ChrisF

One of the many things I love on RL is reading other members adventures driving their cars. To me, this is what Porsche’s were meant for; not bubble wrapping nor investing. If the latter appeals to you, you might want to stop reading here. If you enjoy driving, meeting people, creating memories and learning about your car – this might be a thread for you. Admittedly, I’m no journalist so my only hope is to let others experience some of my journey with this truly amazing car. I bought this car to drive and pile on the miles so if I end up with one of the highest mileage GT2’s in the US, I’ll consider my mission accomplished.

Introduction – 33,734 miles:

Back in 2014, a good friend of mine threw me the keys to his “new to him” 2008 GT2 and said “Drive it; drive it hard! Report back.” That day still sticks in my mind as a transformative moment in the evolution of what I thought was a great driver’s car. A few years later, I had the good fortune to drive another friend’s very modded 2009 GT2 on road and on track. It just further seared into my brain the experience. From that moment, I started seriously considering buying one.

In my search for the perfect car, I’d already tried a lot of different brands and vehicles. My benchmark car was my 2010 997.2 GT3. That car lasted longer in my garage than almost any other car (save for my EVO VIII). When the GT4 came out, I thought it would be the perfect combination to replace the GT3. It wasn’t. I tried the 991.1 RS and while it was thrilling on track when driven at the edge, I found it rather boring and tied down everywhere else. I missed the challenge and feedback of the 997 chassis and considered buying another 997.2 GT3 but the GT2 still was still in the back in my brain.

In 2018, my friend’s modded GT2 went up for sale. I had the RS and wasn’t ready to sell so I passed. I regretted passing almost immediately. That regret caused me to begin watching the GT2 market. My requirements were: a solid mechanical condition, no stories “driver” GT2 with miles. Anyone who knows these cars understands that that’s a pretty rare bird. The majority seem to be low mileage collector cars. This is sad because this may be one of the most versatile all around GT cars ever produced. I’ve only seen maybe 4 “driver” GT2’s for sale in all the time I’d been looking and they seemed to be scooped up quickly.

In mid May, my BaT alerts flagged a seemingly perfect car: 2008 Guards Red, well optioned, 34k miles, Canadian; well documented. The combination of high mileage and Canadian origin seemed the perfect intersection for a less desirable car for many but perfect for me. With Covid still lingering and the Canadian border closed, there would be no in person inspection. The timing made a real PPI almost impossible. I opted to do as much online and over the phone due diligence as I could and take a big chance. I ended up winning the auction and crossed my fingers I hadn’t made a huge mistake.

The next month was a painful mix of calls to PCNA to get required import documentation and waiting for transport to arrange the border crossing and trip across country. The car finally arrived July 3rd. With the holiday weekend in effect and no temp registration or plates, I was stuck with a couple of short loops to test it out. My first impressions of the car were that it was REALLY solid and fast as I’d remembered. Maybe faster. There were no squeaks or rattles. It had some patina and the paint needed a little TLC but other than that was better than I had expected. The one odd bit was that the throttle tip-in was REALLY aggressive and felt like a bad tune. More on that later.

I had imported a 991RS from Canada and had been through the process so I did not fear dealing with importing and registering the car in CA. Once the car landed, I went to my local DMV, presented all documentation and was done in less than an hour between two visits. Car is now registered/titled in CA.

ChrisF

7/6/21 First Long Test Drive – 33,755

With every new car, there is nothing better to get acquainted than a long drive on familiar roads. Here in NorCal, we’re blessed with a lot of them too. My go to loop includes lots of highway 1 and Stewarts Point - Skaggs Springs Road (check it out on a map). This route provides a wide variety of turns, surfaces and views. The drive started after my DMV visit with shiny new CA plates now firmly affixed. This would prevent any unwanted attention from LEO’s given I was already at a disadvantage with a bright red Porsche with a big wing. I got underway around 11am and headed North. Traffic was moderate at first but as I got further up the coast, the cars thinned and large stretches opened ahead. I took every opportunity to bury the throttle. Many times on this drive, I found myself giggling at the wave of torque that was connected to my right foot. The sound of two angry vacuum cleaners on both sides of the car didn’t hurt either. The GT2 does not have the chainsaw wail of the NA Mezger, but it makes a lot great noises all it’s own.

As the turns added up, I noticed a character a little different from the 997.2 GT3. The suspension felt more supple yet still firm. The nose had tons of grip; a trait likely chalked up the Cup 2 tires which were not on the stock GT2 I’d previously driven. Power existed everywhere from 2800RPM’s to redline and in large doses. You just need bury the throttle to get some. Everything I loved about the 997.2 GT3 was here and there was that boosted Mezger too. The package is just so intoxicating. I’m less than 100 miles in and I’m already thinking “forever car”. Only time will really tell. For now, it’s just too early.

The turnoff for Stewart-Skaggs Rd begins with 8 or so miles of really crappy pot hole and gravel strewn tarmac.It’s not a place you see too many low-to-the-ground exotics.I’ve driven every car I’ve owned for the past 8 years through here.You drive slowly and admire the redwoods, hillsides and coastal mountain terrain.Then, the road starts getting smoother;the gravel less prevalent;the turns sweeping and cambered.The road widens, gets faster and more interesting.The GT2 seemed unfazed by any of it.At the crest of the mountain spine, temps went from 70 to over 100.This would be the first good test of heat soak and whether the car would detune itself for self preservation.I pushed on harder, gaining confidence with each turn.The outside temp gauge crossed 101 and there was no perceptible power loss.I checked oil temps;95C.Seems the GT2 is as well engineered thermally as the GT3.My GT3 never saw over 225F on track even on 110F days at Thunderhill.Gotta love Stuttgart.At the end of the road, I pulled over, grinning ear to ear.Other cars I’ve owned may have been faster here but none as rewarding to drive.The 101 came up quickly.70+ miles later, I turned into my driveway;the air conditioning blowing cold and the car indelibly etched into my brain.

Elliotw44

Guard's red on a GT2. Freakin amazing! Continue to share your adventure's with it. We always need more "drivers"

ChrisF

7/8/21: Trip to Sharkwerks – 34,050 miles

The exhaust note seems to be the one recurring complaint for GT2 owners. With low production numbers, finding a wealth of info and experiences on an exhaust that sounds good is not easy. Add to that that “sounds good” is highly subjective. I spent a night or two searching the internet and listening to clips and came to the conclusion that the Sharkwerks bypass for the main muffler was worth trying. The online clips sounded throaty but not too obnoxious. I ordered one a couple of days after I pulled the trigger on the car.

I’m also an avid cyclist and decided to combine the 3-5 hour job with a long ride starting in Fremont. For those that have never seen a Seasucker bike rack, it’s a pretty cool piece of engineering. You can stick a bike on just about any car. Although it looks like the rack would fly off, it’s suction cups cling tenaciously to your car and prevent the bike from flying off. The first couple of times you use it, you have to learn to trust it. Once you do, you just accept it as a part of the car that works. The rack mounted well on the upper rear windshield and the wing. I did one last check and headed down.

Once at Sharkwerks, I talked to James about my goals: install the exhaust; give the car a once over and see if he thought the car was tuned based on the aggressive tip in. He said he’d take care of it all. I met up with another cycling buddy and we headed off into the wetlands of the south bay.

3 hours later I returned and found my car on the lift almost finished. James and I chatted. He said the car looked all original; there were no signs of tracking and the car appeared to be in really good shape (Phew!!). With everything buttoned up, he took the car off the lift and went for a test drive. The new low growl was pretty cool. It wasn’t too loud but was no longer silent like before. The exhaust sound was more fitting of a car of this level of performance. Five minutes later, James returned and he seemed a bit puzzled.

“It’s definitely had it’s throttle re-mapped. The tip in is really aggressive and it bucks sometimes in 1st. It doesn’t feel like it has a lot more power though. Really odd.”

It didn’t make sense and I kept wondering what in hell was going on.

Before heading home, I needed to make a quick stop at Porsche Fremont to chat with the service manager, Gunter.If you live in the Bay Area and have a GT car, there is no better dealer service than Fremont.Gunter knows GT cars backwards and forwards and has really good techs in his dept.When I pulled up, several of the sales and service dept came out.I though maybe they hadn’t seen too many GT2’s.“Wow, what is that thing holding the bike on!?!”was the majority response.Color most of them jaded with seeing every 911 known to man.

ChrisF

7/9/21 “You have GOT to be kidding me!” 34,302 miles

I’m admittedly OCD. It’s a blessing and a curse. It makes me really good at problem solving though because I can’t turn off my brain until I find a resolution. What in hell remaps throttle but doesn’t add performance? It sounded like the characteristics of one of those stupid throttle intercept boxes like the Sprint Booster that I’d read about for years in the back of all the automotive magazines. I remember reading a review of said device in one of those same magazines and the result was no added performance and highly artificial response to gas pedal inputs. Who in hell would ever want this? Maybe if you had a Honda Civic and wanted that “race” feel, you’d buy one but no self-respecting GT2 owner would do that. Or would they?

Hello internet. Is there such thing as a Sprint Booster for a GT2? Why yes ….there is. This is, after all, still a 997 at it’s foundation. Googling pictures of the device showed that it was a small piece that fit between the gas pedal socket and the connector. Easy to install in 5 minutes. It’s now midnight but I had to find out if my theory was correct. I dove under the steering wheel with a flashlight and located the gas pedal connector socket. It looked oddly high. A quick clip disconnected the top and a hand on the socket revealed that it wasn’t the socket at all but another piece plugged into it. Thirty seconds later, I unclipped the piece and pulled it out. Raised writing on the piece was clear: “Sprint Booster”. I reconnected the gas pedal, fired the car up and went for a drive. This is how I remembered the GT2; great throttle tuning and very linear power when the foot is applied to the gas. The abomination that was in there turned the car into and angry light switch. The good news was that no matter how long the piece was in there, it could cause no damage. It simply told the ECU to give more throttle than the measured input. I still can’t understand a person who drove this car, installed this and thought “Wow, this is better!”. I guess to each their own.

In the days preceding this, I had exchanged emails with the dealer about possible tuning prior to sale.The dealer was insistent it had never been tuned during two of the three owner’s time with the car.He even reached out to the local Porsche tuner who confirmed they had never tuned the car.I emailed him to tell him I’d solved the mystery.His response was funny:“We just thought with the widow maker reputation, that was normal.”

TB993tt

Great read, keep it coming.

Am I the only "from new" owner still here and unable to move on from the automotive delight that is the 997GT2 ?

JG 996T

Sprint booster hilarious

great car better stories

jason95R

Amazing stories. Thanks for sharing and I hope you keep this thread going as you rack up more and more miles. Congrats on the car. Sounds like a gem.

SSTHO

congrats Chris on the GR 997.1 GT2!!! couldn't be happier for you and it's been fun to dig up previous thoughts on 997.1 GT2 to compare.

look forward to seeing the car in-person sooner than later. pile on the miles and smiles! enjoy in good health. :-)

Burren

Keep 'em coming. You're having a great adventure.

nle

Nice job Chris. Your GT2 is beautiful. Enjoy it for all that she has to offer and keep us updated with these driving and tinkering stories!

Steve Theodore

As the proud owner of a 49k mile 2008 GT2 and a 68k mile 2010 GT3 RS you can be absolutely certain that I am loving every moment of following along with your ownership journey. My own Porsches and I salute you my friend, and we hope you enjoy every single mile.

I cannot wait to cross 50k miles in my GT2 later this year so that the car will be 'ruined' even more.

ChrisF

7/20/21 Comparing "Turbos" and time for some TLC - 34,702

Had family in town for the last week but still managed to get a few drives in. Last weekend, I went for an early morning drive with a couple of friends including the one who let me drive his modded 09 GT2 that probably landed me here. I was happy to return the favor and handed him the keys while I rode shotgun. Pretty sure it was his first time driving a stock car. Tall order of comparison against his heavily modded and really well sorted car. He came away impressed with the car even in stock form. We discussed the dual nature of the car and how it can do so much so well.

Had another good friend come visit this past weekend. He much more recently caught the Porsche bug – first with a Macan for his wife and more recently with an SC coupe with some interesting provenance. Short version is it is an extremely well sorted driver with a very impressive suspension. He’s been spending time getting to know the car and rear engine cars in general. When I mentioned that I wanted him to sample two very different flavors on 911, he was as excited as I was.

I mentioned in my opening post that one of my friends threw me the keys to his GT2 and asked only that I write out my impressions. I asked my friend to do the same after driving a 991.2 GTS and the 997.1 GT2. So, in his words:

“I’ll preface my thoughts by saying that, after a decade or more of driving ChrisF’s assorted Porsches, I bought my first 911 in February. It’s a 105k miles ‘85 Carrera in beautiful driver condition, and I’ve added about 1000 miles to the odometer after the spring rains washed the grit and road salt off my Virginia roads. I know it’s not blistering fast, but it is well-sorted and has been a lot of fun. I’m still learning the limits of the car.

Sunday night I drove the 991.2 Carrera GTS and the GR GT2 in question back to back, on the same stretch of road. Here’s my observations. I drove the GTS first. It’s undoubtedly a great car. It’s fast, it handles really well - well above my current skill-level as a driver with a torn rotator cuff (surgery in a couple of weeks). The big thing, though, was how much it felt like a lighter, much faster version of my Macan S. That’s not a criticism of either vehicle. I love the Macan, and the GTS clearly ups the ante on performance, handling, and grip.

Then I got into the GT2. I frankly expected to be a little bit terrified. At 530 Bhp/505 lb-ft of torque, without most of the modern nannies, I was expecting it to be a handful. What I got was something else entirely. From the moment I strapped in, everything just felt right. The clutch let out where I expected it to. The transmission, clearly light-years from my 915, put things right where I expected them to be. Unfortunately the first part of Lucas Valley Road was behind a very slow pickup, but it gave me a sense that the car was clearly not some high-strung beast that you couldn’t daily-drive. I was shocked that it felt so docile at low speeds. Then I was able to overtake the truck. Triple digits came in a blink. There was no perceptible lag. The rest of the trip gave me an indication of how brilliant the car is, my shortcomings aside. Grip is immense. Brakes are too. Handling is fabulous. But here’s the thing - it felt like my ‘85 Carrera. That is, it felt like it you took all of the goodness of my little car and refined them to their ultimate extension - the end of a steeply-sloped curve, but the same curve. It felt more “right” to my limited experience than the GTS, which was great, but didn’t feel a bit like my little 200-ish Bhp, 2600 lbs ‘85. While there were 23 years, 300+ horses, and a myriad of refinements between the G body and the GT2, it felt like Point A and Point B. A phenomenal Point B.

While the GTS on paper is the far better car, when it was time for a quick drive yesterday I felt like I’d drawn the short straw driving the GTS.”

Lastly, yesterday, I dropped of the GT2 to my detailer for a little love. The one really negative on my car at arrival was a badly aged out ½ clear bra on the nose. The rest of the paint is in pretty good shape but this bra was way past it’s prime and really detracts from the car. My guy is going to remove the old bra, do a full detail then do the full nose of the car…same as my 991. I’ve done both the nose and whole cars before but have settled on just the nose on primarily street driven cars. Just makes more sense to me from a cost/benefit standpoint. Here’s a couple of pictures of the two cars at drop off.

ChrisF

7/29/21 Road Trip to Musicar NW – 35,583

Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m not one of those guys who jumps in an older car and says “This is SO much better than all the new cars with digital everything”. No. I fully embrace technology when it comes to communication and being able to keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. The .1 cars are now clearly outdated in the tech dept. and didn’t have basic conveniences like Bluetooth and a useable nav. I like to explore when I drive and a good nav has always proven useful. On the car stereo front, I’m also not a “Put in an exhaust and let THAT be your stereo!”. Silly. Over the last nine hours of driving, if I had to just listen to my Sharkwerks bypass (which is really nice, mind you) I’d have gone bonkers. I love and need music too. The Bose system in the .1 is decent but could use some help. On both accounts, enter Musicar NW.

For those that haven’t heard of them, Musicar is a well known car audio and infotainment installer in Portland, OR who specializes in Porsche installs. They have done everything from full tilt insane cost-no-object installs to drop in tweeter replacements for those who just want “a little better”. Before my car was even on a carrier back from Ottowa, I had been corresponding with them. I found a thread on an install they did in a 997 where they removed the very dated head unit and put in a nice double-din CarPlay unit and an amp to update the factory Bose system. The install looked OEM and provided the functionality I wanted. We exchanged a bunch of emails and I settled on that plus a tweeter upgrade. This represented a good balance of usability, sound quality and price. The trip for the install would be my first road trip in the car combined with a little cycling and a visit to a friend. Many boxes checked.

Day 1: I drove from the Bay Area to Medford Oregon. There’s not much exciting about this trip up the 5. Maybe the best thing you could say about it is it passes Thunderhill Raceway. It only begins to get interesting when you get near Shasta and the mountains start poking up out of nowhere and the road starts curving a bit. With my bike hanging off suction cups stuck to the back window and wing, it acted as a speed limiter for the sane. I’ve had cars over 100 with the rack but I just didn’t want to tempt fate so I set the limiter at 90. Short of that, I could have seen a lot of blasts into the triple digits when the road was clear. I might have been typing from jail otherwise. Impressions after the first 5+ hrs:

· Between the lack of sound deadening and a set of half used Cup 2’s, the road noise loud. Certain types of pavement exaggerated this. I just turned the stereo up louder. Now thinking this trip was an even better idea.

· The suspension is surprisingly supple and comfortable.

· The GT2 buckets are pretty comfortable but I’m getting older. I’d done 7+hr road trips in my .2 GT3 in buckets so I figured I would be fine. My back was a little sore but nothing Advil couldn’t fix.

· I’ve been away from owning/driving GT cars for too long and have become soft. With the increase in feedback and engagement comes a bit less comfort and a little more NVH.

· Overall, it’s what I remember of my GT3: very good when the road starts to curve but just fine when straight and boring. I never once forgot though that I was behind the wheel of something special and I found myself smiling…a lot.

Day 2: Medford to Portland. I left at 530A to arrive in Portland shortly after Musicar opened. They asked for 2 days comfortably to do the work and I never want to rush a shop tearing into a car. Highway 5 north from here is curvy with elevation and good scenery. The morning was cool and the car a pleasure to drive at/near the speed limiter. Ok, maybe a little above at times.

In Portland, I dropped my stuff at my friend’s house and then dropped the GT2 at the shop. There were several Porsche’s in the shop being worked on including another GT2. The guys walked me through the work and said they’d likely be done early tomorrow. Upon return to my friend’s house, even after a quad espresso, I crashed hard. Like I said, I’m getting old.

Quick follow up to last post. My shop had some personal issues so detail and PPF got punted two weeks. Ends up working well to clean up the car after being splattered with bugs this trip.



Medford hotel parking lot

Shasta

Objects in mirror have bike on top?

Steve Theodore

It's really odd to see Mt. Shasta so bare...I cannot say that I've ever seen it without snow on top!