jrgordonsenior

My very first time out in my 6-cup was at Infineon/Sears. I looped it off the track in T2 on the outlap. Yep, that was my second turn in the car....

Nizer

Start with 996 Cup as others have suggested. Transition is not that big a deal. Being fast is.

One caveat, I would find a smoother track than Sebring for your first time. Due to the way many 996 Cups are set-up - minimal travel and droop - they can be twitchy on rough tracks.


In isolation I agree, but don't they make you take at least two other lower level classes before letting you sign up for the Cup experience?

Veloce Raptor

Warren. they do in the abstract, however thhey do make exceptions for folks with significant race experience, etc.

GuyIncognito

IIRC active national SCCA or NASA license waives the requirement to "level up" through their school.

FLA997

I came extremely close to doing the same thing...but waited until the 5th turn...and caught it somehow, but boy did it catch me off guard.

J richard

I just read the writeup on this in Pano. If you get that level of attention from the likes of Hurley Haywood, in a cup, on barber...the $10K is a deal. You"ll pay that for a Pirelli cup race, and the wear and tear on the car isn't even in the calculation. Be interesting to see exactly how much seat time you get, but renting a cup would probably put you back about the same and "incidentals" are on top....

KMW

I was in the same course as the author of the article in Pano and it's worth every penny. Seat time in the Cup isn't as much as you would get during two open test days, but it was plenty nonetheless. They also don't waste any time with classroom discussions, off-track excercises, or lead follow, just straight to the track with session after session of right-seat instruction with the option to go solo on day two.

mooty

listen to this guy.
he is SPOT on.

J richard

How many sessions and length do you get in the cup? This really looks interesting...sequential...uhhhhhh....

KMW

You should get three hours of on-track driving in the Cup. The time will be split into either six 30-minute or four 45-minute sessions. When not in the Cup you will be driving a GT3 or a Turbo|991|997|Cayman R (your choice). The tires are kept fresh on all of the cars.

The vibe during the course is unlike any other from PSDS, it feels more like a couple of open track days. There's a full race team with a trailer on site providing support for the Cups and you spend most of your time in the trailer looking at data when not driving. The instructors don't have a generic curriculum they are trying to teach you, it's all individualized instruction just as if you had hired them privately (8 instructors, 6 students). I thought it was going to be a watered down "experience", but it was much more than that.

tcsracing1

forget the 997 Cup..... it will take you a day just to get it moving without stalling out of pit lane and one wrong down shift and Bang! there goes 25k....

a 996 Cup would be fun as it is full strip and still manual transmission.

My recommendation is you contact Bernie and arrange to rent their 996 GT3R for a day @ the Ridge: http://www.bulletracing.ca/?q=content/996-gt3r-0

Depending on your experience with it and future asperations, perhaps we could train and plan to partner up in 5 years for some seat time in the 2017 running of Daytona 24h

hughp3

I had a 997.1 street GT3. Decided all I really like is track time so for safety and to stop myself from beating on a really nice street car I moved to a 2004 996 Cup wich came with a hot 3.8L motor. I do only DE's for now, advanced group. Looking to time trial as the next step. I am far from a pro so opted for some lessons from Leh Keen.

The Cup is soooo different from a street car. Grip is astonishing. Clutch is an absolute bitch. Steering scaple sharp. The noise, feel and sheer speed took me 3 DE's to get my breathing calmed down. Shifting requires 70+% faster blips because the clutch spins down so fast. I have Moton's on the car and the suspension is fantastic. I will say a better ride (on track) than the street car. its been about a year now and I would be reluctant to go back to a street car as my main track car. I am 6, 7 seconds a lap faster at Road Atlanta and Roebling. In addition I have a full cage and fire system which makes me feel safer. I have yet to loose it but thats because I do not have the ***** yet to trust the grip. Its slowly coming, especially hard at RA where I know the car in Leh's hands is 4-5 seconds faster. Thats ok though cause the experience in this thing is like no other. Just be ready to buy tires about every 8-10 heat cycles, purchase race fuel at $10 per gallon and spend every weekend before a DE prepping the car. Have to say its been mostly bullet proof. Oh and that exhaust note is

SSTHO

Thanks guys for the insights. 996 Cup with an instructor on a lapping day would be ideal.

Dave - will keep you in mind if I decide on renting a Cup in FL sometime

Tom - ooohhh, tempting, but I think I'm afraid I can't commit to something like that yet. Yes, I would be interested in possibly renting a car from Bernie sometime.

MariusRacer

997 cups are not as hard to drive as it is made out to be here! Especially with an auto blipper. Rodger has a nice one that he rents out and I'm more that happy to jump in with you for a while. Pbir is a nice flat track to get the experience.

jfl91

Cup car are easy to drive. They are amazing for the price. Those cars understeer alot so it make it real easy for every newbies.

It is a demanding car but not difficult to drive.