blotto649

As much as I want to urge you to buy a slower car, I'll just try to help with some tire recommendations...

Pilot Sport Cup 2's
Pilot 4S
Bridgestone Re-11 or RE-71
Yokohama AD-08

Go to the Tire Rack site and do some looking around - lots out there.

tvr-4

996 Turbo was my first Porsche, bought it as the market bottomed out in 2008.

After taking it to the track 3 times, I sold the car and bought a 944 turbo race car (almost SP3 car) so I can take a step back and learn.

The biggest thing you need to figure out first, before you make any upgrades to your current car, is what are you in it for.... your goals will set you on very different paths so suggest thinking through this first.

Either way, good luck and have fun!

DTMiller

I've been tracking a Miata for a handful of years and have moved up the run group ladder some and I visited a buddy who has a 996 turbo. He let me street drive it and was asking me about getting started in HPDE stuff once his kids move on and he has more time. My instant thought was "this is a lot of car to learn in."

I mean, will you have an absolute blast in a car like that on track? Oh yeah, that would be super fun. Would I have been comfortable doing some of the things I learned to do in my Miata in his car? Man, I don't know. The extra speed isn't marginal... it's a different category all together. So, agree with the above, depends on goals.

MSR Racer

Also, the Turbo is a heavy car. With its street suspension, getting a feel for weight transfer etc will be difficult. In order to get it set up well for track use, OP will have to spend a gazzilion dollars.

On other hand it is a great car to win the DE!

FruitFly

Lots of great advice here. Start your learning curve in a slower/momentum car: Spec Miata or Spec E30. Do a novice year + 1 year of racing with an Arrive and Drive provider/owner, that way you don't have to deal with the ownership issues of a race car. Then sell your turbo and by a GT3


https://rennlist.com/forums/997-gt2-...l#post14499215

ProCoach

^^This^^

I'll be the contrarian here. I know the "learn to drive fast in a slow car first" mantra, but you have a capable, competent car and it SOUNDS like you're a sensible, competent driver. So get some better tires (not necessarily DH Pirellis ) and go have fun.

I've worked with A LOT of people just like you, who wanted to know how to drive THEIR car the best THEY could. Sometimes, just seeing improvement in small areas that could then be transferred to more places around the track was enough to make a substantive gain. Go easy. It's a heck of a lot easier to add speed, than to take it off...

Approach incrementally, play with tickling "the limit" such that the slightest corrections or changes in amplitude of control inputs (throttle, brake and steering), those measured in the smallest amounts (credit card thicknesses of throttle to influence and change exit radii, for instance), MAKE A DIFFERENCE in your trajectory or feeling of the car. THEN, move up.

Most of all, have fun. The law of physics doesn't know the difference between a Miata and your Turbo, it's just that stuff happens a hell of a lot quicker in the Turbo!

ohenryinatlanta

kenworth, 53 ft trailer, gt3 cup

as this is where all these threads end up...

spg993tt

... if you have anyone that loves you and relies on you, you need all the safety gear. the craziest things happen for no good reasons. have you ever met someone who on a long straight away doesn't have their foot planted to the floor. sometimes a part breaks. sometimes you goof. sometimes a deer crosses the track. whatever it is, i get nutty when i see dudes in jeans or shorts and short sleeve shirts, no hans, just gloves and a helmet.
take it seriously. because its the real deal when you're doing 90, 100, 120 or the 160 that the turbo will do. dress for bear.

ace37

NT-01s are probably what you’re asking for, but I’d run street tires for a bit more than 3 DEs before going to tires like that.

Rather than suggesting you buy a low powered race car, I’d say start by renting one. See what you think. Might be $1000 for a day.

Blue Chip

People keep talking about Miatas - for a hybrid learning curve - get a C2 996 early model and keep it early (no TC). It’s a momentum car and still fast enough to ‘compete’ in DEs. I have instructed in a 997 turbo - driven it a few times as well - I don’t like it. I don’t like to drive it, don’t think it’s a good track car, and don’t think it’s easy to learn on.

But hell - run what ya brung.