Modoc

Eric,
Seats look NICE. You are not going to believe the difference the seats ,belts and Hans make. Those Nitto's and wheels aren't far off. You will get alot out of the skid pad time. Just in case you are looking for a place to spend more money with a good return, you may want to consider a couple (or more) trips to Birmingham to do PDE and the Masters class.
Thanks for the heads-up about the seats.

Enjoy
Joe D

cfjan

Hi Joe,

Thanks! Yeah, the Porsche driving school is definitely something that I will consider, but maybe next year when I got some more budget, as well as after I get some seat time doing DEs here locally!! But for sure from what I have read, it offers great instruction and learning!

roberga

Have fun: What you have is really the minimum for tracking. The bonus will be the seats and harness help with performance as well. When going around corners you will not need to "think" about how to position yourself to avoid moving around in the seat. The harness will keep you on place when braking. I noticed right away. Your arms will be relaxed as you will not have to push yourself away from the wheel. You will be faster and safer with your new gear. Which means you will have more fun and can go faster. Ah the circle of life.

4porsh

Your car look really nice. Love it.
Have fun with her.
Joe

cfjan

Thanks all for the feedback (Joe, TD, Roberga, etc.)! I drove the car for around 2 hours (on freeway) round trip to meet up w/ my wife for dinner on Monday.. The seat was definitely comfortable enough for daily driving.. I actually found it to offer more back support compare to the stock seat.. ! The only drawback is that it is harder to get in and out.. otherwise, I don't have problem in terms of comfort!

Got the tranny flushed w/ some new Mobil Delvac 75-90.. ready for this Friday's event.. will have to drive a good 2.5 hours each way (to New Hampshire) so we will find out how these seats do in the long haul!

cfjan

Newbie chronicle continues... attended my 2nd PCA autoX this past Sunday..

1st time out (a month ago?) I was extremely slow! Corners were coming up quickly and steering inputs required were huge compare to DE. I wanted to go faster by giving it more gas but the car would understeer and wouldn't turn. I think even the Civic was going faster than me. Very frustrating!

But the good thing is that I have the right attitude, I guess.. got beaten by slower cars doesn't bother me too much, I just want to improve upon myself. Wanted to learn how to use the car better, that's all!

So showed up for the 2nd autoX this past Sunday.. Had our autoX chair / instructor / very fast guy sat next to me and critique my driving. He said for 911 it is about patience. Get the car turned first, then use the traction to blast it out of the turn. If the car understeers, I'm using too much throttle. So it was quite an interesting learning experience for me. Going faster by using less throttle. Hmm.. (well, less throttle in the turn) And use brake to load up the front to turn the car.

So I just kept on working on that idea. My line was definitely still far from ideal but I was getting less understeer. And by the end of the day, I was doing an okay time. (Still SLOW compare to the fast guys, ha ha, oh well.. !) But it was fun and I shaved 5 seconds off my 1st run's time. Ended up winning the novice class!

Yes yes, it is because I have a fast car.. (driver is still slow!) but I will take all the encouragement I can get..

The learning continues... !

cfjan

Had 3 more DEs since last update.. first time out on a new track at NHMS for the novice day.. it was interesting as they setup wet skidpads and braking exercise in the morning, and 3 sessions of on track driving in the afternoon.

The track wasn't too difficult to learn (compare to the one I attended next.. more of that later..!), and it was interesting to be driving in a track that NASCAR uses.. (of course the road course goes out of the oval and then comes back in, still, cool to see the grandstand.. !)

It was fun to try a different track.. and while there's a learning curve to a new track, it does seem to get easier w/ more experience.. it also helps that my instructor has a lot of experience on that track..

A couple of pics from NHMS..

cfjan

The next event was Monticello w/ CVR.. we were running the full course. It was the first time for me on the track and talk about confusing.. !! 22 turns.. Good thing that it was a 2 days event, so that gave me more time to learn the track. At the end of the first day we also did a track walk so that was helpful. The track looks very different when walking compared to when driving at speed.

Other than a fun 2 days, it was good to meet some fellow Rennlist folks there too.. I recognized Martin's RUF GT2 right away.. and obviously TeamDrugMoney's GT3RX..

Anyway, it was good to put faces to people's logins!!

cfjan

Then, I had a one day event at Lime Rock (my 3rd time there) yesterday. Once again my instructor was pretty aggressive (which I like, as it really expand my boundary that way), races a 964 Cup car.. was going pretty well the first couple of sessions. He asked me how many days I have done so far, as he was wondering if I'd want to move to yellow. I was happy that an instructor brought it up (instead of me asking) so I told him that it would be good to run w/ a faster group and build up more skills that way.

So my instructor went and checked w/ the chief instructor, and we went out again on the 3rd session, was told that I'm now officially YELLOW!! (Yes yes, I know most folks on the forum are all still 10x faster, but it is exciting for a newbie like me to see the progress and moving up in the rank.. !) He suggested that we go out in the yellow run group in the last session..

So we went out.. geez.. the pace that people are running sure was different. I was pretty nervous, again driving a little bit out of the comfort level (kind of like the first 1 or 2 days of DE again.. !) Had to give point-bys now..

I was going into the corner a bit faster and started to turn in late (not sure if this makes sense, but I'm guessing that because I was going faster on the straight, by the time I react to turn in, the car has moved further, compared to the slower pace?). My instructor told me that by turning in late, and try to make the corner (by using more steering input), the car was getting a little bit loose (I felt it too) in a couple of corners. I guess it is just something that I have to continue to work on and adjust to the faster speed as I progress.

There were a couple of moments during the day (the tail came out a little bit) but overall it went well. I do start to worry a little bit about the fact that 6GT3 has no stability control.. and having a rather high limit.. (some feel that it is better to learn on an older 911, with less contact patch / lower limit)

996FLT6

If u find yourself going to hot into corner u should try using the throttle to make it steer. It's called lift throttle steering(not the fastest way). With a slight lift u can tuck the nose in incrementally with progressive lifts thru the turn. Putting to much steering angle wo modulating the throttle will get rear loose or snap. Of coarse u try to not go hot into a corner. As they say slow in fast out. Mike ps- enjoying the 6 huh : ) ?

cfjan

Yeah, the 6GT3 is a beast.. I just feel totally not worthy..

It is definitely enjoyable and I definitely feel that I have improved a lot since doing DEs.. ! But there still so much to learn..

Even w/ the street PS-2, I know there still a lot of performance left that I have yet to tap..

But I'm happy to be running w/ a faster group now. The skill is more uniform within the group, i.e., you don't have people who's there for the first time, etc.

4porsh

That what I love about this car, it has so much to give as far as learning. Just start at the base and build up to the penthouse. I find it funny that people need to buy the latest GT3 because its so many seconds faster on the Ring but they have not mastered the car they have. Thinking if they buy the new one they can buy speed. I guess if you have the funds then why not buy every new 3 out but do not fool yourself in thinking you are a better driver.
This car will keep you entertained for many many many many many years to come, know need to rush to the top.

996FLT6

^ +1 : ). mike

roberga

There is always someone faster and usually in a slower car. Keep working on the skills, get a good coach, and next thing you know you will be wearing out Hoosiers :-)

cfjan

I saw there were some pics of my car at the Track Time Photos website.. this is the first time I have seen my car in action in photos.. very cool.. !!

This was from Watkins Glen this past weekend..

Love the photos, although I had a lousy weekend.. I wrote about the instructor experience here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...ce-before.html

I'm sure it will be better next time!