CaptainOblivious

It's too fast. Seriously.

Ok, so I'm an old guy (mid fifties) who spent much of his youth at the track, never really had expensive cars and always dreamed of owning a 911. Finally got where I needed to be and bought my dream Carrera, tailored to my specs from the factory. The idea was to enjoy the car on weekends and summers (I am very hard on my DD's, couldn't do it to this car) and do the occasional track day. My ideal would have been a GT3 touring but we still have young-ish kids with whom we do things, so in need of rear seats I went with a GTS4, 18 way-full leather seats (no alcantara) and only the standard GTS performance equipment (7MT, steel brakes, no RAS, no PDCC; decadently spent all my option money on PTS and leather bits).

Anyway, last summer I did two track days with my old club, which is a Time Attack series in which drivers are classed and actually compete for lap time, very similar to a qualifying session for a race. The events I attended were both at smaller circuits, having some pretty major braking events and a lot of challenging, tight corners, many of which feature combinations of sustained g-loads, directional and/or elevation changes. Great fun, intoxicating thrills and spectacular performance from a showroom-stock car with P-Zeros, I am ten times more addicted than I feared I would be. So what's the problem, then? Well, the problemS are numerous, complex and more philosophical than I can cover here. But the main issue is the speed. This car is just way too fast to drive this way without a harness. Period. I came home from both race weekends battered and bruised, in a very similar manner to when I used to race karts decades ago. Apparently, I am being thrown around the cockpit like a rag doll as I hang on to the SW for dear life. My right knee had a shocking bruise on it from repeatedly slamming into the lower dash under braking. I'm 5'9" 180lbs soaking wet and the 3-pt seatbelt is completely unwilling to contain my flailing carcass.

I have spent much time over the winter pondering what to do next. One of the last conversations I had at the track was a with a good buddy who trailers in a fully prepped and caged track car, and he suggested maybe I shouldn't push so hard - just "ease off a little". Then we laughed and laughed (me over my pain). Honestly, I don't know what to do. I've lived without lapping for 15 years, now that I've tasted it again I'm like a junkie. At this point I think I'm resigned to cooling it for a few more years and then when my youngest have grown up, switch for a GT3 or at least swap out the 18-ways for the full buckets with harness. Or maybe I should get a cheap track car and just enjoy the Porsche in it's Dr. Jekyll form, but then an extra car is so much extra bother. And having a car that performs like that and never using it is not something I can reconcile so easily. Budget is an issue too, if I was a squillionaire I'd just add a GT3, problem solved. Aaargh, why am I so frustrated by what should be making me happy? The irony! The agony!

Obviously, I've overdramatized to try and hold your attention, these are tiny problems in the big picture really, I'm not really this bratty. That said, the struggle is real and I'm hoping there may be a solution I haven't clued in to.

Thoughts? Anyone else here been through this kind of first-world-problems torture?

AdamSanta85

Add a tune and go HAM.

Schn3ll

Trade your GTS turbos for my base engine turbos. Problem solved.

AlexZTuned

I remember after karting at COTA having bruises all over my back for a week. It was fun at the time, but definitely not afterwards! But those were plastic bucket seats... I've never bruised myself up in cars (all typically leather/padded and bolstered) when tracking, but get some DOMS afterwards if I spend a lot of time out on track or my seating position and/or SW grip isn't good (too tight).

asellus

Is spec 944 still a thing? Go do that instead!

darylbowden

I really like the early Boxster/caymans on the track. There's a lot of highly prepped ones out there and they offer a lot of bang for the buck. I really don't like trying to make your street car a track car as it just means you're compromising both. Your budget will really determine what you can afford to both purchase and run. Endless budget - get a GT3RS and fully prep it for the track. But if budget is a consideration (as it seems it is), like I said earlier I think the early boxster/caymans represent a good value for money these days.

Or just buy a prepped spec Miata, tons of those and they are super fun and cheap to run (comparatively).

ducktails

I arrived at this same conclusion after a few years doing DE's frequently -- over time you see too many really nice/expensive street cars wipe out, and as you get faster and faster, you begin to wonder if statistically it's only a matter of time until that's you. I love the idea of picking up an older Boxster or Cayman and track prepping it, but the prices are just getting out of control. A spec Miata or even a C5 Corvette on the other hand....

darylbowden

That's a good point. I always try to pick race cars/bikes that are already converted. It can be expensive to do it yourself and ones that have already been converted usually sell at a lower price point than a clean street example. Plus they are usually already setup decently well which is a time saver (if you buy from the right folks). But you're right still gonna be more expensive than a Miata or a C5 for sure. Those are about the best bang for the buck out there.

Cuda911

When I started tracking years ago I used my 996. If you want to be good, you need to be able to drive at 10/10. That means bad things may happen. Eventually I switched to a Boxster for track. Over the years, I have seen MANY start tracking with an expensive high-performance car, only to eventually do the same and go the Boxster route.

Watson

If I were in your shoes, I’d go the bucket seats way. You already have a DD, a 911 is in essence a car that you can use for the road and occasionally track events. And the 991.2 GTS has a lot of potential (torque, chassis wise) so it would be a shame for me not to trash enjoy it on a track. A manual GTS is the next best thing after a GT3 if you absolutely need these rear seats - that’s how I see it anyway.

Speed2k

Working with what you have, it sounds like you're sliding around a lot in the seat. A couple of solutions that I have read are to use a CG Lock or to lock in the seat belt by sliding the seat all the way, sharply tugging on the shoulder section to lock the belt in place, then moving the seat forward, doing so locks the seatbelt into place at the lap and shoulder. Kneepads might help too.

Watson

Wrt accident : I had the same idea. I think it depends on whether you are driving 8/10 or 10/10. Keep a margin or want to explore the limits and if you want to explore the limits, you are likely to experience a crash at some point. I guess all racing pilots crashed at some point, maybe that’s part of the learning process? I remember the late Sabine Schmidt saying she crashed countless times on the Nordschleife.

jfischet

there's always this:
https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...-993-clan.html

arter

Sounds like a race seat is the answer....

marinb

That's what I did to my GTS. Put in OEM Folding Bucket seats. Still need to use both back seats for the kids on non-track days.