981 GTS vs Nurburgring Nordschleife pics and video
09-03-2018, 06:22 AM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
981 GTS vs Nurburgring Nordschleife pics and video
First, the story. I took my Cayman to the "Ringmeisters prime" trackday on the Nurburgring, an event which is all about good lapping and low numbers of cars. It might be the most expensive trackday in the world, but it's pretty good insurance as it lowers the risk of fluid spills and coming across people who should not really be driving cars never mind being on a racetrack.
My only real concern beforehand was the level of noise that my car makes with its race headers. No issue here in Russia because nobody gives a damn, but Europe is a little different. At least the dB limit in this case was a rather generous 130 dB pass-by reading. Sure enough though, after doing my first 2 laps on day 1 I was pulled over by ze Germans and told my day was finished as I had broken the noise limit four times in two laps. Which is apparently the max amount of times before you get thrown off the track. Interesting logic to count the two measuring points separately, surely anyone who is genuinely too loud (as I was with 135+ dB) is just going to set them all off anyway. This rule also seemed to have been made with "tourist drives" in mind where you can not do more than one lap. As this was a trackday you could go on for as many laps as your fuel tank and concentration level would allow. I protested that this was the first anyone had told me about this, and that I could "fix" my car to make it less loud, but to no avail. The Nurburgring guy said the head office in Berlin would fine them 60K Euros if they let anyone back on track and break the limit for a fifth time. I got no answer when I inquired what would have happened then if I had done three or four laps instead of just the two. Anyway, I talked to the organizer and he promised he'd try to work it out if I could quieten my car down enough that there was no risk at all of setting off any more alarms. So we got out the metal wire and physically forced the PSE valves to stay shut. The difference in sound was certainly huge (video at the end) and after being warned that my 2 day, multi-thousand dollar track event would be over if I broke it one more time, they stuck on some new numbers and a different transponder and I was good to go. The two hours or so that I lost we'll count as a valuable experience.
The difference in performance was barely noticeable, but real on the GPS log and dyno (10 horsepower) so that didn't really help. I wasn't sure what to expect beforehand in terms of lap time, I certainly hoped to go below 7:45 min "BTG" (which excludes most of the long straight which cannot be done full throttle in the regular driving sessions which are open to the public) as the fastest non-GT 981 I could find on youtube had done a 7:44. Even the GT4s didn't really seem to go much below 7:35 to 7:30 in the hands of mortals, so I reckoned that would've been a bridge too far. In the end though, I felt the car and I could have done a 7:30 or just under if I wouldn't have lost the performance to the noise regs and found a clear lap in the morning when it wasn't so hot outside. Cup 2's really don't like it warm. In the least optimal track conditions of the event I did a 7:36 which I measured pretty accurately to correspond to a 7:57 lap the way Porsche and other manufacturers would count it. All optimal sectors combined was 5s less still. While my car is decidedly faster than stock, it's pretty impossible to replicate conditions as ideal as the manufacturers have it anyway. Brand new tires, perfect alignment, racing drivers who don't need to worry too much about sticking it in the barriers, ... as a result nobody has ever come particularly close to the time their car set "officially". A .2 GT3 RS, for example, should be able to lap in less than 6:40 BTG but thus far even cracking 7 minutes BTG is proving to require a lot of talent and practice. So to be 3 seconds off Porsche's official time with a slightly modded car on pretty old Cup 2's the first time I've driven this car there seems reasonable enough.
My x73 car is certainly a different animal from anything else I've driven there. Most of my laps I did a decade ago in a heavily modified front wheel drive Volvo. Then after a 5 year gap I went back and drove my all-wheel-drive nose heavy RS4 there. The Cayman is a joy to drive compared to both of those, allowing me to stay flat out through corners that were never remotely flat in my other cars. But it feels pretty nervous, borderline unstable in some places where I had to stay away from kerbs that I've always driven over before. I took out a guy for a passenger lap who drives one of the most popular (and really quick) "ring tool" FWD cars and he couldn't believe how unstable my car felt compared to his. I'm pretty comfortable with a car that moves around a little even at high speed but a GT4 and certainly a 911 with its multi link rear suspension seems like it would be a lot easier and more confidence inspiring on this track.
In the end, I'm happy with the driving I did, and happy to have called it quits while I was ahead so I could drive the car home.
Lifting a front wheel here, didn't expect to see that. But it's a banked corner where it's probably pulling 1.5-1.6G. Makes even X73 look soft.
Sound clip:
My only real concern beforehand was the level of noise that my car makes with its race headers. No issue here in Russia because nobody gives a damn, but Europe is a little different. At least the dB limit in this case was a rather generous 130 dB pass-by reading. Sure enough though, after doing my first 2 laps on day 1 I was pulled over by ze Germans and told my day was finished as I had broken the noise limit four times in two laps. Which is apparently the max amount of times before you get thrown off the track. Interesting logic to count the two measuring points separately, surely anyone who is genuinely too loud (as I was with 135+ dB) is just going to set them all off anyway. This rule also seemed to have been made with "tourist drives" in mind where you can not do more than one lap. As this was a trackday you could go on for as many laps as your fuel tank and concentration level would allow. I protested that this was the first anyone had told me about this, and that I could "fix" my car to make it less loud, but to no avail. The Nurburgring guy said the head office in Berlin would fine them 60K Euros if they let anyone back on track and break the limit for a fifth time. I got no answer when I inquired what would have happened then if I had done three or four laps instead of just the two. Anyway, I talked to the organizer and he promised he'd try to work it out if I could quieten my car down enough that there was no risk at all of setting off any more alarms. So we got out the metal wire and physically forced the PSE valves to stay shut. The difference in sound was certainly huge (video at the end) and after being warned that my 2 day, multi-thousand dollar track event would be over if I broke it one more time, they stuck on some new numbers and a different transponder and I was good to go. The two hours or so that I lost we'll count as a valuable experience.
The difference in performance was barely noticeable, but real on the GPS log and dyno (10 horsepower) so that didn't really help. I wasn't sure what to expect beforehand in terms of lap time, I certainly hoped to go below 7:45 min "BTG" (which excludes most of the long straight which cannot be done full throttle in the regular driving sessions which are open to the public) as the fastest non-GT 981 I could find on youtube had done a 7:44. Even the GT4s didn't really seem to go much below 7:35 to 7:30 in the hands of mortals, so I reckoned that would've been a bridge too far. In the end though, I felt the car and I could have done a 7:30 or just under if I wouldn't have lost the performance to the noise regs and found a clear lap in the morning when it wasn't so hot outside. Cup 2's really don't like it warm. In the least optimal track conditions of the event I did a 7:36 which I measured pretty accurately to correspond to a 7:57 lap the way Porsche and other manufacturers would count it. All optimal sectors combined was 5s less still. While my car is decidedly faster than stock, it's pretty impossible to replicate conditions as ideal as the manufacturers have it anyway. Brand new tires, perfect alignment, racing drivers who don't need to worry too much about sticking it in the barriers, ... as a result nobody has ever come particularly close to the time their car set "officially". A .2 GT3 RS, for example, should be able to lap in less than 6:40 BTG but thus far even cracking 7 minutes BTG is proving to require a lot of talent and practice. So to be 3 seconds off Porsche's official time with a slightly modded car on pretty old Cup 2's the first time I've driven this car there seems reasonable enough.
My x73 car is certainly a different animal from anything else I've driven there. Most of my laps I did a decade ago in a heavily modified front wheel drive Volvo. Then after a 5 year gap I went back and drove my all-wheel-drive nose heavy RS4 there. The Cayman is a joy to drive compared to both of those, allowing me to stay flat out through corners that were never remotely flat in my other cars. But it feels pretty nervous, borderline unstable in some places where I had to stay away from kerbs that I've always driven over before. I took out a guy for a passenger lap who drives one of the most popular (and really quick) "ring tool" FWD cars and he couldn't believe how unstable my car felt compared to his. I'm pretty comfortable with a car that moves around a little even at high speed but a GT4 and certainly a 911 with its multi link rear suspension seems like it would be a lot easier and more confidence inspiring on this track.
In the end, I'm happy with the driving I did, and happy to have called it quits while I was ahead so I could drive the car home.
Lifting a front wheel here, didn't expect to see that. But it's a banked corner where it's probably pulling 1.5-1.6G. Makes even X73 look soft.
Sound clip:
09-03-2018, 08:20 AM
#2
Wow! Fantastic write up and surely an awesome experience. Too bad regarding the time lost due to quieting your car, but I'm glad you were able to talk your way back out there. Thanks for sharing the story and vids!
09-03-2018, 11:50 AM
#4
Instructor
Thanks for the great post. Enjoyed riding around with you a couple times and the still pics are excellent.
Owning a 981 GTS with Fabspeed race headers / PSE, am familiar with the glorious sound emitted, pretty close to straight pipes with the PSE open. But have to ask why you wired your PSE valves shut, is your PSE button broken? Even in Sport and Sport Plus you can close the PSE and it stays closed, or at least mine functions that way.
Owning a 981 GTS with Fabspeed race headers / PSE, am familiar with the glorious sound emitted, pretty close to straight pipes with the PSE open. But have to ask why you wired your PSE valves shut, is your PSE button broken? Even in Sport and Sport Plus you can close the PSE and it stays closed, or at least mine functions that way.
09-03-2018, 12:34 PM
#5
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I put the car on a dyno afterwards and it wasn't very happy going full throttle in hot weather with the valves closed. The graph looked pretty ugly with suspected pinging and a 10 HP loss at the top end.
09-03-2018, 01:54 PM
#6
Burning Brakes
As always from you a fantastic post - the photos are amazing.
I’d be curious to find out if you ever get a solution to the “ nervous handling “ issue you are experiencing.
I’d be curious to find out if you ever get a solution to the “ nervous handling “ issue you are experiencing.
09-03-2018, 02:21 PM
#7
Drifting
Zee Germans and their rules... glad you poke them with more questions after hearing nein... 
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09-04-2018, 03:56 AM
#8
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
I believe that I don't have enough camber at the rear, but some of this instability is probably inherent in the platform and X73 contributes to it as well. It works great on smooth tracks and gives a lovely feeling on the road but when pushing the boundaries on a bumpy track you run into the ceiling of performance that Porsche was willing to engineer into the car at its price point. From what I can tell GT4 takes it much better.