racingfan

This story begins in 2006, when I bought my Speed Yellow 6GT3 with about 6K miles. The factory specs on the car included PCCBs, Bi-xenon lights, thicker steering wheel, yellow center console, and yellow belts. It also came with the Tequipment roll bar. Eventually, I modded it a bit by retro-fitting the Euro seats (with yellow painted shells), adding the RS front bumper, Cargraphics export exhaust, TRG toe control arms, 997 shifter, Porsche Motorsport grills, Rennline drilled pedals, and clear wrapping the front end. And that's the way it stayed for a long time. It was everything I'd always wanted in a sports car — relatively light, analogue, raw, and demanding. I've loved it and driven it mostly on the great mountain roads we have around here, but also tracked it a bit (a crazy job the last few years has made it tough to track more often). Then, just over a year ago I had the good fortune to be offered, quite unexpectedly, an immaculate Challenge Stradale — a car I'd always wanted. I bought the CS and kept my GT3, quietly wondering to myself if it was now redundant. Once I had the CS, what little driving time I had was usually spent in the CS since it was so new to me. Anyway, last summer I'd come to an inflection point. Although I wasn't driving the GT3 much, I was committed to freeing up more time to drive and I wanted to do more track days. And while I fully expected to take the CS to the track occasionally, I ultimately decided I wanted a GT3 as the dedicated street/track car. So I started seriously considering "upgrading" from the 6GT3 to a 997.2 RS. Something new, right? And the 997.2 RS is beautiful and faster. Objectively and subjectively very compelling. I went back and forth for a while, and then simply accepted the fact that I'd miss my 6GT3 too much — the last of the truly analogue track-day specials (well, other than ABS). And I'd bonded with it.

So once I decided to keep the car, I knew I needed to have Sharky take care of the coolant fittings. That meant dropping the motor…sooo, since we were gonna drop the motor anyway…well, you know the old saying, in for a penny, in for a pound. I decided to do all the mods I'd always had in the back of my mind. In addition to the coolant fittings, we ended up putting in a Guards LSD 60/40, the LWFW and clutch assembly from the RS 4.0, RSS semisolid engine mounts, an EVOM engine tune, and HRE P40S wheels made to the correct size and offset. And while we were in there we also replaced all the hoses, the water pump, and installed the updated RMS. You may have seen Alex's post with some photos and a brief write-up. The car is certainly quicker, the LSD is amazing in turns, throttle response is fantastic, heel and toe is a blast, and as an added bonus, not only do the revs build much faster, but the sound from the Cargraphic exhaust is even cooler with the LWFW. Oh, and another major bonus is the LWFW and wheels together removed about 50lbs of rotational mass out of the car :-)

Then the car went to Tony at TC Design for some suspension work. My goal was an improvement in weight transfer, turn-in, and transparency w/r/t what the back end was doing, with an aim to improving track performance, but still providing enough compliance for a spirited drive on mountain roads with some moderate imperfections and bumps (Kings Mountain Road was my reference, for you locals). I know many people feel the 6GT3 is best suited just for the track, and the 997 variant is better for the street. But I've always really enjoyed driving my 6GT3 on the street (or more specifically, up in the twisties), and I wanted to preserve that while improving the handling. We ultimately went with Motion Control Suspension remote reservoirs. We also installed solid rear shock mounts. And we went through quite a few spring sets before we got the right rate for my application. But once we did…WOW! I thought the car handled well stock, but it has been absolutely transformed. I get tons of information on what's going on at each of the corners. And the car does not want to understeer. It just goes where it's pointed…immediately. And with all the weight-saving mods done previously and this time around, when it was corner weighed and balanced it tipped the scales at barely 3000 lbs with an 1/8 tank of gas. Not too bad for a car that's still totally streetable :-)

So this brings us to the conclusion of this story. I have fallen in love with this car…all over again. Fallen hard! The suspension work coupled with the drivetrain work has taken the car to a different level. It is so ridiculously fun to drive. Even more raw and visceral. Direct and demanding, but also confidence inspiring and so rewarding too. A very, very special car to drive. In this case the old adage is true, they just don't make cars like this anymore. Can't wait to get it to the track.

And I would be remiss if I failed to give a very grateful shout-out and thank you to Alex and Tony for their amazing work and patience. You guys are awesome and I'm lucky to have you in my own backyard.

Cheers, and keep the 6GT3 faith!

racingfan

Some photos

aussie jimmy

love those wheels!
beautiful.

Rovman

She's a beauty!!!

etchhead

Beautiful for sure- and agree about the local shops. I've used TC extensively for my previous 6TT and now my 7.1GT3 and have several bits from Sharkwerks. Also anxiously awaiting my first track day in a few weeks!

Congrats!

ltcjmramos

You trying to make me feel bad??

hf1

Excellent car & story! Stroke a chord.

I have the Motons and a lot of your mods -- and enjoy it on roads/track too. Do you mind sharing the final spring rates and alignment settings you chose? PM works too.

lakid042

Great story and a beautiful car!

racingfan

Joe, absolutely not! I'm so sorry! I've been meaning to do this post for the last few months, once the car got totally sorted. I now realize the timing must have sucked for you. Although it made me sad to see that you finally had to sell your ride, I totally understand the reasons. Rest assured, ANYTIME you want to re-experience the car, you can drive mine. Just let me know buddy.

cbweaver1

Great story. Well thought and tasteful mods. Thanks for sharing.

hkiang

This looks like a "For Sale" ad. You know where I am. Fantastic car.

4porsh

I know what you mean. Nice story.

DER951

Great story.

So what spring rates did you end up with?

JohnPG

Thanks for the great report. Curious as to the spring rate you ended up with.

Cheers

sharkster

hey racingfan... seriously we like the same cars and for the same reasons hah... That 6 is a thing of beauty and they don't make them like that anymore. In fact they won't make them that analogue again sadly. I miss my 6... the one that got away.

It was/is a real pleasure to help and we need to go on some more drives! I remember when we drove Kermit all those years ago to test the LWF. Good thing you waited as the 4.0 parts are soooo much better.