Jason Judd

Raj and Damian,

I must say I love your approach. If I had to do it over again, I certainly would have asked the group for opinions and advice, too. I never thought about it, and mostly went it alone. I got advice from my mechanic and a few friends, but I never thought to ask the Forum...Good Job!

It appears that you have almost everything covered by those who are more experienced than me, so I won't try to show how much I know by picking things apart.

But I do want to remind you to go it slowly...Take your time, enjoy each and every chapter as you progress in you skill levels. Don't let the car be too far ahead of the driver. You don't want the car to be too far advanced before you can handle all the input.

If you start out with a full-tilt race car, you will definately save money in purchasing power...But, a race car with a very stiff suspension is very tempermental. It will respond very quickly to your steering braking and throttle inputs. A taught race/track car is not very forgiving. It will very quickly take your inputs and respond to them...Sometimes it's nice to have a car that is a bit slower to respond; and is a bit more forgiving.

You will develop your skills and you will learn the car over time; take enjoyment in the process and take one step at a time. Don't rush it too quickly.

I'm sure I've told you something that isn't new to either of you two. But it is very tempting to rush the process, and sometimes you need to remember to slow down and enjoy it all!

My congratulations to you both and I hope to see you...in my rearview mirror!

Jason

RajDatta

Thanks Jason for your valuable input. You mean after you pass us and we are all grumpy and disgruntled .

Raj

Darth Coupe

Raj/Damian, congrats on the plunge. I can not say much more than what has been said already, and knowing the both of you I think you will be able to handle and have fun with a 951 no problem. The only thing I can think of adding to what has been said is to have you guys work out what happens when you both go to the event and the car pulls double duty. Only one of you gets to be in the car per class, who is going to take the upper run group? One thing about running the car back to back is to watch those tire pressures, oil level, and when the car is down it might be a good idea to bleed brakes during lunch.

My experience comes from going to events with my wife. She drives the Boxster and one time I had a clutch go out on me at Mid-OH while learning the 968. This left me driving her car the rest of the weekend and she was just a class behind me. I can still remember the look on her face when I said to watch the brakes as the pedal will be a little softer than normal after coming in on a hot session. She was back in soon and kicking my ****. Normally we drive two cars and that works out great, but I am sure that you two will be able to keep things in order, I mean you aren't married to each other.

That would be my one comment, the car should not wear noticably faster doing double duty, just the things that you keep an eye on will have to be done more frequently (oil level, tire pressures - though those could be set after a couple of sessions in the morning unless you both have different preferences, and brake bleeding intervles. I know that after running in the instructor group, then taking couple of students out for a couple of sessions will make me go through the same procedure more often. Though, just remember, if anything does break with the car, a small army of P-car nuts will be around your car helping to get it back on the track/road.

I think it will be great and fun. You will have a friend right there with you that you can track times and improvement with, so it should be fun. Anything you want to know, I know a lot of us have gone through it so ask away. I will always be happy to help you guys out after all of the things and info you have lended to me.

cooz

R & D

I know of a 90K miles (968) commuter/station car that needs work and may be available to purchase soon. it may turn out to be a good car to transform into a DE tracker.

it's not a "Looker" like you guys are accustomed to. I'll keep you posted if this sounds like a possibility for you.

cooz
aka
norm mandell

RajDatta

Cooz, I don't want to rule any car out. If a car is mechanically sound I am open to look at it. I think 1st few years we will be still learning how to drive the car to its ability.
I want to take it as a long term hobby and enjoy every bit of it. Who knows, as Rich said, I might someday even take my 968 turbo to the track but I highly doubt it.
As long as its the driver that's the limiting factor, I know I don't need to do much more to the car for performace .
Raj

richard glickel.

Guys, DC raises some very good points. If you're sharing a car, you obviously can't drive in the same run group at the same event.

Damian, if you were driving solo when you stopped doing D.E., you will probably have to get checked out with an instructor prior to resuming your past status. Raj, will start in green with the other novices and spend most (if not all) of the 1st season in the instructed groups.

This is going to be interesting.

Richard

SpeedBump

Sharing the car shouldn't be a problem as Raj will never have time to participate. Not too many DE's at 2am

renvagn

I think a 968 as a first track car has several advantages. Easier to drive, better gear ratios are two big issues. Also a turbo is not necessarily the car you'd want to share. Just running back to back runs makes for very hot oil and coolant. I have lots of experience taking stock 951/968's up the ladder and what's works for different levels of driving. Either car is great, just need to take differant approach on setup.
Pete Fitz
RS Barn

RajDatta

Well the little one is an Angel and sleeps through the night so its no problem at all . Its the elder one that is still keeping me awake.
Raj

Josho

I don't know anything about racing or DE but have a question out of curiosity. Why has no one mentioned the 944 s2? I know you guys want da boost, but since the 968 has been mentioned so many times I thought I would inquire. I would think that for the lower price of an s2 and it being equally "fast" as the 968, since it's a bit lighter of a car it could be a good option. I don't want to Hijack this thread but it seems in line to me. TIA

By the way, it's great to read all of these opinions and experiences. Keep it up.

richard glickel.

This IS the 968 Forum. See avatar.

Richard

Clem

I agree the S2 is a very worthy consideration. Especially for the price.

Clem

Nice Rich - Black and on the track!

richard glickel.

Hi Clem,

I think the next 968 track car will be Red as that's the present color of the chassis and fenders, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Richard

RajDatta

Rich, great input. Please keep it coming.
We are trying very hard to stay within our budget and based on what we want to start with, we would barely be able to get a 968. It would probably have ton of miles on it and we would be left with nothing for trailer, rollcage, harness or any of the essential safety equipment we want to have day one. That is one of the reasons we are trying to focus on cars that are either 1/2 way there or with some of these goodies that are cheaper to begin with so it allows us to use some of the left over money for rollbar and harness.
I know it can get expensive very quickly and we don't want it to be a 1 year thing where we go way over budget and then give up. The cheapest clean 968 will still run you atleast $10-12K and it would need control arms , rollcage and harness at the least.
I am sure you get the point. Who knows, a few years from now we can get a 968 and turbo charge it. That is my eventual plan. I want to build a 3.0 turbo engine and have some ideas on how to go about it. Once its complete, I can decide if I want it in a 968 or a 944 turbo. I want a 968 turbo track car and hopefully it ill be faster than Jason's . I have an old joke going with him.
BTW, drop me a pm with your contact info please. Would love to speak to you.
Raj