Possible to tell if a car has been tracked?
07-06-2015, 10:21 AM
#16
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You can have a readout of the DME done at any Porsche dealer and they can tell you the percentage of time the car has spent at various RPM ranges, and number of trips to the redline, plus over-revs. You can also do that with a Durametric cable and read it on your laptop, though my understanding is the 991 program is a little buggy so it may or many not be able to do that.
There are two car myths I don't agree with. 1) Quality cars are just getting broken in at 50,000 miles and 2) It doesn't hurt to track a sports car, it was made for it.
Cars (like airplanes and boats) are machines and made of parts. Regardless of who makes it there are duty cycles for every component, based on time and stress. Any engineer will tell you that. The harder and longer the use, the closer that component gets to failure. In terms of a car, that can be anything from a brake rotor to a control arm bushing to an engine main bearing. Light duty cycles and low use will always prevail in any machine.
I have been tracking and racing cars and motorcycles since 1971, and active in the aviation business as well for many years. In the aircraft industry, there is considerably more attention paid to these issues than in cars/bikes, for safety reasons. An airplane designed for acrobatics is built better and stronger than a simple passenger aircraft but its inspected more frequently and subject to stresses that the passenger plane simply does not get subject to.
Maintenance is the key. All components can be replaced on any car, you can buy a part for every single piece if needed. The question becomes does the owner keep up with that and what are the records? Many parts take a real beating on track days, from brakes to suspension components and there is chassis flex depending on how hard the owner is running and how much stick his tires have. While I wouldn't be turned off of a car that is tracked, it all depends on how often it has been and how well its kept up. A car that goes out two to four times a year in a typical B group driver is not going to be a concern at all. A car that does 100 track days a year with an advanced driver would be.
Again, just my opinion....
There are two car myths I don't agree with. 1) Quality cars are just getting broken in at 50,000 miles and 2) It doesn't hurt to track a sports car, it was made for it.
Cars (like airplanes and boats) are machines and made of parts. Regardless of who makes it there are duty cycles for every component, based on time and stress. Any engineer will tell you that. The harder and longer the use, the closer that component gets to failure. In terms of a car, that can be anything from a brake rotor to a control arm bushing to an engine main bearing. Light duty cycles and low use will always prevail in any machine.
I have been tracking and racing cars and motorcycles since 1971, and active in the aviation business as well for many years. In the aircraft industry, there is considerably more attention paid to these issues than in cars/bikes, for safety reasons. An airplane designed for acrobatics is built better and stronger than a simple passenger aircraft but its inspected more frequently and subject to stresses that the passenger plane simply does not get subject to.
Maintenance is the key. All components can be replaced on any car, you can buy a part for every single piece if needed. The question becomes does the owner keep up with that and what are the records? Many parts take a real beating on track days, from brakes to suspension components and there is chassis flex depending on how hard the owner is running and how much stick his tires have. While I wouldn't be turned off of a car that is tracked, it all depends on how often it has been and how well its kept up. A car that goes out two to four times a year in a typical B group driver is not going to be a concern at all. A car that does 100 track days a year with an advanced driver would be.
Again, just my opinion....
07-06-2015, 12:21 PM
#17
RL Community Team
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A used car is only as good as its owner (and/or previous owners).
A used 911 with, say, only 10k on the ODO owned by Justin Bieber is probably not as good as a buy as a similar 911 owned by a serious track rat who is fastidious about maintenance, mechanical wear and tear, and overall automotive awareness.