Turbodan

ahhh yes it was excellence. anybody with one of these engines should read that article.

fc-racer

There is a registry on the 997 GT3 forum with failure history. This has happened on tracked cars as well as exclusively street driven cars. I sent an email to Porsche Cars Canada's CEO and press secretary, with no response. Disappointed in their customer service. I will next try to speak with someone.

I'm willing to pay for the long term fix (bolt through the fitting and the housing, or full welding), but I want Porsche's ok so that I won't lose my warranty. Buying a new Porsche has overall been disappointing.

jumper5836

I agree, I guess if I were to think used I would probably have to figure in getting a permanent fix done into the price after purchase.

fc-racer

Not sure if folks know how scary this failure can be. Normally, I can hit 235km/h down the Mosport straight, but this time, I was slowed down by some other cars around and only hit 210km/h. My speed going into 8 is usually much higher as well, but again, the cars in front saved me from a lot of damage. I stopped going to the track because of this and will wait until I have a fix in place.

Here's how it looked from inside my car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHiXgC13QME

And how it looked from one of the cars following me as they slipped on the coolant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR0L4lpcwVI

Turbodan

wow...so Farzan your coolant line opened up and the c4 hit the wall? was there much damage to the c4? that sucks. where was the flagger?????

fc-racer

The C4 driver is a friend and thankfully, the damage was only cosmetic and easily repaired. It could have been much, much worse for all involved. The star driver of the day was Dr. Abe in his white 997 as he danced the car four wheels off on coolant and brought it back on track at 8. No idea how he did that.

Unfortunately, Porsche does nothing about this, even though it's now made it into a respected worldwide magazine I think it was Michael Jackson that said it best: "they don't really care about us".

jumper5836

Probably would take a really bad fatal accident, in where a Insurance company was going after a large sum of money for it to make waves.

pontifex4

I hadn't seen the Evo video. A flagger would have really made that a safer situation.

Turbodan

so what group was it with no flagger at top of the hill?
apex did this last year when I participated...they said no flaggers and I thought they were joking...ever again would I run without flaggers!

pontifex4

There is a flagger at the entrance to 8 (right side, just before the spun car) in the video, but that's too late, in this case.

FFaust

You and me both, and many others who pitted to check tire pressures before we realized what happened.

So, any further word from within pongo? I "understand" the when a dealership "fixes" one of these, they simply re-glue the offending coupling. Fact? Anything more permanent coming? You can pm if you want

BTW, water + wetter for me until a permanent fix.

For now fixes are tig-welding or pinning the couplings. Both require engine drop.

Mark Lue

Anyone thought about how the race teams deal with this issue...maybe they hava better solution.

Torontoworker

We (our club) have had quite the time with this very issue over the last few years. The bottom line is that the tail is wagging the dog here. Mosport has a hands off policy on not only how many flaggers there are but IF there are any flaggers. Currently anyone can rent Mosport and decide they do not want flaggers. Some try to get away with what ever number they think they can get away with based upon their own formula or ratio of number of cars on the track = how many I hire. Mosport directs the 'renters' to MMS but these renters either make the call and TELL us how many they want or some don't even make the call.

I think it's a crazy way of running a major race track but they don't pay me any money for advice - I believe Myles gets the big money - hence it's his problem… and YOURS.

We've had events with NO workers lots of times - movie shoots and manufacturer demo days for example. We're now seeing track lapping ‘renters’ putting on lapping days and reducing the number of workers even though the number of cars on the track has increased in some cases.

Here is the problem: To remain in business with these low buck cut price renters - the ‘quality’ renters are having to look at their bottom line and ask for 6 workers instead of the previous years 8 workers they asked for. Where will the bottom be? We've already seen incidents last year that could have been prevented had there been flaggers.

From looking at the videos posted here; we could have had three cars written off and people hurt. The red 911 spun to the inside of cor 8 and he was smart enough (thank you) to pull it onto the access road by the gate. What if he had been center track and the next car goes sideways on the fluid under braking and into him at well over 100kph+? ? Not pretty huh? How good a ‘value’ is the price you paid for your lapping day if your car is flat bedded home to be dropped in your driveway as only good for being a parts car for Rennlist members to pick over or worse – you or your a passenger is in the hospital ? Remember that renters waver you signed? Good luck fighting in court for any non OHIP medical bills or car repairs… Your passenger can sue YOU and you have NO car insurance to protect you as your in an 'off road use' situation. Something to think about when someone asks you for a 'ride' around the track I might add. (hint)

It is incumbent upon the public to select a group or company that cares about your safety. Ask them how many workers they will have and what stations they will be on. You guys are driving street cars that now lap faster then Sterling Moss ever drove around Mosport. Think about that for a minute. Most of you have NO nomex, NO roll cage and NO automatic fire suppression. We have cars that drive in Region racing who are slower then some of you and they have all of this safety equipment plus there are three or more workers per corner with fire bottles and first responders safety training. There ARE reasons for this. How long will it take anyone from pit lane to get to you when you go missing? Will anyone notice right away?

I’m not trying to scare anyone here – I want to inform you all that it is a buyer beware zone here and there are risks going with the lower price point or the group who put profits ahead of reducing risk.

Torontoworker

Another thing on the fluid issue: Should this not be a Transport Canada safety recall issue? We've just seen a Toyota recall over an issue for vehicles well out of warranty simply because it was a safety issue - and it was a problem not as dire as this issue. Fluid spewing out onto the back wheels of a 350+HP car? Doesn't anyone at Porsche believe this to be a MAJOR safety recall situation? Hello? I wouldn't bother with Porsche Canada any longer - they already KNOW about this issue and you'd all have your letters in the mail by now if they were planning on doing anything about it. I'd be emailing TC right now to kick them up the backside and FIX this fault!