O2GO

Yep, Lola body work is all done, paint prep next :-)

Macca

Dave. Waiting for "real mean" from South Island to wage in on truck debate!

Successful first year of 993 ownership. Well done!

Drive went well yesterday. Need Dougies route skills. Paul and I are like the blind leading the deaf! We found a few choice driving roads which we did duty to by demolishing at Targa Tour speeds - but they were flukes when we randomly turned off country lanes. Lots of Sunday afternoon traffic on the main routes naturally. Had a coffee in Helensville, good to talk Porsche for an hour in the Sun, very pleasant weather. Two dead birds, plenty more rock chips and tonnes of brake dust so Im guessing it was a success! GT3 sounds mad on the throttle not going to get tired of that sound in a hurry.

AIM Smartycam HD 2.0 a mixed success. Got the mount and field of view to my liking (almost exactly the same as natural vision) but having trouble with a high pitched buzz through external microphone. I think it needs a firmware or software revision to eliminate (i.e. some gain control) as very annoying when recording around the roads on the track will be fine as soon as engine revs are over 4000 they drown it out. Picture quality not a patch on Go Pro or Sony as only 720 HD but does mean you can record for 16 hrs on a card. Best feature is the overlay. I still have to get the gear numbers to show (calibrate). So the picture quality disappoints as I was kinda expecting I guess, the audio is similar to GoPro built in mic but not anywhere near as good as Sony built in mic but the real boon, and it really is a fantastic tool for analysing laps is the live data overlay of the speed, braking and throttle pressures, rpm, gear engaged, lateral gs, best lap, lap number and position on track. My view is you will learn as much if not more again from this data as from the AIM Solo traces (which I have not even looked at and have no clue on how to analyse. Need some lessons from John. John when are you free mate!

Was a good chance to test my mount systems out in the heat (of a locked car in 26 degrees in Helensville) and with high (for the road) lateral loads make sure everything stayed in place. I think you will like the stealth install. The KW machine works brackets are a work of art and very strong. They need to be the Smarty cam is twice the size of the GoPro is built out of billet alloy and water and crush proof (its built like a Lambo L002!) and weights 289grams! Mounted between driver and passenger at eye height and just forward of the headrest it has a fair bit of work to do. But its 3 x as solid as anything else Ive used. Will post photos later today...

kiwi 911

Dear Pete,

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas lights.

Unlike Macca, I was only cruzing at road legal speeds, was most respectful of your car and can report no dead birds or new stone chips


Macca - why don't you 3M wrap the the whole front of the car? I am contemplating wrapping the entire bonnet (instead of the first 400mm)

pcarplayer

John, more fuel for your 3.6T fire

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1994-Porsche...276&rmvSB=true

nzskater

Glad to read that others are out driving. I had a great run to Wellington via National Park etc. Relatively free of traffic, and had my other half driving the first three hours so avoided frustrations of SH1. Saw a cop flashing lights and pointing down at someone driving about 15km over the speed limit (unintentionally I'm sure); glad to see not all are acting as ruthlessly as the media would have us believe. Also collected a bird at some point. Cleanup is going to be a mission, don't imagine feathers help with cooling. Why did Porsche build these without mesh grills in front of the radiators?!

Explored a few back roads around Upper Hutt/Silverstream with a good friend and his father, great fun sharing the keys and enjoyment of a 911 with others that appreciate driving. Reminds me of when I first drove it (and everything feels a little faster when you're in the passenger seat!).

Macca

I did 10 years of plastic on the 993 and I'm over it. On white it wouldn't last two years before yellowing and would cost 2k to do the whole front of the car bumper bonnet guards mirrors and top of roof properly. If I sell the 993 I'll do the targa in the GT3 and may look at a temporary style solution then.

Big RSG meeting today at CCS. All the usual suspects.

Just moved the 993 out of storage for an hour. Start first time smelt great very bespoke car and sounds so grumpy and race car like even at idle. Bloody brilliant actually. However I thought the same for the 14 traffic free minute drive in the GT3 over the bridge to CCS today so what do I know. Very very different cars but both are awesome. Always thankful for being able to own them. Tony tells me the 991GT3 interest has just gone nuts in NZ he has two customers missing out as factory stopping production. Kiwis a bit slow on the uptake - a few months ago 3-4 at dealerships and today everyone is panicking. Everyone realising what. "Bargain" it is relative to 650S and Speciale both of which it shades on track and both of which it has beaten on various road tests. I think kiwis are a bit superstitious perhaps. Less than half the outlay of those two cars tho....

Macca

pS Pete. Paul drive like a manna mate - he didn't speed like me. He did say the brakes are prone to fading and the car is too quiet tho! Seriously tho he took good care of her and I made sure he was 400m behind me at most times...

O2GO

LOL, reads like a Tui ad.

O2GO

Insurance update: HAPPY

We've settled for $43k, $6.5k up from the initial offer and I'm happy with that.

I've put the word out with all the NZ Porsche dealers that I'm looking for a 2007+ Boxster S or Cayman S Manual.

If you come across one (that's not on trademe) please let me know. They are hard to find and in the front of mind is the Chch car which requires a further $20k "investment"

kiwi 911

Macca - you are being sucked in with car dealer talk - they are raining GT3's mate - another turned up today.....??

You can have any colour of rims you like (as long as the car is red??)

Luke944

My neck of the woods! I lived up Blue Mountains so I had that hill as my daily commute in my old 944. The run up the hill through Whitemans Valley, and then through Mangaroa to Te Marua is a good one. Just need to be careful for the time of day for horses and sometimes milk tankers! One year that stretch was a Targa stage (the year Peter Brock was in the Monaro and Tony Quinn in the 996TT). Must dig out some photos I took of that as there were a couple of 993RS in the pack too.

kiwi 911

I find this quite an interesting comparison:

Everyone goes on about 996.1 GT3's as being super collectable etc.

Then you look at say the Australian car market and a quality dealer like Autohaus that sell no stories cars:

Would you rather have a very average 993 C4 on ugly 16's and a tired interior, or a 996.1 GT3 with less than half the mileage and better condition for $2K more. Allowing for some detailing to the 993 interior - they would be the same cost??

This isn't an isolated case - and I only pick the Aussie market as the volume is big enough that you could have your choice of several of each car at any one time.......

I guess my point is that even though everyone says 996 GT3's are collectables, especially the Gen 1's - I can't say there is that much evidence yet and it seems a bit bonkers to me.

Even being a 1-eyed 993 owner - I'd take the GT3 out of these 2 in a heartbeat given they are basically the same money. Pcar fashion and demand is a funny thing..........

http://autohaushamilton.com.au/porsc...sches-for-sale

http://autohaushamilton.com.au/porsc...sches-for-sale

kiwi 911

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used...-824877181.htm

Here you go Dougie...........

O2GO

Thanks Paul.

This afternoon I discovered the blue 2008 Cayman S auto in Hamilton that's been for sale since April (since reduced in price significantly as it was obviously set too high) was actually a manual - well it had a manual gear lever inthe photos so it must be. Feeling desperate that I'll be car less at Oakura for 4 weeks I decided to buy this unless it didn't check out. With only 46k on the clock and sweet black wheels I rang them, confirmed it was manual and someone would hang around until after 6 for me to see it. We headed south with my son so that, if I bought it, I could bring it back. Well we got as far as passing Otahuhu when the dealer called back to say a regular client who had been thinking about it over the weekend came in and paid a deposit on it.

I reckon they used me to hurry him up.

I think Jan thought I was a bit crazy as it wasn't a convertible and I do go on about enjoying being roofless (and she loves it too).

So, it didn't work out and I decided it was meant to be. Talking about a Cayman vs Boxster tonight we agreed that I should be patient and get a Boxster due to us loving touring roofless.

And, I do keep checking the RS60 in Chch and keep in touch with the vendor. It's expensive, they're sticking to their price, but it's pretty special and with some nice special features. We'll see where this ends up.

Kiwi Carguy

That RS60 is pretty nice and generally the limited edition models hold their value better. Might be worth the flight down for a looksie