Interesting reads and suggestions on increasing the power of a 986/S have inspired me. After looking at "improved" intakes, exhausts and chips, the decision to go to driving school makes so much more sense to me. I don't have a suspicion as to how to drive my car "fast"! I am so lucky! COTA is just 2-1/2 hours from my house and for less than the cost of any electrical or mechanical upgrades I can learn how to drive. After that, for even less, I can have eight - count 'em - eight practice days on the short course. In retrospect, if I'd done that years ago one of my cars that got away from me might still be around. Sometimes, maybe, age and wisdom do cross paths. Thanks to the wise folks whose suggestions I read.

 

Cool. Yeah, they cross. But by the time they do your often old or broken.

 

+1

Its not just about driving faster, although that often is the end result. A lot of the drive school is about driving better and safer.

You will be amazed at how well these cars perform and how safe they are once you learn how to drive them properly

 

Well my trip to Austin to learn how these cars perform was the best, and worst, of times. To start with, due diligence would have put me at the right place. It was not COTA (I think that's a good thing). It was at the Driveway track in Austin, not far COTA. The Boxster felt much more solid than my old 911 in the corners, particularly the decreasing radius corners. Where the '89 Targa would easily step out, the Boxster would rotate, but never went anywhere unexpectedly. And it was all fun until that terrible clanking noise started around 11 AM. The 15 year old rubber in the engine mount went away and ended my day. Thanks to Bill, Scott, John and Kyle for their help. The car is at Eurocar Werks now and should be home later this week. I'll be back next month to finish the day.

 

Sorry to hear about the mechanical but great you got out there. If in the Houston area I'll also recommend PCA for driving events. They run a car control school and also have a great HPDE program. COTA is a special place but to be honest it's pretty challenging for less experienced drivers, well any driver for that matter!. The real gem (IMHO) in the area is Texas World Speedway (TWS) in College Station. Several groups hold events there. MSR Houston in Angleton is fun too.

 

And it was more than I thought on repairs. Engine mount, transmission mounts and a water pump. I bought the car from a Hill Country member last October. Met the previous owner and the car at TWS during their DE last fall. I've done the driving school event out at the police academy - in my '89 Targa and my wife drove her Cayenne S (two really different experiences). Been a PCA member for some years. TWS will be open 'til the end of the year, right? Heard the plans for its future are still uncertain. The MSR website has always left me confused. Is membership required? Do you need a formula car? A kart? A bike?

 

I know the feeling! First DE in my 986 I had a cam seal oil leak- what a mess. Then the coolant tank, then the water pump.....

Re TWS, the latest word is they are booking dates through April 2016 so will be opportunities there. you can check the TWS web site and they have a calendar showing PCA dates, their own DE program PDS, the Drivers Edge, NASA and Chin. Next PCA is 10/31-11/1 and think they still have a few slots open. For MSR-H, PCA have recently done some events there since they were expecting TWS to close. I've also been there several times with The Drivers Edge- very similar format - run groups, schedule, etc as other DEs. In my experience they are a good safe group. They use their own site rather than Clubreg and haven't posted any upcoming dates for MSRH, but expect they will be back there in 2016.