Sharpening the scalpel - 997 GT3 Track Rat

[Preamble] Almost a year into ownership so I guess it's about time to get documenting. When looking for a tool that is just going to get wailed on, it didn't have to be the neatest example with low kilometers and perfect paint and to be honest it didn't even have to be a clubsport as you can buy a lot of extra stuff for the $25K premium that the second-hand market was charging. I didn't have a modification plan or anything but knowing myself the car was not likely to remain bone-stock for long so deciding between the nuanced handling aspects of the series 1 996 GT3 through to the series 2 997 GT3 wasn't really an issue. I just like the more classic look of the 997, from the round headlights to the dash design and from there it was hard to justify the difference between series 1 and series 2. [The car] Relatively speaking, my car is not so special, but it's perfect for me. I'm not sure about anyone else, but when buying a car I tend to start at the bottom and work my way up and fortunately for me my car was right at the bottom. The car presented as a touring model but after chatting to the previous owner about it and mentioning my intention for the car he happily proceeded to tell me that he had a whole host of track-day stuff that he'd acquired for the car during his tenure, including CAMS approved half-cage, bucket seats, harnesses, a spare set of wheels shod in A050 tyres and a fire extiguisher; pretty much everything the budding track-day enthusiast needed to get going and that he'd really only used the car to do track days himself. As the car was quite remote a bit of due diligence had to be done on my part but in the end a deal was struck and I organized to fly to Adelaide and pick the car up mostly in track-ready configuration and have the additional bits palletized and sent to my warehouse. [The Goal] When you read or watch any car-related material, the GT3 is supposed to be the epitome of handling and feedback. Combine that with the reputation the 911 has as being "the thinking man's sports car" and I was keen to see what all the fuss was about. There's also plenty of data out there about what lap times others have set as PCV is very active on all the various Victorian circuits. Ultimately the goal for me is to (relatively safely) see how quick I can make this car. Ultimately I've always had the view that as a driver you need to adapt to the way a certain car drives but as a tinkerer you can also bring the car towards you and meet somewhere in the middle, so this thread will mostly be focused on my observations of driving this car on the track, what changes I've had to make to my own driving style and what changes I've made to the car to make it drive more like how I want. [Insert random track-day photo]

Nice & good luck with it.. I had the same car for 3 years in PCV competition even won the Championship in its class one year. I trashed the brain out of my car & enjoyed every lap in it.. If your going to compare my lap times keep in mind my car was 100% standard apart from brake pads & r-spec tyres & I'm not the best driver.. see you out there

I should also ad that the current GT2 class lap records are all with a 997.2 GT3

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Thanks James, I'll keep that in mind...eventually I'm planning on jumping on the PCV bandwagon once I'm happy with where I'm at with the car. [Track Day #1 - Nugget Nationals Round #1 @ Winton - March 2017] A few years ago some of my friends from my regular track-day club decided that things were getting pretty intense in the chase for lap times and that everyone should just take a chill pill and The Nugget Nationals was born. Rules are you can't enter a car that costs more than $3,000 and the engine can't be more than 1.5-litres in capacity. I usually go up to lend a hand and track whatever I have at the time. Unfortunately the 911 is non-complaint for championship points. So three days into ownership and after a quick check-up of the car it's off to Winton for a shakedown. One of my friends that usually races a Civic brought his old man's GT3 out to play so we could a few laps together. My initial impressions were that 911s are a bit of a mixed bag. As everyone seems to go on and on about the steering response and feedback is stand-out, but throughout the day there were definitely struggles in adapting to rear-engine layout. In a nutshell I think you have to pay a lot of attention to the timing and duration of trail-braking to steady-state to throttle-down. Too much trail and the tail breaks loose, too early on the gas the car pushes wide. The timing of it all is different to cars I've tracked previously and of all the cars I've owned the 911 appreciates very precise inputs. I also hated the street tyres that came with the car. Not sure what the factory tyre was but the car had Michelin Pilot Sports. You could feel the car move a lot on the sidewalls and they became pretty greasy pretty fast. There was some weird inertia stuff going on with the rear-engine that I didn't like; it's like you get the car loaded up into a corner and a split second later the engine settles on the mounts and the rear end momentarily unbalances. Finally, having trouble with gear selection, 2nd gear is super tall and I was trying to use it through the slower hair-pins but the second didn't like being selected when the car was loaded laterally and under brakes. In the end Track Day #1 finished up with a 1:40.08 and a bunch of things for me to think about; getting a more familiar set of tyres, figuring out why it's hard to select 2nd and working around what I perceived as the movement of the engine independently of the chassis. Overall though the car is enticing for all the reasons everyone talks about, the car punishes and rewards in equal measure and the punishments are pretty benign. As soon as you push a little too hard and the car steps a little or pushes a little you know you're done for that lap and when you do stitch a good lap together it feels like an achievement.

[Track Day #2 - Haunted Hills - May 2017] The next scheduled outing was Haunted Hills down in Gippsland. Not exactly a track, more like a winding country road. I had the car re-shod in Hankook RS3s and the car felt all the better for it. Though there wasn't really the chance to get a lot of heat into the tyre there was a lot more feedback on the limit. There's not a lot of track time, three runs in clock-wise format and three runs in figure-eight. The start line is pretty much on a right hand turn and I'm still having some issues getting the car into second as there is a small window between the start and the next corner where the car isn't laterally loaded. I googled this issue and it seems there are few people having similar problems but no definite solution (about 50/50 driver vs. mechanical issue from the looks of it). I really like the second cross-over on the figure-eight track; seeing how long you can stay on the gas for as you come up over the crest and down into the valley and the last two corners are wide and fun, this was the first time I got a good feel for sliding the car into the apex under brakes. Looking back I can't seem to find the results but they weren't that spectacular, but a great day nonetheless.

[Trackday #3 & #4 EXE @ Winton - 03/06 - 04/06] Starting to get a good feel for the car now that it's on some decent rubber. The transmission shifts perfectly fine on the streets, it's only fully loaded that it won't shift so I did some research around not quite finding 2nd and came up with these squishy inserts that go into the voids of the transmission mount; and while the car was on the hoist I also threw in a set of semi-sold engine mounts in an attempt to deal with the inertia of the engine; Finally, the 18-inch tyres with A050s also arrived. OK so pretty much good to roll with the first round of minor tweaks installed. Seeing as it was a two day event, I was going to split my time between driving the car on the RS-3 street tyres then transition across to the A050s, which had seen better days. All the tweaks panned out as anticipated and the car was instantly faster, going 1:38.4 in the first session. The weird inertia from the rear end was gone and while I still miss second gear on occasion, the 3rd to 2nd downshift is pretty reliable now, though if the car is very loaded laterally it's still a bit hit and miss. The times kept coming down as continued to build confidence in the car, just before lunch I put down a 1:35.9 and the tyres were starting to feel a little heat-soaked so I decided to switch over to the A050s early. At the end of the day I'd managed to put down a 1:33.5, which turned out to be my fastest time for the weekend. It was nice to have the car feeling nice and balanced and be able to build some trust in how the car is going respond to inputs. It's also nicer to actually drive the car on street tyres, the way it moves around and the more progressive breakaway is a much nicer feeling than the snappier semis.

Nice write up, did you end up selling those 996 GT3 wheels (above)?

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Hi Dan, yeah sold them to one of the PCV crew :-)

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Nice, if they were the standard colour I probably would have snapped them up! They were actually a bit more rare than standard GT3 wheels because the fronts were 8" (if I recall correctly) rather than 8.5". Anyway good to hear you got them sold

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Yeah they were an 8-inch which was a little weird :-) [Trackday #5 - Sandown 09/07] As I've been getting used to the car it's kinda time to start punting it elsewhere, this time at my least favourite track; Sandown. It's a Tampered Motorsport Day which is generally peppered with a few loose units. Actually the midfield suffers for it the most, once you're in the faster groups it's generally OK except for the odd V8-supercar replica that you need to exercise caution around. Thankfully I'm not alone as my mate Daz has rocked up with his 2J BRZ. The standard braking hardware worked fine on street tyres but you could feel a bit of fade on semis, so I switched out to my favourite Project Mu HC+ which I've run on many different cars. Once again on the 911 they don't disappoint, however the expensive Castrol SRF is pretty much done half-way through the day which leads to issues not only with braking but with gear selection, so after putting down a tardy 1.24.1 before lunch, I cooled the brakes down as best I could and limped the car back home. Now on the list of things to do was find some better fluid.

Yeah the faster groups are generally quite numpy free but I have come across a couple of knobs who bought ex V8 Supercars and couldn't drive.  I remember one passing me down PI straight, I was concentrating on safely passing a slower car, he was close to the pit wall and I was 2/3 across the track when this dickhead decided he'd go 3 wide, channeling SVG with 2 wheels almost on the grass to get by me.  Scared the crap out of me.  It was a bloody sprint day, not the final race of the Supercars championship! good write up, keep them coming, GT cars are quite impressive out of the box and can be seriously quick with a few tweaks. 2JZ BRZ, that sounds like my flavour, any details?

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They were available as a set in 8" front and standard 11" rear later (2004 onwards) as a tequipment option for Carreras.

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Not sure how your going to find better brake fluid than SRF sounds like your asking to much of your pads i.e they are not biting enough on the disk therefor creating to much friction heat as you press harder on the brake pedal to get the 1.35 ton car stopped..  i suggest a more aggressive pad like a Pagid RS29 or my favourite the Ferodo DS1.11 for full on racing. A more aggressive pad will create less heat & less pedal pressure will be required allowing the brake fluid to do its work as designed

+1 on the Pagids Great thread by the way, will keep an eye on it.... I'm going through a similar process with my 7.1 too

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Actually it's for sale for a reasonable price; $65K. Purchased as a rolling shell and everything on it is genuine, it's one of those no-expense-spared builds but it's a handful of a car and I don't think Darrin is super keen on it after writing off his Evo at one of the WTAC events. Competed in World Time Attack a couple of times...if you search "2JZ BRZ" on Facebook you'll find it. Thanks for the feedback Guys, I never thought of it that way to be honest. It's only been problematic at Sandown due to having two pretty big braking zones per lap and I haven't had an issue since but I will definitely look at new pads next time around.

Also look at Performance Friction. Their 11 compound is ace and they work like new right down to the backing plates.

^^^^ This guy. I was previously a fan of the Pagid RS29, but have been told they have changed their formula, and my experience with the lest set tends to agree. I have gone PFC and much prefer them.

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I found my pagids became a lot less effective once the pads wore past half way. Also doesn’t help that they’re almost double the price of PFC! Only criticism of PFC that you hear is they can be harsh on rotors, but show me a race pad that isn’t!

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Very true the pagids are not good once you get half way into them..

I found mine pretty rubbish straight out of the box. Had found them to be a mega pad in the past, but just didn't seem to have the initial bite and modulation I was used to with the last set.

Ferodo Racing DS1.11 is what was used in Aust Carrera Cup with the 996 Cup's i find them the best pad I've driven on by far, they work perfectly in 996/997 GT3's & Cup's

Thanks for the feedback everyone...will definitely do a bit more research into pads next time around...which will be a little way off as I just put in another set of HC+ pads, which are working OK for me at Winton and PI for now. [Trackday #6 - Winton 30/07] With the A050s finally down past indicator, I took the opportunity to change over to Hankook Z221s, which I've used for years and pick up a set of new wheels. The previous owner had muffin-topped 245s on the 8-inch and I'd gone the other way and stretched 235s on a 9-inch. Wheels in question are Rays / Volk Racing TE37 RTs, which were pretty much the only available TE37 for the 911 (I have a thing for TE37s). The OEM rotors were also showing signs of wear around the holes; little cracks radiating outwards, so I swapped them out for a set of DBA5000s, which I've used before in conjunction with HC+ pads and they work consistently. I was expecting an overall reduction in front-end grip due to the smaller width front tyre but I got the opposite. I can only guess that the stretch results in a stiffer sidewall profile which in turn gives you a better contact patch. There was also a slight variation on the offsets which would have probably contributed to the handling change. So with increased front-end grip the car became quite oversteery to the point where I ended up stiffening the front sway-bar, which balanced the car back out, but a little late in the day. The handling characteristic of the Z221s are also a little different to the A050s they're a bit more sensitive to tyre pressure and go off a bit faster (soft compound vs. soft compound). Best time for the day; 1:34.5, about a second off my fastest time so far.

[Trackday #7 - Circuit Club @ Winton 12/08] Ahh this was a memorable track day, as I finally start to unlock a few secrets of the 911, thanks to my good mate who let me follow him around the track in the first session. I realized there are a couple of small exploits you can use and rather than the traditional high-low-high corner approach there are some corners where you can consider shortest distance as an option to save some time. Managed to squeeze out a new PB of 1:33.2 and come away with some new insights about the car. Also set up the GoPro on the half-cage so now I've got some vids.

Nice driving. Thanks for sharing. Was it my ears or did i hear the stereo on? Just made me wonder, as much as i often drive with no stereo on so i can enjoy hearing the car, would playing something like Metallica make me drive better? It definitely gets my blood pumping, hence i have personally changed to Jazz to calm myself and avoid any chance of heated driving (road rage or disappointment of others causing frustration.)

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Yeah you can't actually hear anything with the helmet on and the engine wailing away in the background, but yeah the stereo was on haha.

Didn't sound like Kylie Minogue so you're lucky! @Kammo

It just occurred to me that I knew this car when it was in SA from the PCSA track days. Coincidentally I work with the previous owner’s niece. I always remember it being quite a clean car.

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Well it's good to validate the provenance of the car, didn't spend too much time with him but the previous owner did seem like a pretty genuine guy. [Track Day #8 - EXE @ Winton 07/10] After a bit of a chat with @edgy , I'd been keeping my ear to the ground for an upgraded differential. My old 350Z had an aggressive clutch pack which was probably the best track mod I ever did but I could never get the backlash right so it was a bit of pain to drive on the road. @Mike737 suggested I have a chat with Nick at Cascone Auto Sports and he happened to have a 997 cup car diff which had done a single season with minimal wear and tear. The difference with these diffs is that they have a much higher pre-load and more clutch plates. I believe the preload is around 90Nm versus 15Nm for the stock differential. I was fortunate enough to have a bit of a chat with a Manthey race engineer who suggested dropping that back to 50Nm for semi-slick tyres, though I haven't had the time to get it pulled out and reset. Nick did the install, custom made the shim stack to get the lash setting just right and trundling about the street there's no difference in feel. If you load the car up a little bit the rear end is much faster to respond but there's no typical locking issues at low speeds when maneuvering around a car park. I think this is probably from not using an organic friction material like the Japanese manufacturers so the slip qualities at low lock are a bit different. Anyway, was pleasantly surprised that's for sure. Heading back down to Winton there was an overall net gain in time, doing fairly consistent times under 1:33, but the sway bar settings only offered a slightly too tail-happy setup or a setup that pushes a little from the transition from dynamic to steady state on entry. I opted for the latter as a safe option and ran higher pressures at the rear in an attempt to get the car to rotate a little more and finished the day with a 1:32.5, about half a second up the road from the old PB.

That's awesome to hear man! I like that the new LSD makes the car more predictable when transitioning, and helps it rotate better.. also no tail wagging on heavy braking. I am now onto chasing my suspension setup/alignment, which we are resetting next week ahead of sprint 2, its all stock save for the DSC Sport PASM controller + 3 axis accelerometer... so far I like the improvements I've seen with that DSC module, the jury is still out on the Cup Car 4.0 ratios....

Wow that’s some great times for Winton! Love the write up and insight, especially wrt brakes. Cheers

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Nice! What sort improvements did you feel with the DSC module and are you able to apply some control to the dampers or are they presets? Are the cup car ratios final drive of full gear set? Thanks, she's coming along, still a bit left I think...have you decided whether or not to come along to the track day in a couple of weeks? [Pit-stop November 2017] So a bit after the Circuit Club track day I thought I'd take the car for a drive the clutch pedal felt completely off to the point where it wasn't coming up off the floor. Funnily enough it was fine on the drive home but after sitting for a bit there was a pressure problem to the point where I couldn't select a gear with the engine running. Fortunately I'm a few kms from Porsche Centre Melbourne so I was able to limp the car there by sticking in first all the way. To me it kinda felt like a master / slave cylinder problem but PCM diagnosed it as needing a new clutch and flywheel...gah. Post analysis it was concluded that general wear-and-tear, though I would have assumed the clutch would have gone more than 48,000kms. Labour wasn't too bad but parts were pretty expensive, especially compared to US prices.

Did you stick a single mass flywheel in it?

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I've supplied my own genuine parts for PCM to fit before, they were pretty good about it you just don't get the warranty. If it's preventative maintenance or you can wait for the parts to come it's worth it. Awesome shot in their workshop

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The Cup car ratios, I've only installed the ring and pinion which is 4.0 ratio versus our tall 3.44, of course you can change individual gear ratios but that gets stupid expensive! The reason I did this, is because the car felt like it could use more punch on exits.... I really notice this when running with Cayman GT4's that are about similar pace, I am faster on entry and mid corner but those GT4's just put it down and exit pretty hard! Again, I'm still learning the car again with this change... I'll keep you posted after this weekends sprint. My anecdotal findings on the DSC are that the car is more stable on high speed braking and cornering, and also seemingly it has taken lots of the "bounce" out of it when it comes to some of the rough stuff. This is a copy paste from Tom Chan at TPC on the DSC controller, it basically opens up the operating parameters of the dampers and adds one extra input value (you need to add the 3 axis accelerometer to our 997.1's), you can play with the programming if you like too, but its meant to be a dynamic system, I plan on adding the tractive dampers at some point. OEM PASM modes: PASM Normal mode, 20-25% PASM Sport mode, 85-90% PASM has no access to the percentage in between its two modes. DSC PASM controller: DSC Normal mode, 10-100% based on inputs such as speed, g-force, and brake line pressure. DSC Sport mode, 20-100% b ased on inputs such as speed, g-force, and brake line pressure. Either DSC mode can be used for track since the inputs on track are in the higher ranges. DSC Normal mode on track will feel slightly firmer during initial turn-in since its base value is 10% less than in Sport mode. The 10% less initial stiffness is good for street comfort, and for wet/damp track. Really, you hear people bang on about PASM being a driver aid, but the truth is that is bull shit.... its more of a hinderance on the track in stock form... I've tweaked my alignment now and will see how it all goes! Cheers

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That sounds like a clever adaptation of what's already there...I probably would have gone for something like that if I'd known about it earlier but have taken a more traditional path. Interested in hearing how you go with the 4.0 final drive. I tend to use second gear a lot because it's so tall, pretty much any low speed or hairpin corner...do you use 2nd a lot up in NSW? I would imagine turns 2 and 9 at EC, turn 8 and 11 at Wakefield? When I had my 350Z I went from 3.5 to 3.7 final drive, it didn't really do all that much...should have gone the 3.9.

[Porsche Advance Driver Training Open Lap - Philip Island 11/17] After getting my clutch and flywheel replaced and with the suspension setup running mostly fine (more importantly pretty benign) I booked into one of the Porsche days, negotiating my way out having to do the Level 1 and Level 2 and went straight to open lapping. Three groups were loosely arranged into slowest to fastest by way of volunteer, obviously some potential issues with an honour system like that but it seemed to work for the most part. It was an interesting crowd and it seemed there were a few people who hadn't really tracked before that had gone levels one and two previously and were backing it up with a third day of open track. When I asked where I could my tools in the driver's briefing the gentleman next to me asked whether I could see my engine. When I replied "no" he then proceeded to ask why then, had I brought tools? Not sure if he was being facetious or just naive. Thankfully, met some much nicer people through the day like @DJM , haha. It shaped up to be a pretty warm day and a 1:49.1 wasn't too bad for a PI shakedown. The suspension felt pretty soft but I learnt a few things unique to a 911, like when the car is feeling loose on a high speed entry like turn 1, mashing the throttle straightens it right out. Also got one of the pro drivers in attendance to do a few laps in my car where I could take some comparison data. He did a 1:47.xx by getting on the gas earlier out of turn 1 and going flat through Hay Shed. Overall a pretty good day but on the expensive side, you could do three trackdays at PI for the price of the 1 day organised by Porsche, but there's a good amount of lap time with not a whole lot of cars on the track.

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Good day, shame it was a bazillion degrees (I think I saw 35 on the dash). How much did it cost?  I negotiated it into purchase of the car from PCM so wasn't sure what it actually cost. Like you I convinced them I've done plenty of laps in other cars so jumped straight into Level 3. Steve Owen drove my car for a couple of laps and was substantially quicker than me, with my fat arse in the car with him!  it's all about setting the car up right on entry and then driving through corners more quickly rather than ragging it on the way in and fighting it through the corner.  SMOOTH is FAST.  The bastards make it look so easy.

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Yup, Wakefield and SMP GP has lots of 2-3 corners! I need to get a better run at the GP circuit, but I ran Wakefield park on Saturday just passed, and I managed to break into the 1.06's, where as my previous time was in the 1.08's... interesting to note that a couple of GT4's that were similar pace to me are still in the 1.08's & 1.07's so I believe that the 4.0's have definitely made an improvement! @Robert930 also did the ratio change same time as me, and he improved his times too (we're in the same class and run group). No doubt the new wheel alignment has helped as it was too aggressive before, I think the new ratios really highlighted that, as I found that I couldnt be as aggressive when putting the power down on exits, the car just lacked the lateral grip to do that. All being considered, I am very happy with the ratio change, its made the car easier to drive in traffic too... granted its not a cheap exercise, but well worth doing IMO.

Great info and sharing guys ..

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2 seconds is impressive, especially at Wakefield. 1:06 is blisteringly quick!

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Yeah like 20 possibly 30 seconds faster than my best efforts and moments of manic mayhem in a MK1 escort.  Thanks for laying down some rubber, gives me a little traction .. I will get there one day in the GT3 , for now I will just be envious

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It’s getting there for sure, I think all being considered, it’s a good time, definitely a little bit more left in the driver and some more to be had with good suspension and aero.

[February 2018] Probably one of the last modifications I'll do on this car; a set of KW clubsports. I've always enjoyed pretty good success with KWs but installing them also fixed inherent handling flaws in past cars like the chronic understeer of the TT-RS. There are some minor adjustments that could be made to the 911 especially now with the differential but overall this car is extremely well balanced out of the box so the expectation is actually to go backwards for a while until I get the setup correct. Overall the car sits 5mm lower front and rear and I've been able to extract a bit more camber from the fronts, now just north of -3 degrees and around -2 at the rear. [Track for days @ Winton 1/03] As expected the car has gone backwards in time and handling. The new suspension felt pretty twitchy in the rear as the rear spring rate feels noticeably harder than the front. Also, because the ambient temps across the day were well into the mid 30s the tyres were out of their optimal operating range resulting in not many laps to tune before the tyres would overheat. Consequently I was only able to make a few damper changes and settle the car marginally to finish up with a 1:34.2...can't win 'em all. There were a few other Porsches floating around that day so I got to meet some of the PCV folk, coincidentally my old wheels were also there on a 996 GT3.

[Circuit Club @ Winton 12/03] Circuit Club at Winton was another highly frustrating day. Knowing the car would be a bit oversteery I continue to work the front dampers on the hope that I'd find a happy place. Unfortunately it wasn't to be as it was another roasting day so I could only really get one or two hot laps in before the rear tyres fell away. In the end I realized that it should probably have been a wholesale swaybar change to correct the attitude of the car as the combination of relatively stiff feeling rear springs and being able to optimize front camber has resulted a car with a lot more front end grip relative to the rear. Managed to get the time down to a low 1:35.xx but the times were inconsistent and all over the place. Towards the end of the day my frustration culminated in this big off at the elbow (T10) where the car slid and I buried the throttle in a vain attempt to carry the slide. The car bit back the other way and I stopped a few metres from the wall, heart-in-mouth.

Love the persistence mate…

Nice save ?

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Where there is no skill, you make up for with sheer force of will...haha! In the most liberal meaning of the word ? [Segue - April 2018] So the car is not so happy with me after I almost binned her (or maybe it's just coincidence) and the clutch is being dinky so taking the car out of track-action to get to the bottom of the issue, tidy up a few things and make a few little changes. In the meantime, I've decided to work on my drifting skills and purchase this mint 2002 Silvia Spec S GT. I had one of these years and years ago and never got to really smash it around a track, so it's back to the future! Also took her out to Winton to have crack with my 86-mates...1:44.xx on a set of Bridgestone RE003s. The S-Chassis is such an entertaining platform and the stock speeds on road tyres makes the track feel twice as wide for lots of slidey entries and exits. Had such a great day and ordered a few bits and pieces so that the car will be able to do triple duty as a drifter, track-day and daily car.

@Kammo with oversteer have you tried backing off the rear sway bar or tighten the front. That is how I dialed it out of my track car

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Yep so sway bars are when a large change needs to be made, dampers for smaller changes. I was hoping to be able to make the necessary attitude changes in the damper but it's looking like more of a sway bar change. As the car is feeling nervous on entry I will look to effect a front sway bar change rather than a rear sway bar change, plus I guess having five holes at the front should mean that each change is less acute than the rear's 3 hole setup (based on no actual hard evidence, haha).

Nice work developing the car. I guess if you aren't having the odd spin you're not tying hard enough Sounds like you have a fair bit of experience setting up cars. One tip I got given was always try to focus on increasing overall grip. Sounds like you have done a good job of that on the front axle, and just need to chase more at the rear. (softer bar, softer spring, softer compression damping, camber change etc.) As opposed say to stiffening up the front which might balance the car, but overall be a slower thing.

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Agree, fine tuning use front, bigger change soften rear

[May 2018] So I ended up taking the car down to Cascone Autosports as Nick and I both agreed that the clutch issues were probably master or slave cylinder related and I decided to change both, basically something that should have been done with the clutch and flywheel when everything was out at PCM. Anyway after the changeover everything felt great again, positive feel with good pressure. Had a bit of time before the next event so decided to tidy up some elements of the car; after a decade of wear the original vinyl paint protector things were starting to look a bit manky. One of my mates does wrapping and paint protection stuff so I got him to change the vinyl out to something apparently fancier and also do a ceramic coat paint protection something something...car looks shiny in any case. As mentioned before my car was originally delivered as a touring spec but the previous owners had some racier stuff installed, however the Velo driver's seat was a bit on the large side, the action on the rail wasn't brilliant and it didn't have provision for the seat-belt buckle so I swapped both seats out for some Bride Vios III Japan FIA. They fit me much better and the aforementioned issues fixed with a rail suited to 986/987/996/997. The suede material is quite nice to sit in and carbon backs add some bling. Finally, sent my track wheel off to Wheel Solutions to get fixed after going sideways into the turn 3 outside ripple strip at Winton.

Love the BRIDE seats, use to rock a Zeta 2 back in the day... it was so comfortable for a fix back.

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I originally ordered Zeta 3 FIAs but there was some concern about the shoulder wings hitting the door card so I decided to play safe with the Vios, the Zeta 3s would have probably cleared but only juuuuuust. [EXE @ Winton June Track weekend] So finally the car is all setup. Clutch feeling sweet and the front swaybar notched up one step harder in an effort to balance the car. The weather is also perfect; chilly morning peaking in the mid 20s by the afternoon and after months of disappointing setup it all finally comes together. Slowly, slowly I picked up the pace and finally started wailing on the car and it felt better than ever right on the limit. The push-understeer at mid entry is pretty much tuned out and there's nothing but grip to the point I'm not pushing the car hard enough. At the end of the weekend a consistent string of 1:33s with a PB of 1:33.3 puts it back on track. Theoretical PB according the natsoft is around the mid 1.32s so there's something to aim for. The important thing is that the car finally feels sorted and I can start building on things from here, a little tweak of the front dampers in either direction should fine tune things further but for now it's just drive it to find the limits again.

Yeh boya!

Good to get the setup dialled back in, I know exactly how that feels... I'm pretty much at the same point in development, the last time I was at the SMP GP circuit, the car just felt shit.. last Wakefield outing we spent time on the setup prior, and during, that was rewarding, I hope it feels as good when we return to GP in a few weeks. I did sway bar settings too in that last round, I think 1 hole down from hardest at the front and then based on my feedback, Richard Perini recommended that we took the rear one down to the middle setting (it was at the firmest), OEM sway bars still. My complaint was oversteer on exit

Now you can work on tire pressures to complete the puzzle

I had a 997 GT2 rear sway bar on my 997.1 GT3 it helped the under steer issue that the 997.1 GT3 has.. if anyone is interested in it i would sell it...

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when are you going join us at PCV track days?

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I'll be along to a couple in 2019 ? A bit of hiatus over the Winter given that the weather is crap and my other passion is snow sports. Took the opportunity to refresh the centre console which has gotten scratched and just a bit manky over time. Hydro dip in a dry carbon finish... [Nugget Nationals at Winton 21/10] Didn't get much of a drive as the car spat out one of its coolant fittings in the morning warm-up session. Coming out of the T5 sweeper the rear end broke loose. Managed to gather it up by T7 and limped her into the pits. Initially I thought it was a tyre or suspension issue but then saw smoke pouring out of the back + coolant low indicator and immediately suspected fitting failure. Couldn't see much so organized for a tow. I had my S15 up as well so the day wasn't a total write-off...go 90s Japanese turbo cars! [The next week] Fortunately for me a new race mechanic has opened up next to where I work so got the car back to his shop, he pulled out a few bits and pieces and sure enough one of the fittings had come off. Either a poor amount of adhesive had been initially applied to the fitting or it had simply corroded away over time (the darker parts on the fitting is adhesive). Dropped the oil and there is no indication of water in oil (nor indication of overheating from instruments at the track) so fairly sure I got away without lifting the head lifting. Had the fitting machined and reattached with some Wurth adhesive and then had all six lines pinned as per the guides on rennlist forums. Overall a relatively painless exercise, though you have to drop the power steering fluid to reach one of the lines and there's a demon bolt in there somewhere which is apparently a massive pain to access and remove. [Track for days @ Winton 03/11] Was back at Winton over the long weekend to make sure the car was OK. After almost driving off the track a few times whilst trying to continuously check instruments in the first couple of sessions I was finally satisfied that everything would hold together and started to work on the driving aspect again. The car was feeling pretty skatey by that time of day and having driven the S15 on a softer setup I figured that the car's overall setup is too stiff for Winton (and possibly my skill level), so I backed the swaybars off and found a much happier place, but still way off my PB lap, finishing the day on a 1:34.0, but just happy to be able to drive home this time around. Something that is quite unique to the 911 is that as the day progresses the rear tyres will go off faster than the fronts and the car will start to oversteer more, whereas with a front engined car the opposite happens and you get more understeer across the day. I think keeping this in mind and having a morning setup for the suspension and an afternoon setup might be a good proposition for the next track day, just got to work out whether it's a swaybar change or (more likely) three or four clicks on the suspension.

Kammo, just slightly off track (see what I did there?!) where/what did you get done to you centre console a dip or a wrap or what? Any details greatly appreciated. Great looking car btw!

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Hi @Barks , it was a hydro-dip that was done at On The Run Motorsports in Clayton (VIC). It wasn't particularly cheap but at least you get to retain the OEM part. [December] After the lat Winton day I took the car back for a pressure test on the cooling system and found a leak, nothing serious; faulty hose-clamp. Was looking for a way to give it a proper stress test so a few friends and I decided to do the drive to Tailem Bend and check out the new circuit at one of the open days that utilises the International Layout. Wasn't really able to full-send because there was a huge gap in the various car speeds in my session, but managed a 2.17 with a bit of traffic, which I think is about 5 seconds off the pace. Great track though, planning the next trip up already. So all up, about 1,800kms and lots of heat into the car with no issues. Hopefully that's the end of that for the next little while.