John McM

Chris B was the 2k cup prime mover. He turned talk into action. If Jamie hadn't found the ad for BB we wouldn't have gone down the Honda route and without the Grinch we wouldn't have BB2. My goal is to have all three out on the track at once in a road train and have a battle.

996tnz

[QUOTE=gt38088;12218026]Very true. After driving BB the first time I wondered how anyone had ever managed to crash an Integra on the road, she handled that well. But I loved the karting and would've been happy running a season in them too actually. Their instant responses reminded me of the Formula Challenge/Formula Suzuki single seaters I've had a few runs in. But I wouldn't now swap the 2Kcup for a kart series. I would for single-seaters though.

And it would have to be a swap. One-offs aside (still keen to do a rally course and a speedway experience) I couldn't square the domestic circle for any more 'racing' than I'm doing already. 2Kcup, F4 motorbikes, Sprints and the odd Targa, track tour or track day may just have to do me. The F4 buckets were racing on Sunday for instance but being squeezed between a 5am-11pm Saturday at Taupo and a 2pm Sunday Coffee group kids annual reunion I gave them a miss this month. Did pick up some wets for the bike passing through Hamilton though, so I'm good for the winter.

Moochier

Thanks Macca, I'll get you and John to bookmark all the good stuff... I'm a slow reader!

gt38088

pm'd you Walter

996tnz

Thanks Graeme, appreciated and have replied.

John McM

There's a lot to take in. Ideally, you'd have a couple of ideas to try at each track session and progressively improve. I hope to accelerate the learnings by practising them on GT6.

One section rang a bell last night - you brake heavily at the end of a straight before turning a sharp corner. Half way through the early cornering phase you realise that the car can take more speed so you accelerate. The car loses driven wheel traction and you tell yourself that you now know the maximum speed you can take that corner. Probably not true. The car may have been able to carry more speed through the corner if you had not braked so heavily and kept a neutral throttle throught the turn in until hitting the apex. All about maximising the traction. If you ever have the privilege to drive Black Beauty ($200 to be owner #16 ) you will learn the importance of the above.

Macca

I found the most interesting stuff was about slip angles, traction patches and the physics of the car on the track. Once you start to understand the relations between inputs, physics and traction you start to inherently know what is needed to trip a vehicle for a swifter lap. Biggest issue I identified after reading a few chapters (I haven't got even half way through the book) is you really need to go off an practice some of the techniques before reading further and layering on more information for fear of it just becoming one big jumble and mess. Unfortunately I dont have enough laps in a single year in NZ to put this into practice.

One thing I could really benefit from in the GT3 is finding the limits of adhesion. Ive been scared to utilise the performance of the car because I dont know where the boundaries are and the thought of "loosing it" is daunting essentially on track with others close buy and at the speeds it carries. The first time out in that car it was consistent and seemed forgiving putting in 4-5 laps out of 10 all within a few tenths of each other. But there was so much more there I wasn't accessing as I was already driving it 3-4 seconds faster than my 993 PB and I had no idea where the boundaries were and didnt want to take the chance to find out so erred to caution. The 993 is different as Ive had ample opportunity over 14+ years to loose it or play to find the limited of that car.

I wonder if anyone would be interested in hiring a track or a skid pan or a large carpark to learn some of that car control right on the edge of traction in a controlled, open and safe environment. Id like RSG to organise something like that this year if its possible. Its a shame we have no MIRA style test facilities - however HD has a wet skit pan and a track. Would need to be a smallish group to get the most out of it as its really requires a tutor for much of it...bit like Porsche Experience at Mt Cotton for those here that have done that, but obviously much cheaper and using your own car...

996tnz

I'd be in Macca. Having done a few wet skidpans at HD with an instructor though I'd say they're better done dry, or at least not biblically wet. Despite being part of a performance driving course, there was so much water on that polished concrete and so little exercise structure that the skidpad component just became a fun swirl fest rather than a learning exercise. I reckon that for the cost of a few soft cones and a shared instructor, everyone would learn ten times more about grip and handling limits by running some gymkhana like courses on the skid pan, along the lines of the skid pad events of the PCNZ speed series. Best was when they had the course half wet, half dry with our cars cutting across these areas repeatedly during a run.

If hiring the whole track then you could also throw in some medium speed slalom/lane change exercises as well, but I'd say most of the learning is probably to be had from a coned skidpad.

I don't know what he'd be like as an instructor (might/might not be his cup of tea) but Clive Pilkington (C4, Fly911??) is the master of the club gymkhanas, so I wouldn't mind riding shotgun with him or having him in my passenger seat.

Sesquipedalian

Sorry to change the direction of the topic momentarily, anyone know where I can get a throttle cable for an '86 944 NA?

Pelican parts don't have any in stock, and neither do EuroPacific. I object on principle on paying premium prices for a component that is essential a simple piece of kit...(go on, call me a tightar$e!)

There must be something available from a wreckers or aftermarket somewhere?

J1NX3D

i have had success with secondhand parts from DC Auto in the US (but it looks like their site is down) or 944online. If ordering from the US you might want to check PET and make sure the LHD 944's use the same ptno as us.

Is this it?
http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/ASI...uelSystem-9442

There are a few parts shops/breakers in Aussie too, like http://www.aporschapart.com/944.html

Otherwise you can try the forsale/wanted sub-foums of
TIPEC http://forums.tipec.net/viewforum.php?f=36
Pelican http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...s-sale-wanted/
Rennlist https://rennlist.com/forums/marketpl...-min-max/f9-1/
944online http://www.944online.com/cgi-bin/yab...ard=944ForSale

Or these facebook groups
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1854...70916/?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2213896099/

mikey_audiogeek

Also Ecstuning.com - just need the part number, which should be easy to find from an online copy of PET.

mikey_audiogeek

Design911 is my current fave place, due to their low shipping cost (I buy engine oil from them!)

http://www.design911.co.uk/fu/pt376_...erator-Cables/

Cheers,
Mike

Macca

I like your thinking Walt. A combination dry/wet skidpan would work well. I was thinking even perhaps a large dry sealed area we could rent for an afternoon and set up our own mega gymkhana style but with the emphasis on running the cars radially until the edge of grip with a more structured course later in the day aka gymkhana style where we may time a few runs for fun. I think an airfield would be perfect. Id really like a few large "Ss" with a big run up (little like sweeper at T10 HD plus T1). Id really like to know what increasingly aggressive steering inputs will do to the rear end of my car, where the dry limit sits and how to successfully correct. It needs to be a lightly conned, flat clean and large area with no issue of damage through run offs. I think it would be a fraction more renegade than a PCNZ gymkhana so would need to be a closed invite RSG thing. Wet skidpans are not particularly relevant to what Id like to understand about my car I confess.

Definitely worth considering. Might be a good pre/postlude to NITT?

nzskater

This sounds like a great idea taking form. Would be very keen to participate. I like the way you managed to slip "renegade" in there again...

996tnz

Starting to sound good. I would just caution against Ardmore (and maybe other runways?) though as it is like driving on a cheese grater. No problem for top speed runs or maybe even that giant slalom idea but anything twistier and it gets expensive. The first of my two gymkhanas was at Ardmore and while entry was only $50 or so and fuel not much more, it cost me $400 in tyre wear for a total run time of 15 or so minutes max. And I was lucky as I had near new 300 treadwear tyres and it just scuffed them down neatly by a quarter of the useable tread. Guys on softer rubber had huge chunks ripped out so it may have cost some of them closer to a thousand to replace them outright. It wouldn't bother me personally again as I've kept enough old tyres around for next time, but thought I should at least let others know what to expect if fanging it on a very harsh surface.

Massive fun was had, but the cap I won that day I call my $500 cap...