John H

Thought I'd post this for what it is worth. Qualified outside pole. 1st in class in GTS4. Ended up 4th in class after losing the ability to find 5th on the back straight and then no 3rdon the back part of the course. Video is painful to watch (hear). I was soooo nervous starting where I did, I think I over-agressively shifted and loosened the clamp/linkage. Anyway, it's only two laps so it is not too long. Just long enough. Very thankful I did not have a mic on me. Enjoy.
1st to 4th in 500 feet

PMS993

What a sick sound...transmission, not you.

JimB

Ouch..

John, not to change the topic but I'm planning to race my 996 in GTS4 next year. What am I going to run into? Your car looks like it might be a PCA GT3 or GT4? Is that the norm for competitive Porsches? I don't want to dump a bunch of money into my car if I can't be competitive.
Thanks,
Jim

bgiere

This may have been my only chance to catch you all season John! Sadly, my alternator went out in the same race...I can occasionally catch a glimpse of myself in your rearview mirror in the video! Happy New year to you...see you in April!!

John H

It's all power to weight ratios. My car just happens to be a hair from GTS5. If your suspension is in order, the most important thing you can do is maximize your HP to weight ratio. To be honest, for the nationals, there was a 996 (I never got a good look at it in the paddock), a 964 cupcar (Brant Giere), Chris Streit in his 911 and Chris Orr in a BMW. You probably noticed the cars passing me in the video.

The 996 won the saturday night race and the first four cars in GTS4 all finished within the same second or so (Mylaps ). I think the 996 would be very competitive if you can get the HP to weight as close to 8.5 as possible. HP/weight = class. I think I am at ~2250lbs with ~260 HP. FWIW, my 993 could run slicks and stay in GTS3.

The following is taken from the GTS Challenge rules:

The following table displays the class each car will be in after the previous calculation is applied to each cars dynamometer results.

DOT race tires
GTSU = 5.99 and lower
GTS5 = 6.0 - 8.49
GTS4 = 8.5 - 10.99
GTS3 = 11.0 - 14.49
GTS2 = 14.50 - 18.49
GTS1 = 18.50 and higher

AWD or Non-DoT race tires (slicks):
GTSU = 6.49 and lower
GTS5 = 6.5 - 8.99
GTS4 = 9.0 - 11.99
GTS3 = 12.0 - 15.99
GTS2 = 16.0 - 19.99
GTS1 = 20.0 and higher
**All AWD (All Wheel Drive) cars with non-DoT tires (slicks) are bumped to next class**
4.0 Car Modifications
Any modification is allowed as long as the car meets all NASA safety regulations.

And finally, you'll really like the GTS group. They are a great bunch of racers.

John H

Hey Brant!

Happy New Year to you too. Can't wait til the season starts. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

gt3skea

mine was the 996, it's a gt3 though. i ran heavy on weight - i'm at 3050 to stay in the class and well, you see johns weight and he was not the lightest in our group, i was heaviest by about 600 lbs. so while i had the power, my brakes and tires struggled to keep up or stay ahead after the hour long finale. and with running the keyhole there was not a lot of places for me exploit, the power was more catching me up after corners. there was a 996 in gts3 that was an old gts grand am car that was the fastest in the gt3 class, he had never been there before or he would have won it and ended up second. i am losing the weight and up in gts5 now. i had never raced there before so as it works running up points for the finale i killed my self (and reputation ) in the first race finishing well off, won the second but the bmw of chris orr was on me like (you fill in the blank) one more lap and he would have had me. and in traffic i felt like i fat man watching the lighter cars filter through, but then again, i am a fat man.

john, i never met you but was sorry to see you go down like that, we were all so competitive in gts4, i believe after one session we were all within a tenth or 2, would have been fun as the other 3 of us were nose to tail the first half of the final race. i think you will do very well in 07.

i love nasa and he classification of weight to power, but at the end of the day weight was nice the lower was. i know the 996 in gts3 who was a guy out of tx, jay matus, was a good bit lighter thant the m3's he was competing against too. john was right about the classification and nasa, and i second that it is a great series running with nasa in gts.

gt3skea

just looked at the my laps link john, it was all within 1 and half 10ths, thats parity... now if i was only a better driver. and i saw that was not the finale jimb - if you hit johns mylaps link and hit the event link and go to the group h finals you will see the 996 was a full 1.3 seconds faster than the second fastest guy, fyi. him , like me unfortunately, was partially done in by not an outstanding first race and starting a little too far back. everyone not from the oh/in region decided we would have to get there at some point in time during the year to be a little better prepared for the first race - nto a lot of track time there.

Dr.Porsche

Your car sounds AMAZING! God bless you!

JimB

Thanks John and GT3,
My car is a 3.6 X51 996 so I have too much hp for GTS3. It sounds like I might be OK in 4 though. I'm looking forward to shedding 240 lbs and running on slicks.

See you guys next summer.

Thanks again for the help.
Jim

usenduro

Jim:

Pardon me for hijacking this thread, but you may want to have a look at our Spec 9 Championship. We will be allowing 996 cars... with the X51 kits... to compete in our Group A class. We are working on an updated scheduling announcement, but we have confirmed that we will race on the Grand-Am weekends at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio. I have three other GA weekends in the works as we speak that I hope I can announce soon.

So Group A consists of showroom 996 and 997 Porsches. Group B consists of 1999-2005 GT3 Cup Porsches. Weekends will consist of double 30 to 50 minute sprint races (when possible) and entry costs will be around $800 to $1,000 per race.

Details can be found by visiting www.usenduro.com and clicking on the picture of the Porsche.

Again, my apologies for the hijack...

gt3skea

jim, i think you are on the right track and will have a great car in 4, i also added the slicks to jump into 5
good luck

momo9191

hey jim b don't miss nasa hyperfest in july at summit point,,race sat and sun,,wet t-shirt cont.,drift nationals ,,, jap car show,,trophys,,dark beer and lots of puntang

Larry Herman

Wow, I could just slap on a set of slicks, pull a 100 lbs of lead, and be right at the top of GTS4.

JimB

It's RWHP Larry. You should be able to drop a lot more than 100 lbs. Sounds like fun doesn't it?