Ritter v4.0

The ratios are less than optimum on any of the tracks I frequent. With a stock 3.4 (284 whp/248 tq) its essentially a momentum car- albeit relatively quick one. There is not much power below 4.5k rpm and its falling out of the fairly narrow powerband from 3 to 4 which is my meat and potatoes shift.

Basically even on the faster tracks say, Road Atl, I barely get into 5th on the back straight. And use 2nd gear only when there's traffic at T7 and T10A/10B.
I think I'd to close up 3, 4, 5 which would also really benefit at slower venues like Barber.

Or should I just put the money towards a Cup trans (and Cup car to go with it)?

I'm still pretty new to this car so would be interested to hear of others' experiences.

chrisc

Thanks David, you are breaking my heart! "Essentially a momentum car", jeez you yanked me freaken fenders off at RA as you zoomed by with your wingman, the T-man in his GT3. Also going to sue you and T-man for causing my premature deafness

Larry Herman

Plenty of 996 drivers that I raced against in stock class had their transes regeared.

ltc

Porsche gearbox ... Brian Copans ... Enough said.
IIRC, he has posted a few times in the Cup car forum.

Chris M.

Cup car...Fernando Pena...enough said...

Veloce Raptor

Stock class....now THAT is funny!

David, IMO you are better off getting a 6 Cup than messing with your trans. It is a package designed from the ground up to be what it is.








Professional Racing and Driving Coach

Ritter v4.0

Sorry about that!! But my car's not that loud is it? I got some mail-in custom molded earplugs a while ago and can't really tell. Its quiet at idle at least . . . I think.

Copans just did my LSD so guess I'll go back there for advice. I know a Cup is in my future but I feel like we just finished this car and am really enjoying it so loathe to move on. I'm developing a bad habit of getting cars to the point of being really fun ($$) then selling them. I'd like to stop or at least retard the cycle. And yer not helping VR.

GTgears

The gearbox in the 996 C2 was never intended as a racing gearbox. As such, it's pretty much unsupported in the aftermarket. Albins (formerly distributed by Powerhause II and now sold by several companies) is about the only company that has ever made alternative ratios for that gearbox and to my knowledge they still only make 1 different set of ratios. If they work for your local track great. If they don't, too bad. They are shorter and tighter than stock but there's no selection there.

Then look at the GT3 or 996 Cup. It's probably the most supported gearbox in the whole family of Porsche gearboxes. We make 2 dozen different ratios just for 3rd gear, 2 dozen for 4th, and even more for 5th and 6th. That's twice as many offered by PMNA, by the way. But the point is you can take a GT3 based gearbox and gear it perfectly for where you run. If you run 3 or 4 tracks you can go with a more generalized stack, starting with 6th being what's appropriate for the fastest track you run, and working backwards from there. If there's just one track you run, you can gear it perfect for your hometrack with no compromise.

If you're thinking you want to get more serious about your racing and make the next step, then I am with the people telling you to step up to a 996 Cup or maybe consider a track prepped GT3. Regearing a G96 C2 gearbox is a waste of money, IMO. In addition to the gearbox there are a dozen other things on the GT3/Cup that are superior to the 996 C2. It's a decent DE car but unless you spend a lot of money on it, it's no racecar. Unless you want to build a 996 Spec racer, its probably not where you want to be long term.

Ritter v4.0

Yer not helping either. But that's sweet looking car.

Ritter v4.0

Thanks- I pretty much guessed as much. I should really just enjoy the car as is then make my next move a quantum one.

jrgordonsenior

I looked at Alpin's available 3-6 gear ratios and decided it wasn't worth the cost at almost $4k in parts alone. They also offer a 4:00 to 1 cup ratio R & P at around $3,200. part only. Again it just doesn't seem worth the cost. The Gertag box is a POS no matter how you paint it, too bad a G50 won't bolt up...

If you just have to do something to the car try lightening it. I spent a few K's lightening the car down to about 2450 empty and it made a huge performance difference. Did I tell you I was leading the NASA ST2 Nationals last Sunday by 5 seconds when my motor let go? No? Well it all started in......

onefastviking

John would have won that race had his motor held on, and then he was going to jump in GTS4 and he also would have won that too ! He was fast and is correct in lightening the car, it does wonders. We did pretty good with our stock box and won GTS3. So the stock box can do ok. It is a POS as John stated and we have had some clutch & pp issues and cables and fluid need to be replaced regularlly, but after all that they do seem to hold up ok.

Now we will take the weight out and open up the hp so we can run with John in GTS4 next year, I am sure John will be ready for us and it will be a great race.

Ritter v4.0

Good advice JR. I'll weigh my car to see where I'm at but pretty sure its not 2450.
We've done a general, superficial gutting but still have steel and glass in the car. Guess carbon fiber and polycarb are in the offing.
But what else did you do- have you detailed somewhere your Jenny Craig weight loss program?
Do I have to give up cheesecake?

JimB

Not me Larry! And after all these years I'd even admit it if I had!

Larry Herman

Hell Jim, you didn't need that with your 3.6 X51 motor. As I recall, it seemed to be some of the 3.4s that shifted a lot more than I did up the same straights.