wforider

I have done allot track time on motorcycles in the past, rode them over 50 years. Now at 65 i have left the sport and have a 991.2 S. For some reason track time doesnt have the same appeal it once had. I lost a lower right leg to the previous sport and loved the cheap adrelin all the way until i quit.
I love the car and enjoy driving it. I know its hard to know what the car can do without experiencing track time or Auto X. So you can have space to make mistakes.
So if you have a gold nugget of advice for driving in the twisties back roads what would it be? Want to trust the car more and not do something to stupid...
Is Trail braking your thing or compression braking or controlling oversteer. Love to have some friedly tips to work on. Approach?
I brake with left foot and have move the gas by pushing It with right leg to accelerate, i have a hard metering the gas either slowly our very fast.
I guess what i want to know are some driving techniques, Whould a ride along be good?

Thanks for any and all driving advice,

Joe

Dkk16

Sorry to hear about your injury.

Just throwing this out there...
I grew up racing Motocross in the 70's from age 9-18. Our family had a successful trackside/mail order parts business that allowed me to travel the U.S. & race all year round. I got as high as top 3 local pro. Moved away at 18 & started riding/racing again at age 37, & unfortunately started getting injured again. You don't heal as fast at age 40 than age 14. 9 years ago I was at a practice track doing laps & landed wrong off of a jump, my lower back locked up on me, could not move my legs for 20 minutes. It was only back spasms, but I was freaked out. That was the last time I road a MX bike. I still watch on TV & go to Nationals & SX races. My lower back is trashed from racing. I have over 10 lower back procedures & 2 major surgeries. Unfortunately I had to stop working last year at 55.

My point is NOTHING will ever replace the rush, thrill, experience, aptitude, of exhilaration on riding / racing Motorcycles. I snow ski & do off-shore sailing... no comparison My friend who I used to ride with as an adult got his pilots license 6 years ago & does amateur air racing says the same thing in regards to MX riding.

I bought my first Porsche 2 months ago. 2018 911 Carrera & love it! But nothing compares to the smell of putting on a dirty motorcycle helmet or the smell of pre-mix exhaust. Nothing compares to how sore every body part is after a fun day of riding.

I have had the 911 on a few back county curvy roads and had a BLAST!! If you are just getting into the racing aspect, I would say join a local club & get lessons.

If your ever in the Phoenix area look me up!
Enjoy!!

Dennis

chuckbdc

Try PCA track events. Most PCA instructors are very experienced as drivers and more importantly, as instructors. The best of them listen to your interests and size up your capabilities on the way to helping you achieve what you are after. Depending on your skill level, they can take you from the standard safe "early braking in and early throttle out" to trail braking as appropriate for the speed of the car and radius of the corner, and help you adjust to the variations of the course.

Assuming you have PDK, they can get you to focus on placement and braking- what makes for the most satisfying track times. I would suggest that a good day at the track with a good instructor is worth more that anything you can learn on public roads by yourself.

StormRune

Driving in autocross events is a good way to discover what the car does at the limits in a reasonably safe environment. You can rarely get the car above 60-65mph on the courses we run since they are typically just one hard curve after another. After a few runs, when you feel safe pushing it, you'll discover just how the car feels when it pushes, oversteers, slides, trail brakes, etc. and you have room to experiment with how to experiment with recover (like braking lightly to get the front to bite and tuck in). Typically the pavement is normal asphalt for its pretty similar to what you feel on the road. Most clubs set up the course with substantial distances to hard objects so the odds of hitting anything damaging are very low and require you to get kinda stupid to even get close to a curb or a pole. Autocrossers are generally very helpful and understanding of newcomers and even have designated people to help coach you beforehand and even ride with you during your first runs. So don't worry about being the "new guy".

The worst you can typically do is get some cone marks on the car and so far any of those I've gotten have rubbed off. I also use masking tape to cover in front of the rear wheels and the sides of the nose just in case I do nip a cone or two.

wforider

Dkk thanks for your insight, me i have had 24 surgeries over the years, that's a 5-way bypass thrown in their as well.... haha.
When I "ride" one can feel adrenalin on any given turn, in a car, it feels like you have to drive extremely fast for conditions and then It feels like your going to die hurtling through space in a block of aluminum...lol.
Chuckbdc a PCA track event sounds like the right way to approach my lack of understanding of my lack of car skills, Also a safe place where to get the feel of a car stepping out or pushing in over and understeer situations.
Stormrune, Auto X will probably be my decision. Funny you say feeling like the New Guy, it does feel like that sometimes to me, in the biking world it was just the opposite, I was a go-to guy with skills..
Being handicap, I feel I have to be better than most or don't do it at all syndrome ...I know F'd up.

So when spring arrives I am going to tap into the local Auto x lads, sounds like the best place for me. I will bring allot of painters tape with me.
Funny just talking about this has me feeling less anxious,

drcollie

The problem with a modern Porsche is the car is so capable, the electronic stability control is so good, and the car is so fast, that by the time the car is fully out of sorts and skidding away from you - there's probably a heck of a lot of speed as well and the crash is going to be big. This is why I stopped right seat instructing and retired from that as well a few years back after doing it 20 years. Students didn't show up any more in 150 hp BMW's and skinny tires , everyone comes to the track with a 400 HP car and big meats on them. Which means everything is in control at high speeds when suddenly....it isn't - and you get the big crash. 100 mph + recoveries are difficult if not nearly impossible.

For that reason, its pretty hairy to explore limits on your typical canyon-carving road. You're right - there is no room for recovery, no run-off, just trees, rocks and ditches. And trees and rocks don't move.

Autocross is a lot of fun, however its not really where you find limits of the car so much as its like playing a chess game with your car - it's as much strategy on how to drive the car around the cones as it is the performance of the car. Last one I did this past spring I took FTD (fastest time of day) because I walked that course forwards and backwards and knew exactly how I was going to drive it before the key even went into the ignition. That's a good place to run your Porsche as it challenges your mind as much as the car.

bkrantz

Yes, there is no sane/legal way to really push a 991 on public roads. Better to just enjoy the feeling of a surperbly competent car on fun roads. For thrills on the track, something with less power but good handling and brakes can be pushed to the limit (and beyond) without too much risk. Of course, maybe not as thrilling as a bike...

Bob Z.

There is nothing in respect to racing like motorcycle racing, which I have done as well so I know what you are feeling; hope you continue to do well but unfortunatly car racing is not going to give you the same rush, but I encourage you to try it and it is safer.

Nm2far

Bob Z.

My last bike as a ZX14R and before that a Super Blackbird, which were both bike, heavy bikes but fast and easier to lean/race than many think. But as I aged and got a little smarter I am satiisfied taking the Fat Boy Lo out for a cruise....never thought I would have a car faster than a bike!