John McM

Aircon doesn't work. The system is an unwanted passenger. I don't think anyone has sat in my passenger seat since I got the car. That's 8.5kg odd of unnecessary weight as well. It may not be worth much at my driving level but I can't leave things alone.

John McM

Qualified instructors don't require a cage. All others do for Playday.

Macca

John. Use whatever tyre break in method you did before! I cant see you getting any more life out of them than that!

Pete fitted my replacement Z221 yesterday (geo today on car). Said I was just unlucky with the tear and that once up to heat for fast road driving (like some parts of the drive to Langs beach in Nov when it likely happened) you dont need to run over something more than a largish sharp rock with those soft compounds to create a small slip which starts to tear. He said it would have started as a small slit but because of the camber, temperature and cornering forces would take little time to open up to the size it was (almost 4cm) and not much longer (anther few hundred fast road kms) to have opened up twice again. So it was a lucky save and probably a good future lesson for me, Doug and anyone hoping to really rag the cars on the back roads in the dry on rough dirty chip seal with soft R compounds. They dont have steel belts in them and as he said they are not meant for ripping up our dirty back roads. That being said it sounds like I got a little unlucky. Im glad I decided long ago to drive to SI on the road tyres tho.

Maxem

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/motoring/n...ectid=11206845

At $130k, I'd buy one. Even if they are a fire risk.
This must have been what you were talking about earlier Macca

Macca

Yes me too! Ironically after driving mine mercilessly for 3500km in Europe for a month without it missing a beat, I found it ironic to recieve an email from Porsche overnight telling me not to drive it till they know if my car is affected - pretty hard to do when its on a boat in the middle of the Indian ocean for the next 2-3 weeks! Hopefully they get it sorted by the time it arrives to NZ....very disappointing for the Porsche brand and GT3 moniker however (reminiscent of early Ferrari Italia 458).

gt38088

definitely something to watch out for here. A few years ago on Targa I pulled in to service after a reasonable tough 30km stage (and bearing in mind that normally you get a short or long service every 2 stages plus touring). The crew always jack the car and take a look underneath, One tyre was shredded with exposed cord over about 1 square inch. It wouldn't have lasted any longer. So Macca is right, at race pace the deterioration of any defect/cut can be very fast. So lesson is you can't be too careful in checking all the time

John McM

And for us newbies learning from others experience. That old cliche that there are old pilots and bold pilots but no old bold pilots has a basis in fact. Chris M's accident reinforces that we are not playing tiddlywinks.

Macca

I picked up on that John (that you cant leave it alone). If you are going to strip out the air con dont stop at the compressor pull the evaporator out (its likely shot anyway if your system isnt holding gas) and the lines/fittings, drier and expansion valve. They are worth 20kg total for the extra labour.

Pulling the passenger seat making it impossible to have an instructor ride shotgun seems counter intuitive to going fast IMO. What's it weight - less than that evaporator you were going to heave behind....

John McM

Don't know what the issue is with the Aircon. Just not motivated to fix what is a low priority given it's not that great when working. Really not sure about instruction. Really liked the combo of
Riding shotgun with Steve and then getting a tow. I don't like being pushed as I start to go all over the place and not really loving someone telling me what to do while in the car. Too hard to think about all of the controls and doing it some else's way.

Macca

I have an exception to that rule John. Matt Erceg. Do you remember him? Hes still flying here after returning to Australia to do crop dusting for a number fo years. now theres one old bold pilot (although hes mellowed now and doesn't fly after a big night on the booze so much these days LOL!).

Macca

Everyone is different.

I cant even fathom how I would have picked up some of the stuff Ray showed me at Taupo and Manfield without an instructor (granted at Taupo I couldnt execute some of his commands because the damn gear shift wouldn't go into 2nd - that did get me hot and bothered, but it wasnt due to Ray).

Im still a firm believer that the quickest path to me personally becoming a fast driver will be to suck up as much tuition and advice as possible in the next few years (including some total immersion course). I dont have the luxury of 10+ HD sessions a year to keep up with you guys either! Some people learn better under pressure and some do not. That is true. My wife says Im only efficient/effective in a crisis! It seems I do my best work under extreme pressure. Deadlines at Uni were a point in case. I agree with her. When shes nagging me Ive noticed I tend to react faster and more efficiently than when she is not...

O2GO

Steve R got me a used bolt now fitted and there now also a used left window motor is on it's way. New they're $900!!

So Lola is in bits for the weekend at Contis waiting on the left window motor.

Dave, it wasn't the wiring, that was all good. It was the motor. They're going to take a quick look at fixing it (seeing if there's an obvious problem) before installing the replacement. :-(

O2GO

Ron has been doing some amazing planning for the SITT driving and he and Patsy are coming on Saturday.

From Ron.....
Thanks for the note and Patsy and I look forward to seeing you and the others at your place on Saturday.

Meanwhile I’ve been planning our fuel stops and searching for the 98 petrol stations in the South Island. It turns out there are very few! But I have found ones in Greymouth, Timaru and Christchurch and these are in the attached doc. I phoned them to make sure they sell 98. One the way south will stop for 98 at the Mobil in Taupo, the BP in Taihape, and the BP in Lower Hutt as attached. That last one will get us to the 98 BP in Greymouth. So Mark will be able to get Franz Joseph on 98.

I've posted the doc to the SITT dropbox also.

Macca

Doug. Good work on the bolt and motor. Good things take time. Sounds like the car will be fit and healthy for your track outing on the 26th and the subsequent Targa intro.

Yes Ron has been working hard in the background. Its great he found that gas station in Greymouth. Shame about Southland but Nulon will work for most there. Technically a Greymouth refill should get us (just) to Queenstown via FJ. At FJ we will get the spa fired up and the Vino breathing for you hard assed 9 hour drive types. I think its just Matt, yourself and John right? Petes taking direct route? Id imagine by the end of the SITT your fast road pace in the 964 will be approaching the 987...what a great chance to get some serious 911 experience under your belt all in one hit!

John McM

Looks like Lola is there with Herman. Just checking with Dean whether I should collect Lola's old front struts from you so I can get Herman rolling again.