indianam3

To All
I had my first track event with my 2011 GT3 RS this last weekend at Putnam Park just west of Indianapolis in Indiana. Friday for instructors and signed off advanced students, Saturday and Sunday HPDE put on by my home club, Bluegrass Bimmers chapter of the BMWCCA. I instruct and teach novice classroom, I would call myself a decent driver but not near a top 5 driver in our club. I selected Putnam for my first event as it is a simple, just under 2 mile track, some elevation change and off camber, and only one wall on the entire track, with lots of run off. Here are my observations:

1) WOW
2) WOW
3) WOW
4) A good friend of mine went for a ride, his first comment exiting the car was “I don’t care what you paid for it, after the second lap I knew it’s worth every penny, every #$%^ing penny!”
5) It feels like it is alive – the suspension is really flat, very little body roll even fully loaded in hard cornering. Very, very engaging for the driver.
6) The horsepower is off the hook, really more than is necessary at Putnam.
7) The brakes are outstanding. I had standard fluid and pads and as it was in the 60 most am’s and in the 70’s in the afternoon, and I drove 30 minutes at a time, they were great.
8) After reading about the stock MPSC N’s, I was concerned, I have a second set I purchased and mounted to the Oz’s from Tire Rack, and they really performed very well too. I am comfortable burning these up this year before trying something else next year (maybe super cups?) Drove around 33/34 F and 34/35 R hot most of the weekend. The CL’s did not back off or lose any torque all weekend.
9) I drove with both nanny’s on, and had a nice slip angle in the required corners, and could rotate the car by breathing off the throttle or by throttle oversteer reasonably well. That is truly amazing, and they have BMW here. In my former BMW track cars it would slap you back in place and kill the power until it recovered.


I cannot express how pleased I am with my first Porsche. It will take a while to learn how to drive well, with all the grip and weight in the rear I knew I could be on the power earlier, but its hard to convince your senses that without some experience. I was concerned on high speed turns the front might feel light or numb, but it did not. What a really, really well sorted out finely engineered machine.

PS – My plastic rockers below the back edge of the driver’s door are getting some rash. Anyone have a solution, plastic rubbing compounds, wet sanding, etc???

Izzone

They need the character......mine look like someone took a hammer to them (one of them is super glied on.

I dont know of a solution, you will eventially lose the rubber splash guards in front of teh rear wheel....mine are probably in the dirt at turn 7 Sebring

indianam3

I agree w/the character, my issue is my car was invited to the Keeneland Concours, a nice event in Lexington, KY. I would not do this next year, but I would like to do it once. I am trying to postpone the character until the end of July!

Izzone

Do a search, there s some type of spray on stuff that you can use to fix it

mdrums

Someone on here did a rubber dip...like the dipping stuff for tool handles you get at Home Depot...maybe take those plastic pieces off and rubber dip them to help preserve them?

skxf430

try the TTR from Premier.

it is really great stuff. Takes off all the track rubber off the car.

http://premiermobilegroup.com/pf1_products.shtml

997gt3north

I use some rubbing compound and lots of water to dilute it on a wet rag - works perfectly.

Try keeping the front tires to 31/32 hot - if you don't like it go back to 33/34 - I like the feel better at 31/32 - I like the rears at 35/36 hot - this is with the OE tires

sin911

They really have refined the GT's with the new gen! The front end feels more planted and provides much more confidence. You'd be surprised at the difference if you tried a gen 1 GT3

I rode in Izzone's new car and was amazed by the difference in grip

997gt3north

Only someone who has driven one is able to put it in these terms. The GT3 is one of the few cars that is truly greater than the sum of it's parts. A friend who is a 996 C2 owner drove my car last year 'around the block' and used those exact words when he returned the keys. If you haven't yet added bucket seats, harnesses and a sharkwerks rear exhaust delete, then you have another treat coming.

P.J.S.

The stuff in the thread you will find is called plasti-dip iirc and the thread has pics of a splitter refurbishment

www.plastidip.com
Aerosol home solution

I love your car - congrats!

Seth Thomas

Keith, I heard about your car on the track before the weekend was over. It seems that a friend of mine had a chance to take it for a quick spin and he was amazed by it. Glad you got it out to the track and had fun with a great car.

GolfTango3

A bunch of us from Kentucky Region are going to be there too! If you hit the 'Ville first on your way down you can caravan with us.

indianam3

Yes, Bill took it out for a session, I wanted to see what a really good driver could do with the car, plus as you know Bill is a great friend and I truely wanted him to enjoy himself. Both goals were exceeded!!!

indianam3

Here is the car in "race trim" - which for me means OZ's and tires.

paver

Beautiful!