030. So while not as "cool" they are much cheaper. $30 each for front rotors? Yeah... and they last a full season or more. A set of front pads is probably 1/2 the proce of similar Turbo S pads.

Plus since the car is just 2600lbs with driver the light weight means I can get by with what is really a stiff street suspension. Koni yellows, 350lbs springs, 30 mm t-bars and Weltmeister sway bars. Some guys in my class use the 968 M030 sways in fact. So overall we run cheap car and have fun with them. The lack of hp helps keep consumable cost down as well as build cost and forces us to learn to really drive the car fast in the corners. Fun stuff and a great way to keep a nice 944/968 for the steet and have a car you and flog at the track and simply not worry one bit.