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COVID is now gone (right?!) and tracks are re-opening. In May had another chance to take the Alekshop ClubSport to Thunderhill 3 mile with Ongrid. It was a nice and warm 100F+ day.
Two drivers, one car...
Aleks getting the car ready.
My big accomplishment of the day was to actual get the car to spin at turn 6. Tires had grip and then they did not This was my first spin in 3 years of tracking, so forgive the language. Overall kind of an uneventful spin...
My car is finally coming together and is back in one piece. Couple of intended upgrades...
Removing the AC unit, power steering pump and using the cup car idler pulley. Looking forward to not having Pentosin spilling all over the engine bay.
Installed the cup electric power steering pump in the frunk.
My favorite expected upgrade are the 991 cup car PFC brakes retrofitted for the 997.2 platform.
Unfortunately the BBS 3 piece wheels would not clear the larger and wider calipers, so had to get a custom made set from Forgeline choosing the VX1R wheels in 18x10 and 18x12 sizes.
Car does not look bad with black wheels, but there is more to come next week in terms of "decoration".
Car was loaded up and ready for Laguna trial with Speed Ventures.
Beautiful day at Laguna!
The car worked wonderfully well, but the brakes were an "adventurous" experience. The stock brakes with AP racing rotors and ME20 pads were able to pull 1.69g deceleration on brand new R1S tires into T2 at Laguna, while the PFC managed 2g with old R1S tires, so the ultimate stopping power is quite impressive. In some of the turns the brakes did not have the "modulation" and balance I was expecting making it a challenge to drive, even though I was able to post lap times within 1 tenth of a second of each other. I will need to try them again with new tires and adjusted technique, while also inspecting the mechanical components and the vacuum pump to ensure everything is operational still, as it is an old car by now. The power steering pump worked well without leaks but did provide a slightly different steering feel, requiring a bit more force to maneuver the car; definitely added to the physicality of the experience.
Next up are some additional weight reduction mods and cosmetic adjustments, with the next event booked for June 27th with HOD. Big thanks to TPC and Alekshop for the setup of the above mods.
Very nice. On the brakes. Do the piston ratios match stock brakes for the master cylinder on the street car? If not that will affect your modulation. This is a common issue on the older cars when people change masters and brakes and don’t match the generations. And end up with a long pedal or a shorter pedal that is hard to modulate. Maybe a tilton And Bosch abs are in the future?
with all those upgrades surprised you didn’t move to the cup car centerlocks or 5 lugs! You can use an impact on ‘em!
on the power steering i have the same pump on my 964. On that car i found the effort similar and more consistent.
get yourself some wrist sweat bands and wrap one around the cap on the ps reservoir. Or a towel and a zip tie can work.
Thanks man! Can't wait to see you and some of the other folks back on track!
Originally Posted by Spyerx
Very nice. On the brakes. Do the piston ratios match stock brakes for the master cylinder on the street car? If not that will affect your modulation. This is a common issue on the older cars when people change masters and brakes and don’t match the generations. And end up with a long pedal or a shorter pedal that is hard to modulate. Maybe a tilton And Bosch abs are in the future?
with all those upgrades surprised you didn’t move to the cup car centerlocks or 5 lugs! You can use an impact on ‘em!
on the power steering i have the same pump on my 964. On that car i found the effort similar and more consistent.
get yourself some wrist sweat bands and wrap one around the cap on the ps reservoir. Or a towel and a zip tie can work.
I think you may be right with the brakes. The PFC pistons are ~20% larger than 997 OEM, but they work perfectly fine on the 991.2 RS. I also think that my MC may be leaking as it is 10 years old. We will replace the MC and go from there; will likely take some trouble shooting.
I always thought of converting the CLs, but kept buying wheels in that configuration, then just ended up maintaining the hubs, etc., so just stayed with them. I am used to them by now.
As for the PS pump I did add the overflow bottle after that picture was taken.
See if you can find out what the master spec is on the cup cars and compare to yours. I suspect it’s a larger bore. Would probably look at something 3rd party from tilton vs an oem replacement. You made a big investment in the brake kit gotta get it working right.
btw, how did the factory street abs like the new brakes and using w slicks?
the helpers look like they are having fun. You should see if @mooty will loan out his son. He’s an ace car washer. And FAST. ;-)
As far as the math works out the 997.2 GT3 MC is the same as cup and other models and should work. Tom from TPC has the same setup, so I am sure we will figure it out with some trouble shooting. I would like to convert to a non-assisted system, but that would require motorsport ABS which is crazy expensive.
The stock ABS has really had no issues with any of the tires I used, r-comp, R1S/Hoosiers or slicks. Having said that, I don't brake like a rhino, so perhaps the technique works fine. When a pro drove my car, he also said that the car does not like immediate threshold braking.
I am hoping that conditioning/training kids now will pay off later when they can do the detail completely on their own
The car will receive a full livery designed by Magnagrafik. It is being put on this week, so spent the last weekend preparing the car in terms of taking off old decals and compounding the paint to get rid of the ceramic coating that was on the car.
Last time, for a while, that the car will be gray.
Wing off.
Wing prep.
Wheels coated.
Lastly, I purchased the last 3 sets of R1S Tirerack has in stock, since there are a number of track days coming up in July and August, and production of these seems to be sporadic with COVID.
Car should be finished this week and then off to Laguna with HOD on the 27th.
COVID makes us a little bit nuts and a little bored. I decided to keep my car, so figured might as well change the look a bit. Over the last 4 months my wife and I worked with Dan at Magnagrafik and came up with a livery design. The installation and project was supported by Alekshop and Wrap Culture. Overall the car turned out well and I can't wait to try it out at Laguna tomorrow with HOD.
05-14-2020, 12:32 PM
This was my first spin in 3 years of tracking, so forgive the language. Overall kind of an uneventful spin...
