Just got back from a 2-day HPDE event at New Jersey Motorsports Park's Thunderbolt circuit with Metro NY PCA. Overall, a great experience. I've been to NJMP probably 10 times with various groups, and Metro NY PCA proved itself to be one of the best. Relaxed but well-organized and well-run.

There were several 991s there--nice to meet rennlisters Allen, Ross, Bill and Kaan. Mainly Porsches, as expected, with a nice mix of street cars and full-on race cars. Also a 2011 Camaro SS in our run group that had a rollbar, seats, full harnesses, coilovers, upgraded sway bars, Pagid pads, custom exhaust and 295/315 Hoosier R6s. Really loud and really fast. Always gave him quick point-bys.

Thoughts, in no particular order:

• The cars all did well, despite ambient temps in the high 80s to low-mid 90s. Oil temps definitely got up there, but never to a critical value. No obvious issues. I was discussing this with one of the other 991 guys when I asked him if he had considered installing the center third radiator from the power kit. Interestingly, he was told that the airflow through this center radiator can end up creating lift under the front of the car, unless a GT3-style hood with air extraction vents on the leading edge is fitted to make the airflow up and out.
• The Yokohama AD08Rs did well. This particular event packed 6 sessions for each run group into each of the two days, for a total of 12 sessions! With Lime Rock and the Glen prior to this event, that now makes for the equivalent of 5 track days on these tires, and they look like they have plenty of life left. Best of all, they were champs on the swim home during flash flooding on the Jersey Pike on the approach to the GW Bridge.
• As described in another post from Wednesday, I experienced a "PDCC fault" on three different occasions just after coming through the high-G, slow constant-radius Octopus section of the track. This fault kicked me out of Sport Plus and required me to come into the pits and cycle the ignition to clear it before proceeding. My car did have the PDCC control module programming update done in May--not sure if this is related to that known issue.
• My neighbor in the garage, Allen, recommended on the first day that I run with stability control off in order to allow the car to better rotate and also save wear on the rear brake pads. Glad I followed his advice. So far with this new-to-me car I've been to Lime Rock and Watkins Glen, both of which have limited runoff room. I ran in Sport Plus, with stability control on during those events. Here at NJMP there is much more runoff room, so after the first session I took Allen's advice and turned stability control off. In the slower portions of the track, the car was very controllable with stability control off and relatively easy to rotate with trail braking and throttle steer. I had been concerned that the rear-engined 991 would be much less controllable than my former E90 M3, but it wasn't the case. I was very impressed with the 991, and happy that I could control it. Plus I saved a lot of pad wear!
• During one of the sessions on the second day I took out an instructor. I'm running in white, and comfortably fast within the group, but I feel like I'm stagnating a bit at this level, and not yet ready for the speed/skill level of the black group. The instructor who rode with me, Matt W., was excellent. Very happy with him. He was able to find several points on the track for improvement, mainly areas where I wasn't using enough curbing, or was braking too much and not carrying enough speed. He was a great help.
• At the end of the day, I was able to consistenly run 1:37s, and had my best run at almost 1:37 flat. This was a bit frustrating, though, because I felt faster than my best sessions in the M3 from last year, especially after Matt's input this time, and yet I was able to run 1:37s in the M3 as well, even getting into the 1:36s. I was expecting to be at least a couple of seconds quicker in the 991. After further thought, there's probably a few factors at play here. While my M3 definitely had grunt, and was probably at 450hp with the Dinan tune and catless exhaust, the 991 Carrera S is undoubtedly a faster car on the track with all other factors being equal. Those factors are probably significant, though--my best laps in the M3 at Thunderbolt were in the fall with much cooler ambient temps, and I was running Toyo Proxes RRs on that car, a new R-comp with similar design to a Hoosier R6. Given that I'm running a street tire on the 991, it makes for a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. I'm sure a suitable R-comp on the 991 would get me at least a couple of more seconds.

Here is a clip from the second day, followed by a comparison clip of one of my best sessions in the M3 from last year. Again, sorry for the poor video quality as the camera does light metering off the dark car interior and overexposes the outside image. I had hoped to get an additional bullet camera during this event to place on the windshield for better image quality, but the RaceKeeper dealer at NJMP has relocated.

 

I have never done tracks before but used to do a lot of timed runs on roads a couple of decades back. It always took me a while to feel confident enough with a new car to push it to its limits so just wondering if that can also be a factor in your M3 vs 911 times.

 

Posting in Racing and DE forum instead--probably more appropriate there. Moderators feel free to remove from this section. Thanks.

 

Likely, although I've been pleasantly surprised by how quickly the 991 makes you feel comfortable.

 

Paradocs, glad you tried it with PSM off. A lot of folks are nervous about doing it, but my experience is similar to yours. It is easier to rotate the car, definitely reduces rear pad wear and is still easy to drive. I never felt like I had a big "moment" caused by having it off.