Rough day autocrossing today. ???

What's up guys, today was my first time autocrossing this car (00 C2) and i have some questions. First off, when I was coming into a right hander I had trouble downshifting to first(while rev matching)... three times in a row in the same corner! With my M3 it was a known problem shifting under body roll/stress because the tranny isn't lined up right to switch gears. Will the B&M shifter resolve this problem or is it my fault, I never have problems shifting into first driving on the street? Second, I think I need new rotors and pads. I went out on the track and the fourth turn which requires heavy braking, my brakes didn't work well and I plowed through cones. It seems like my rotors were coated or something from the morning session and need to be cleaned off with heavy braking? Will the pagid orange's cure this? Thanks, I appreciated it -jon-

well where do I start? First and foremost your technique is to blame for the heal and toe problemos. the 996 is more difficult initially, but once you get it down you get it down. I do it every day even during normal driving but whatever. Second of all the brake loss is indicative of boiling the brake fluid. Get some ate super blue high temp and a motul bleeder and you'll be stoked. I did this and went to the track however and still wasted the hell out of my pads. This is becuase the brakes don't have adequate cooling and the rotors retain mucho heat. foreign affair makes a brake cooling kit to solve this prob for about 3 bills. I am looking into that. I went with pagid s blues as I run them on the street also and want to have some rotor life. I came up with this setup after much research and questioning while realizing that I am going to use it for street also etc. I have found that this setup is amazingly better than stock all the way around. I drive my car hard and I mean hard through the canyons and I was astonished at just the fluid change alone initially. I would boil it as well. The pads are great, insane bite off the bat cold or hot compared to the stock stuff. only prob is a squeel from hell here and there but that can be avoided by using more pedal pressure.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by SPR: <strong>well where do I start? First and foremost your technique is to blame for the heal and toe problemos. the 996 is more difficult initially, but once you get it down you get it down. I do it every day even during normal driving but whatever. Second of all the brake loss is indicative of boiling the brake fluid. Get some ate super blue high temp and a motul bleeder and you'll be stoked. I did this and went to the track however and still wasted the hell out of my pads. This is becuase the brakes don't have adequate cooling and the rotors retain mucho heat. foreign affair makes a brake cooling kit to solve this prob for about 3 bills. I am looking into that. I went with pagid s blues as I run them on the street also and want to have some rotor life. I came up with this setup after much research and questioning while realizing that I am going to use it for street also etc. I have found that this setup is amazingly better than stock all the way around. I drive my car hard and I mean hard through the canyons and I was astonished at just the fluid change alone initially. I would boil it as well. The pads are great, insane bite off the bat cold or hot compared to the stock stuff. only prob is a squeel from hell here and there but that can be avoided by using more pedal pressure.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Thanks for your input but I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that my technique 'heel and toe' was incorrect? I have been using this technique for the past three years (also during daily driving) and would say that I know what I'm doing. Is there something that I am doing incorrectly while heel and toe downshifting that causes me not to be able to engage first gear? Thanks, jon

Well then if you know how to heal and toe, then your problem with your hands, which is part of technique. Try relaxing more. I never have the problem of trying to stuff it into 1st instead of 3rd. Sounds like you are hurrying your shifts and or driving harder than your skill will allow and hence the hurrying. Just be smooth and the speed comes. If you try to hard you will just get frustrated and stuff it.

Where would you have been in the revs in 2nd if you had not shifted? Most of the time you're better off not shifting, especially in a 996 that has plenty of low end grunt compared to my 944 turbo.

low end? Man my car's low end is garbago compared to the 3.6. I had to downshift whereas the 3.6 in certain spots would not. Makes me want to get that chip to bring the torque up to the 273 or there abouts that the 3.6 has.

SPR, ever driven a 944 turbo? You'll see what no low end is. BTW that 273 lb/ft of torque is peak...and I doubt that a chip will raise the entire torque curve (or at least give more low-end torque)....but hey, I could be wrong.

heheh. Yeah it actually does raise the entire torque curve for the most part. I haven't driven a 944t but I have been told that you can tune the snot out of them for cheap and make them put out 400hp! Pretty cool. I have also been told they make a great track car when modded to the max.

A few things.... 1. I can't remember the technical reason but it is often difficult or impossible to shift into 1st gear in ANY car. It is usually only possible if you're at a stop or going extremely slow. I think it has something to do with the syncros etc. 2. I'm not an expert on auto-x, but in my experience it's best not to use 1st. There are some very rare cases where it might make sense, but leaving it in 2nd and adjusting your line or fanning your clutch a little (As a moto-x rider I can't help it... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> seems to work the best. 3. I have an '03 with a 3.6 and I STILL think the torque is lacking. This is my first Porsche and I was quite disappointed in the low torque both on paper and in actual performance. Anybody know the "technical" reason it's hard to engage 1st when rolling?

In the older cars, the synchros were not as efficient in first gear. The assumption being that the car was usually going into first at a dead stop. This should not be an issue with the modern cars, particularly performance cars like the Porsche. By the same token, so long as proper heel-toe is done, the car should shift easily into first. I've had no problems going into first gear even though the car is going at a fair clip during autocross. Depending on how the course is laid out, first gear is often needed. At the vey least, this is usually close to the end of the course, since they don't want you blasting across the exit and potentially into the spectators (usually our children, our biggest fans ) I don't know your driving technique, jon, so I may be out of line here. Maybe the RPM's that you are trying to rev-match are just too high. Or, try double clutching when you heel toe. Or, you have a short shifter beyond 30% reduction that isn't giving yuor synchros enough time to work. If the above do not apply, the unfortunate final conclusion is that your synchros aren't up to snuff. Hpe this helps.

I haven't tried it in my 996 yet, but my understanding has always been that 1st gear is not "synchronized", thus making down shifts difficult. Any tranny experts to comment?

There is a synchro for first on most if not all modern cars. In fact, broken first and second gear synchros due to bad manufacturing were the cause for tranny replacements/recalls recently.