LuckyP

Hi all,

1800 miles now up so it's off to the track this weekend.

PCCBs, OE wheels and Corsas, Clubby.

Given that this will be my first outting in a modern Porsche (normally track a HD Billy/H&R Green/H&R ARB/ R888 '64 C2 or race a MK2 MR2)

What would you recommend that I do with the SC and TC buttons?

Is it a case of keep it all on and then take off the SC, drive some more and then take off the SC & TC?

Cheers in advance any tips welcome

Lucky

www.luckypracing.com

Larry Cable

dont know about the '10's but in the 997.1's turning off TC (on a dry track) is a must if you dont want to trash your rear brake pads etc ... esp on PCCB.

997gt3north

Lucky,

If that is footage of you driving on the luckypracing website at Silverstone (i.e. you have some idea what you are doing), I would say do the first session with everything on, and then the rest of the first day with everything off but in 1 higher gear than you should be in until you get a good "feel" for the car.

The car is very easy to drive very fast - in my opinion. To me, the must remember for you should be if you are taking a 2nd gear corner with lots of steering angle - just remember this is when the rear end can come around and just be ready with a fast counter steer.

The other thing to note (it has been covered many times before on this board) is that pccb's go through 2 different bedding in events - 1 is a gas release on new OE pads (try to do the 10 stops 100-5 before the event or be ready for a gas release - i.e. no brakes for 1 1/2 corners) - and 2 is the bite point of the rotors will fall about one inch once you really cook them / get them up to true track temps - then heal toe will be easy

paul

LuckyP

Thanks guys. I knew about the initial bedding in process of the pads, but not the pedal going down once the brakes get hot.

I'm gonna try with both the SC and TC active for the first session, and see if the car is being nannied too much. I read that this system is one of the least intrusive, but there comes a time when you just have to slide that rear.....you just have to!!!

And yes Paul, that's me in my novice year swapping paint with a number of the old guard!! I've retired after that experience!! Track days are less stressfull!

Larry, you say that the rears can get trashed with TC on in the dry. Would TC not use the ignition system and SC use brake distribution - or do both sytems use a combo of both?

Cheers

Lucky

Larry Cable

There is actually a thread on this elsewhere:

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...yes-or-no.html

certainly in the .1's with TC on the car does activate the brakes ... dont know about the .2's since they have separate controls ...

perhaps someone with an owners manual can post the relevant 'manual' speak

Larry Cable

Also ... anecdotally...

in 2008 I attended the Porsche Sport Driving School at the Nordschleife, where I observed a new 997 GT2 coming in from a hot lap driven by one of the instructors ...

the rear (PCCBs) were so hot that the pads were noticably smoking ... I asked one of the instructors about
this and he claimed this was the action of the TC operating the rear brakes ...

coincidentially, later that day one of the instructors "stacked" this same car (with the school coordinator
riding shotgun) into the ARMCO at Metzgesfeld ... Oops.

LuckyP

Thanks Larry. Read that now. I think I'll take a note book and make a few comparisons of different levels of electronic trickery. I'll also have it alll on video!

Cheers

Lucky

Larry Cable

if you happen to have one of those infra red temp sensors you could do back to back laps with SC/TC on and measure the before/after temps of the rear rotors in particular ... might be insightful to see to what level they are being used with SC/TC engaged .. but you'd have to try and get your braking "the same"

RonCT

My 2 cents is to just run it without touching anything and see what happens. My 07 GT3 was just fine on Watkins Glen and Lime Rock without turning off TC - it just never got involved. I'd definitely make sure the alignment is good before going to the track - all 3 of my modern Porsches had bad alignments from the get-go. If you have 1800 miles, then you are entitled to an alignment check and re-do by the dealer if you say "you know, the alignment feels funny, I think it's off..." My dealer showed me a Service Advisory allowing them to check it and if off, fix with compliments of Porsche.

Larry Cable

I totally agree about the alignment ...

damn wish I'd know about that free alignment back then!

Also, if you do go for a dealer alignment make sure you specify what geo you want set and make sure that they know that in order to get max camber at the front they need to rotate the shock mounts ...

my dealer didnt, and silently "did their best" and returned it with an alignment that was not what I requested ... they were also unaware of the 'track' specs in the owners manual ...

never driven either of those tracks but the Nordschleife and Sears Point certainly kick it in ...

you might want to check with a tyre pyrometer the temps of your rears w & w/o TC on back to back laps ...

LuckyP

Thanks again Larry and Ron. I'll take an IR guage, and see how we fare.

Cheers;

Pete

todinlaw

I agree with this 100% my car's came off the boat with a bad alignment, I would go in and get it checked Sh=t happens on the trip. Maybe you could get them to put the track alignment on it just for fun.

roberga

if there is a coach it could not hurt.
Not knowing your comfort level: just keep it slow and focus on the line. Pick up the pace. Watch the throttle coming out of the corners after you switch of the TC and the other stuff. Maybe drive around town with all of it switched off for a couple days before going.

What ever group you normally drive stay in that group. I made the mistake when I got my 996GT3 to ask to be in the novice or intermediate thinking I did not want to get in the way of the advanced group. After 10 laps I asked to be switched back. Not speed delta but decisions and early braking.

cruise control on the way home.

LuckyP

Well, it was last Saturday at a wet Bedford GT circuit. I have to confess that I kept both the SC and TC on for the whole day as it only dried in the last couple of sessions.

The static limit was 101dB and my girlfriend did the test (to give 'em a quick wink if we were just over ). She said it was 102dB but they let her through.

The first few sessions in standing water (no rain all day) had the SC and ABS going off all the time. I must say my initial thoughts where "what the f*&K have I bought? I'm not driving this, the electronics are!!". But slowly, as the track dried, and I got on top of the ABS threshold and savage throttle response on exiting the corners, the electronic interuptions subsided, to a point that with SC and TC still on, I was only getting the a slight activation of ABS on a couple anchor apps and the faintest of SC or TC (not sure) on the second apex of a very fast left right flick on the very long back straight (was getting 150mph on the clock here just before the anchors went on).

I religiously did a whole 3.8 mile lap after each 20 min session which saw the IR meter read 160 Cel on the front and 150 Cel on the rear. At one stage there was a red flag right on the last corner pulling us straight into the pits. The IR maxed out at 250 degrees so I went for a pootle around the outer roads for 10 mins.

During the drying track stage, I came up on the back of a Nissan GTR, passed him and tried to shake him off for the next few laps without success. We agreed after that he had the better entry speed, but the traction out of the corner and the straight line speed went to the GT3. A draw then!

Last session of the day I took a yound racer/tutor out with me. He immediately noticed that I was trying to get back on the power too early and that was responsible for the nose pushing on late in the corner. Quite funny when he correctly identified that I get on the throttle, only to lift off a moment later!! I never even knew!

So lots to learn. A very safe easy car to drive though. Much easier than the challenging 964 C2.

Will experiment with the SC and TC later.

Video to follow if you'd like?

Lucky.

RonCT

Great write up and please do post a video.