kiwi 911

Black 1976 911 coupe. I will upload some photos when I get a chance. It would be good to see yours if you have one.

P.s the 924 was a beast mate - I really liked the look of that car.

kiwi 911

Macca,

In answer to your question;

1) Make sure the car is in top condition. Macca - you don't use your car, so probably don't know if there is a problem, I suggest someone does 1,000km's in it a month before the event.
2) Big service - replace pads with track, replace tires with semi slicks / track tires (road tires won't do)
3) Oils top up. I'm not sure if your car goes through oil, but be in a position on day 3 for someone to check everything. Maybe a group of us could get a Porsche mechanic for the avo to check over the cars.
4) I suggest starting with new tires, mine are stuffed after 2 days.
5) DOUBLE CHECK you have everything - first aid kit, insurance cert, motorsport license (if you don't have one, not sure how you do the test from overseas - check it out), car club license, danger triangle and tow rope. I forgot my insurance certificate and had to run around and pull favors on Friday night. My broker left the supermarket to go back to the office to email to me.
6) You are going to get stone chips on the front and windscreen (don't cry when it happens).
7) Pace yourself - on day one I was at the back of the grid until I got the hang, by the end of day 2, I was hanging with the lead group in 400-600hp cars.....

kiwi 911

Macca,

I forgot to mention - lots of fresh undies mate, gab a few combo packs so you can throw them away at the end of the day.........

J1NX3D

I dont have too many pics and they're not that great

http://iforce.co.nz/i/ruzsqo4q.mls.jpg
http://iforce.co.nz/i/mdq450ts.ee0.jpg

the 924 ran well. I've been crewing for it since it started in '05. I met the owner through www.924board.org
its done 12 targa events now, but only the first few with the original 2L audi motor. its a shame its not original anymore but the guy is having a lot more fun with it. He loved Rx7's and rotor engines but loved 924 handling more so he compromised.

we didnt have to touch anything all weekend, just top up the gas and oil. Saturday wasn't too much fun with the federal tyres in the wet. My driver had no confidence in them but he said they were very good in the dry on Sunday.
A lot of the earlier targas after the switch to the 12A had lots of complications and teething trouble from the conversion so its ironed out now. And funny that you mention it, a lot of the issues would have surfaced if the time was taken to put kms on it before the targas but work conflicted a lot. On Targa Bambina the only complications was the brakepads falling to pieces. 924RACR, a brake engineer on 924board recommended him some new pads and he's loved them since.

I agree with all of the points Paul raised above. The other thing that is great to have are radios. Each of our cars and service vehicles are fitted with Motorola radios and they have excellent range. The cars get hold of us when they are touring to the pit stop and let us know what problems they might have. We tell them where to find us and makes things very easy. On the way home Sunday night, we had the 2 service vehicles and 2 race cars convoying north together and we had a big discussion about where to stop for dinner. it was quite surreal!

Another bonus of the radios was that both cars did their own little shakedown down to Tauranga together and they talked to each other quite a lot. I don't think they would have bothered before fitting the radios.

for 6) you might be able to mitigate some of the potential damage with a 3M clear car bra, but yes I agree, these cars aren't pretty after a weekend of racing!

KiwiSean

Thank you both for the info. You've both brought up my biggest concern- rubber.

What were you running Kiwi 911?

I know a lot of the competitors pay fines to run whatever tires they want rather than ran Federal. While I know it's not applicable to the Tour I'd still be interested.

Thanks.

J1NX3D

at one pitstop i checked 9 cars, only 2 were using federals. 5 were still using dunlops which i think they were allowed to do if they still owned them.

J1NX3D

another thing we found with the service crews was we still got a bit lost with GPS, service crew handbook and a regional map. The latter 2 weren't detailed enough, the handbook was done with google maps and the distances were well out. the gps wanted to take the most direct route and take us through special stages/ closed roads. A combination of the 3 saw us finding our way ok but we did miss a few turns and have to back track or just go around the block a bit. take the time to waypoint the directions on the gps but even then, we missed a few turns because the gps lagged. i might get some simplified maps made up through my work that just has what we need detailed.

kiwi 911

I run RE55s's - I run 15" to lower the gearing. As you run 17"s, I suggest you talk to Steve at Europacific............

All the 997's where running their standard road tires. If I ran my road tires I would have been miles slower............

Macca

Hi Kiwi911

Thanks very much for the information. Its very useful. Ill revert to you with PM.

Luckily I ordered RE11 spares in March and they arrived last week....I dont wear underwear so that will save some weight and I will be starting at the back with my handbrake as my navigator to keep things getting away with me....

Cheers M

Macca

Kiwi Sean,

On rubber Id highly recommend Bridgestone RE11 in 17s. They have a stiff sidewall and work well wet and dry on chip seal. Alternatively try:

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec (Extreme Performance Summer)
Kumho Ecsta XS (Extreme Performance Summer)

The Michelin Pilot Super Sports are a great tyre from what Im reading both fast road and track. They will be my next tyre on the 993. Too pricey in NZ but Ive ordered two sets for Kiwi mates and had them landed GST paid for around 2k nzd a set from www.tirerack.com

The Dunlop and Kumho will be a little cheaper.

Cheers

KiwiSean

I have two sets of RE55s- how do you find them in the wet/ damp? Did you take a set of more street tires as well?

RE11s or Dunlop Direzza Star Specs seem to be the most popular street option from people I've spoken to and also mentioned by Macca.

993MAN

Sounds like a lot of fun, apart from the 150 k's around a blind corner!
Well done and glad you lived to tell us about the event.

John McM

I'm planning to come back to NZ, the timing is the difficult part as the income drop is significant. Right now I plan to have the family back in NZ for Christmas and the cars in our own garage, ready to use. I'll follow soon after. At least that's the plan. When i'm back for good i'll more time to get out and about and can tack a trip to Tauranga onto our usual one to Pahoia.

brannigan

Just popped in here, I have an '84 928S2 and a 1982 944, just adding to the list of Kiwi's:-)

Macca

Brannigan

Great to have a 928 owner onboard. Im a big fan of the 928. Love the early ones like yours or the very last (like the GTS). Give us more details on your rides...