paradocs98

This past Saturday was my first Lime Rock event with the new car, and the second track day with it. Lime Rock is close to my heart because it's the first track I ever drove on, starting with a couple of Skip Barber schools about five years ago. For anyone who hasn't been, I highly recommend it--gorgeous setting in Northwestern Connecticut, tons of history, and a fun, technical layout with big elevation changes. This was also my first time with Metro NY PCA. Nice group of people, and a well-run event. The only downside was that we were sharing the day with the Lime Rock Drivers' Club, alternating track time, and each of our four sessions was limited to 20 minutes. Definitely felt too short.

As often happens since I only do 8-10 events a year, I felt like I didn't get into a groove until the third or fourth session. This was especially the case since I'm still getting used to the dynamics of the 991 vs. my prior car, a 2011 M3. Once things started to flow, it felt really, really good.

I ran in the white group, which was on track at the same time as the blue group. It was awkward at times, with a fairly large differential in experience and speeds among all the drivers. This was magnified by Lime Rock's short 1.5-mile distance, making it hard to separate yourself from other drivers. Trains formed pretty quickly, and I found myself pitting in fairly often to create space for clear track. It's a dilemma right now because I feel like I'm a bit too fast for intermediate, and yet not consistently fast enough at this point for advanced, at least with PCA. It seems like you need to run with a group that is doing your same pace so that you can keep the flow going--otherwise you find yourself having to shut it down too often and wait for point-bys, killing your rhythm. At the same time, I don't want to be that guy in advanced who is going too slowly and screwing up the flow for the big boys. It's like being an awkward teenager, still not quite a confident adult.

Anyway, the car did really well. Brakes strong and consistent. Flat cornering. Definitely felt the weight difference (500 lb) between this car and the M3 when doing the quick left-right transition from the Left-hander to Turn 4 leading onto No-name straight. This car feels so light and agile and quick to change direction. Interestingly, my data shows that my speeds at various marks along the track (low 130s prior to braking for T1, 104-105 prior to braking for the Uphill, 90s-100 on track-out at the bottom of the Downhill) were almost identical in the 911 and the M3, despite them being such very different cars. When I started to get into the groove at the end of the day, I was doing 1:03s, which is just a second off of my best time in the M3, so I have hopes of being able to drop a couple more seconds with time in this car.

Here are a couple of laps at the end of the day. Again, I apologize for the terrible video quality of the RaceKeeper bullet camera mounted on the roll bar. I have to find a solution for this.

enzom

Video was great. Congrats. I did the Skip Barber intro to racing and an AMG Challenge at that track. Fun track.

brianja

Very nice! I'm heading up to Lime Rock in 1.5 weeks myself. It will be first time there, so I will be taking it easy and learning the lines.

As for the comment about the video quality... if you mean the brightness of the track in the forward view, the problem is that you have too much of the car's interior in the camera's field of view. You likely either need to find an exposure compensation adjustment for the camera in the settings and lower it (which will make the car's interior darker as well), or move the camera forward in the car, letting the windshield fill more of the view.

chuck911

So much depends on what you're trying to capture. If you want to keep a lot of the interior like you have now then your location is good and you just need to provide a lot more cabin light to balance out the exposure. If you don't care about the interior then you want to locate the camera forward to the rear view mirror, or side of your helmet. Another option, use an elastic band to mount to the inside edge of the passenger seat. Some of these won't be as stable as what you have now, but you can always work on stability once you get the location figured out.

paradocs98

Enjoy!

paradocs98

Got it. I have a high-quality suction mount for the inside of the windshield, which is how I mounted the camera in my M3. This rollbar mount seemed like a much cleaner and more secure solution, but I may have to go back to the suction mount.

KBS911

Nice video. How do you like your GMG roll bar? Any fitment issues on installation?

CBejbl

Enjoyed the vid, even with the washout. Have always had a blast doing track days at LR.

Team Plutonium

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. That was the track I turned my Cayman into a lawnmower. I shall never reveal which corner... the shame is too great. LOL!

TrackDays247.com

aaaAAAhhHHhh the guardrails :-)

paradocs98

Seems like a well-finished, high-quality piece. I researched the three current commercially-available bars for the 991 and then discussed them with my local indy race shop owner. I trust his judgment--he's been track-prepping Porsches and BMWs for DE and club racing for many years. He recommended the GMG rollbar based on the design (no bends at the bottoms of the upright sections for the main roll hoop) and prior experience with GMG products.

The only disappointment was with the initial fitment in the car. It took the shop owner and his main tech (Porsche gold-level factory tech with 30 years' experience) something like 10 hours and three attempts to get the rollbar properly mounted. Some of the measurements were slightly off, requiring him to do some fabrication--filing, adjusting, etc. Lots of labor at $130 an hour. But the end result is spectacular.

Since I had mine mounted in March, I've seen subsequent posts from GMG indicating that they've "fine tuned" the fitment going forward. So I was lucky enough to be a bit of a beta-tester.

paradocs98

Your landscaping was either coming out of the Downhill onto the main straight, or in the Left-hander/Turn 4 combo.

How did I do?

KBS911

Thanks. I had heard that there were some fitment issues. Sounds like they have the bugs worked out. It looks like a quality unit. Very ice!

Team Plutonium

Left hander lift-off... fairly low speed too. LOL! I think I hold the record as making the most retarded move on that track. In my defense... I was trying to catch a Miata.