sharkster

Some of you folks have maybe already seen the dynos, videos, magazine and TV stuff staring Kermit before but I thought share another neat SharkWerks 3.9L story with you. Enter our newest addition to the 3.9L family born last month in the form of this meteor grey 2007 997GT3...



A few weeks after completion of this 3.9L project and with only a handful of practice events, the owner proceeded to successfully participate in the 2010 Global Tuner Grand Prix at Laguna Seca with a podium 2nd place finish in the "Tuner Class". Despite going up against some very stiff competition including a twin-supercharged Novitec Ferrari Scuderia and tuned 996 GT2, 2010 997.2 GT3RS and GT3s, he also laid down the quickest qualifying time of the weekend in his class. More importantly he was able to improve upon his previous personal best at Laguna Seca Raceway in 3.6L trim by roughly 2 seconds in 3.9 modified mode by setting down a 1 minute 36.1 second qualifying time in damp/wet/hazardous conditions. Hats off and well done indeed sir!

On the grid:


And finally, some SharkWerks 3.9L track cred delivered by J. Menczer on the far left in 2nd place (behind by only .1 second to the winning Viper ACR). Some superb driving indeed and thanks for flying with us!

Carrera GT

Sensational driving.
Is that the Viper ACR in the pic? Holy Mackerel.
Talk about "drive to the track, win, drive home."
Everyone else was there with teams and trailers.
Very respectable.
1:36.1 ... quick. And it was more than damp that weekend.

sharkster

Yup it really was... He did it by himself and his way. No big race team support. Heck we were out trying to faff around with straight line nonsense for Texas and not even there. And I'm scared of the rain anyways... Not that us being there would have helped. I for one am slower than Miss Daisey. His 07 GT3 with no added aero. I should have just lent him my RS wing!

That was the ACR yup... And in fact he was quicker than that ACR all weekend except for that timed session on Sunday but they're good mates so

mooty

very nice,
congrats to jesse and sharkwerks.

Snowboarder54

Why am I not surprised? The 3.9 is the bomb!!!

mikymu

1:36 is one fast car at LS! I am sure 3.9L help push the ride along pretty well. Wonder what kind of tires he is running, alignment and stock suspension?

C.J. Ichiban

I would love to run LS in a GT3 or RS with no sound restrictions...PARTY TIME!

congrats

mikymu

Good pitching CJ and tough game. Did you really tried super glue on your finger to prevent the blister from popping? Not much you can do when blister start to form ... the fluid accumulation is below the skin

Agree that LS will be much more fun w/o sound restriction

Snowboarder54

That's why I prefer the "Loop"

mooty

hoosier R6
stock suspension
tony's alignment

Antonov

Thats a very good lap time for how little that car has done to it. Congrats.

Carrera GT

Well, "stock" dampers (PASM) and springs, but a lot of heim joints in those pics -- taking the compliance out of the rear of a 997 is worth a lot of time.

The Hooters are worth a lot of time, too. I didn't realize it had decent rubber on it and Tony would have dialed up enough camber to make them work.

The 3.9 engine would be worth a lot time -- Laguna is a track that rewards horsepower because of the climb and the compounding long straights.

Maybe there's a full second attributable to each of those improvements, but we all know the "math" has a way of never adding up to the sum of the parts.

I think this car has Brembo rotors, but stock calipers.

And a Guard diff -- certainly worth something to be able to get the power down out of the turns and to keep the tail quiet under brakes.

The major thing this car hasn't done yet is lose weight. I'd imagine it's 3300lbs +/- wet with driver, stock seats and the roll bar. There's only so much those front tires can do with that much weight.

All said and done, 36.1 is a blisteringly quick time for a street car at Laguna. I'm curious to see times for all the other 911's there on that GTGP weekend.

mobonic

Jesse is a very good driver, lets not take that away from him.

I have met few people that can do 1:36's at laguna, let alone in a street car with full interior and stock suspension.

The only cars doing close to those times or faster that weekend, were full on modded track cars.... I know because i was running with Jesse the whole weekend.

GTgears

Thank you for the kind words. Glad to see it's serving you well. Congratulations on your podium finish.

Carrera GT

Wasn't me -- it was a Sharkwerks customer with their 3.9 engine.
I'm in a mere 3.8 RS ... and not anticipating a 36 at Laguna any time soon. : )