mark996GT3

Hi all, I wondered if I could tap the rich vein of experience and knowledge on this board for some advice.

I got my GT3 just before Christmas and its my first 911, so it's in at the deep end!

I also drive an E92 M3 , so no stranger to a powerful RWD car, but I must admit I am a bit apprehensive about the GT3...

I have done a few track days, and I would class my driving skills as average for an enthusiast sports car driver, I like to drive fast, but not at the expense of safety and I don't want to be driving on the edge all the time. The majority of my driving will be done on the road, but I do intend to explore the car a bit deeper with a few track days.

Please can some of you seasoned GT3 owners give me some pointers as to what to watch out for, what not to do in the car and how to get the best from it ?

Thanks

blotto649

Congrats, and welcome to the 6-3 owners club!

I also came from a BMW in my DE history. Setup will dictate some of this, but here are the 2 biggest adjustments I had to make:

1. You really need to coerce the front end to get it's nose into the corner, even when keeping the weight up front with trail braking.
2. You can get on the gas earlier and harder than you think you can - the back end loves whatever you throw at it.

A final, very pleasant side-effect - heading down a long straight in 5th gear and feeling the car come alive around 6800RPM when the cam makes a move

Is it April yet?

kk2

Good luck!

997rs4.0

Hire an instructor for a day. Plenty of great instructors with tons of experience with these cars.

christallon

The rear engine bias takes some getting used to, but once you feel that first well executed apex and feel the car rotate with a vengeance and stick, you will be a transformed man. Respect the car, ramp up slowly, and get yourself onto a skid pad to get a feel for the weight shift and subesequent effect. It's magical!

sithot

1-Braking is done in a straight line.
2-Accelerate as if there is an egg under your foot coming out of corners.
3-Then learn to do the aforementioned (brake) later and (accelerate) sooner.

Smooth is fast.

dave-C2

Welcome!

If it hasn't already be done, I suggest taking your car to a Porsche shop that has experience with setting up the 996 GT3.
It's very difficult to drive a GT3 with poor suspension alignment and height.
You will probably want something close to the Kussmaul settings that have been posted here.
Reasonably good tires will add to your enjoyment as well.
If your car has high miles or lots of track time, your shop can verify there isn't too much play in the suspension.

Good luck and enjoy driving your car the way it was intended.

mark996GT3

Hi, I have it booked in at centre gravity shortly for Ohlins dampers and full geo set up as well as new bushes etc all round. Planning for some new wheels soon but currently on MPSS and standard wheels.

I also have a course booked at a driving school here: http://www.carlimits.com/script/view...rfieldtraining which should help.

I have heard people say "dont lift"....Of course, when the weather here in the UK gets a little better, I will be trying to get some miles under me.

How is the transition into oversteer in this car? Is it easy to control on the throttle ?

Thank you...

4porsh

So basics.

*Stay ahead of the car. You should know the road or track. With the rear engine you can not start to get into a turn and say I think I'm going to fast so lets lift off the gas. Big drama will occur. (oversteer)

*best to slow to the speed you want to go through the turn while in a straight line then slowly come off the brake pedal as you are turning in to keep weight over the front.(trail brake) Then quickly back to neutral throttle or maintenance throttle to lock rear diff and balance. When you feel like car is rotating to your liking and hitting your mark you can get on the gas coming out of the corner harder than you think because of the weight over the rear.

*transition into oversteer depends on set up and tires but can happen fast. It's easy to control on throttle because you have to stay on throttle, use super fast hands into the slide saying on gas. I call it the karate chop.

Good luck and the car is amazing in bad weather.

himself

Well, here's my advice on driving a GT3. A little different than sithot, but take whatever works for you and adopt that.

1) Braking in a GT3 is not done in a straight line. It requires deep trail braking to rotate the car properly. If you brake in a straight line, you will have to steer the car into a turn, and you'll be slow (for a host of reasons - including because your min speed will be at turn in instead of apex. There is free time under the curve when trail braking)

2) Accelearation is more binary than progressive. The car doesn't need to be babied on corner exit. The GT3 is an odd platform. In a BMW (for example) you can sneak up on fast. 6 tenths. A little faster to 7 tenths. Then a litter faster to 8 tenths. Etc. Not the GT3. To be fast, you really have to take a leap of faith and trust the car. Corner exit - push the throttle to around 50% and if it sticks, push it all the way down. There's no smooth egg-preserving about it. It analog and requires brute force (and internal fortitude!)

3) I'm generally on board with late braking and early acceleration. But in the GT3, late braking can cause issues. For example, if you are not proficient at trail braking, heel-toe, and/or your braking cadence is off, you'll hit ABS when your aero downforce gives up and weight transfers to the front. You have to get your brake foot timing right to keep the front loaded, but not overloaded. It's more important to set the chassis than brake late.

IMO, in a 996 GT3, THE key is to get the car rotated early with trail braking. Then you can get on the throttle to set the rear. Many (probably most) experienced drivers hold the trail to long and create a false limit. You have to constantly tell yourself that you can release the brakes. That is, when you're trailing, the front is loaded and the rear will feel like it's slipping / out of grip. BUT - if you release the brakes - weight transfers to the rear and it grips. Transfer to gas and it sticks more. There's a brief moment pucker in there - but it'll stick.

Lastly, there are two places to interpret "smooth." In the car and outside the car. The two might overlap, but they don't have to. Specifically, IN the car, the driver might appear to be man-handling the car, searching for grip with the steering wheel, catching it on occasion (countersteer) - but the physical aspects of the car (i.e., balance at the contact patches) are smooth. FAST smooth really should be interpreted from the exterior and not the interior. Lots of drivers look smooth in the seat because the car is on rails (driving on grip) and not actually going fast (driving on slip).

Edit: here is an example of the two "smooth" perspectives. Be like this. https://youtu.be/iWEvDg2e7Bg



My $0.02. YMMV.

-td

spiller

^^^ I agree with the above. These cars like to have their necks wrung and boy does it feel good out on track when you link up one turn to the next with momentum.

In my experience, I don't need to trail brake to get the car to turn in (perhaps because of my car's suspension set up and alignment) but trail braking is certainly the quickest way. Good drivers will always say the fastest way around a track is the minimize the time between being off the brake and on the throttle. This is especially true with the GT3. Your foot should be on the throttle (either neutral or positive) at all times, except when you are braking. Oversteer on corner exit is not necessarily the slow way like it is with some front engined RWD cars.

2 years tracking my GT3 and I still learn a heap every time I go to the track.

Spyerx

the harder you beat on them the happier they are and the more they stick.

Main differences? No stability control to save you. TONS more rear grip.

Drive them as hard as you can into the corner and lots of gas at or before apex.... they stick and shoot out of the corner.

And keep the car in balance, use your gas to do this. Set it, balance with the throttle.

Never lift!

993GT

throttle is your friend, drive it like a kart and you won't go wrong...have yet to drive a better driver's car than a 911...

mooty

unwind earlier than bmw
do NOT lift
slow in fast out
drive it slow

mark996GT3

Thanks, lots of useful stuff there, just need some decent weather now......roads here in the UK currently damp, salty, and cold......not good...