Track car advice

I put up a post recently for tips to gain headroom in a 996. Sounds like I can make it work. So 996 instead of a Cayman it is as I have two infants sons and once in a while I'd love to be able to take them for a drive or to DQ (don't worry, no food in the car!). But the main reason I want a Pcar is to join the local Pcar club and run track days at Calabogie and Tremblant. My question are; 1) during the 996 production run was there a change at any point that made the later models more track desirable than the early ones? 2) what options should I be looking for on a used 996 so that it is as trackworthy as can be for a stock car? When I get one then I'll search this site for what mods I should do. I should mention that I will have to get a GT3 seat just to hopefully be able to fit in a 996 with a helmet so that is mod #1 if the car I find doesn't have those seats already. Thanks in advance for your advice and help. It is most appreciated.

From the research I've done on this board, it seems the '99 Mark I 996es are the "driver's" 996. It has a mechanical throttle, and if you're lucky will have a 20% limited slip (clutch type) differential and sport suspension as options. The '99 is apparently the lightest 996 (light is always a good thing for track ). Hopefully the usual track stars (JimB, RayS, Paul) will chime in?

Thanks for the info. I hope the track stars chime in too!

Track junkie I am, not sure about the other. Welcome to the forum EX1K. It looks like your requirements for a 996 were the same as mine. A sports car designed for track duty but that passes the wife's take to work once a week requirement on nice days and that I can use to drop my two little ones off at Daycare with. Yup...ruled out a whole bunch of other interesting cars that I was thinking about.. Porsche was the only one that fit the bill. Didn't hurt that I had a relationship with a 993 a bunch of years ago to give me a taste. I think that you will fit into one of two camps really depending on your budget. Lower budget... 99s Higher budget... 02+ (I'm no expert on the differences of the later cars but understand that the 40th anniv cars are sweet). For the track worthy stuff you will have to decide what is important to you... Factory LSD then 99 it is. Factory sport suspension or will you mod the car right away? All brakes are equal. As SleepRM3 put it later cars have eGas to work with the PASM (which you can't turn off). This is my opinion, I didn't want that on my pcar for now. All my street cars have it and that if fine for my wife but everytime I want to play around it frustrates me that I can't turn it off. As for fitting in the car with a helmet on... I can't help you out as I am 5'9" on a good day and feel like it was designed for me. I have the Sport seats which are awesome. I have given up on the GT3 seats/harnesses/rollbar or harness bar for the above reason of needing to use the backseat almost daily. Actually purchased a bk harness bar and then decided to sell it off since I couldn't see myself putting it in and out for every DE. Hope this helps... do some searches on here and you will be surprised at how much you find. Initially I spent most of my time on here just using the searches checking out all the pre-existing info. Very good stuff.

Ooh...yes, I must add the sports seats to my "me want on '99 996 list"

Yeah they are. If you aren't going the race/GT3 route... They are my personal fav.

Budget wise I was intially thinking new Cayman S. Then it was suggested that I look at used US cars and that opened up the possibilty of a 996. Son #2 arrived 6mths ago and I started to think it might be nice to go for rides with them once in a while to give their Mom a break. So now I'm on the 996 line of reasoning IF I can make one fit. So if a 2nd generation 996 is better to have for track days in any way I'm willing to shell out more to get the better car for track purposes as it will still be cheaper than a new Cayman S. Of course I could always start with a used Cayman S and move up to a 997 if the bug I think I will get bitten with hits me hard... And there is always the BS of Cdn dealers giving me a hard time about servicing a US car. I haven't fully figured that aspect out yet but I see the Cdn forums have lots to say about that right now. So I'll seek advice there also before I act. Cdn Porsche dealers are gouging us by not adjusting their prices the last few years as our Cdn$ has appreciated against the US$.

Are your little ones car seat age? Mine are 2yrs and 6mths. So I will have them in car seats for oh, the next 6yrs (we have a law here in Ontario that they have to be in a car seat or booster until age 8 or 80 pounds. I have 48lbs and 55lbs to go!). We I need to get Porsche childs seats to make the back seats work for the little ones? While still allowing me to fit? Leg room is not a big issue for me - legs of someone 5"8", torso of someone 6'6". I really appreciate the help. I wish I could get a 996 without a sunroof. I really don't see the purpose of them to start with in a Porsche. But I don't think anyone ever orders one without one so I'll never find a used 996 without one. Other than the GT3, then no back seat for the boys. And too much car for a rookie like me I think.

Humm, interesting! Well, I went through almost the exact same process two months ago! I drove the Cayman S and the 996. If I had my choice, I would choose the Cayman S for sure. I would suggest that if you had no driven the Cayman, don't do it, as it will make your decision much harder! In the end, the wife made the decision for me (as in many cases ), and said the back seat is a must for the future baby. So no Cayman S and no GT3, and 996 C2 it is. Well that will save some money for daddy's dedicated track car in the future! I agree with SleepRM3 on the 1999 cars, but in the end I bought an 02 for the relatively better reliability. I am not a tall guy but I had also looked into seats simply becuase I want a bucket seat for the track. I looked into the GT3 seat but it is very hard to find one single used driver's seat, as the passenger seat must have forward tilt function for back seat access. In the end I bought a recaro profi SPG XL for the driver's side, and a recaro SRD for the passenger side, for the price of a single new GT3 seat. They sort of match up in terms of looks, and I have the forward tilt in the passenger side.

The 99 with LSD is a great car. IIRC, the 40th anniversary also has an LSD (as well as the power pack). If I were going to look for a car for dual use (keep in mind that if you want to take your kids with you, you will not be able to install a roll bar or a true track seat, so the car by definition will lean more towards the street side of the equation), I would really search for a 40th anniversary. Second choice would be an 02+ (since it has nice features for the street and your car will definitely lean towards the street use), and then a 99. You can't really go wrong, though. I don't think they every offered sunroof delete in the 996 (apart from the GT3) so just give that up now.

EX1K, There is another thread going right now about kids seats... the 6 month old needs to be rear facing which can be a challenge in pcars. See the other thread, believe there are solutions. My kid seats are not porsche brand. My boy is almost 4 and sits in the Britax Star Riser booster. My little girl just turned 2 and sits in the Recaro Young Sport. I just posted a pic of my back seat in the other thread with the kids seats. I use them almost every day to shuttle my little ones in the AM. They love it.

They did...but it's awefully hard to find. I really wanted the car that Screamealons eventually bought because it's a no-roof car. (another wife decision...she didn't want another white car in the garage). Andy

One challenge with child seats is narrow-ness of Porsche back seat. Current thread on this forum will give you an idea of what might work. There are numerous non-Porsche rear-facing child seats that will work in the 996 but you'll need to test fit to make sure it's not too wide and you'll need to install rear-facing seat on passenger side with passenger seat way-forward. Your older child should be fine in a forward-facing seat sitting behind driver. Another option when kids are slightly older is to install airbag deactivation kit and have older child in front passenger seat and younger child behind in booster. This is what I currently have set up for 8yr old and 3 yr old. Of course, you'll have to convince your wife that it's OK. Good luck.

Thanks for the Recaro model name advice!

From experience, any 996 is fine at the track. Earlier models had a limited slip available (hard to find though) but the new cars have more power. The 99 through 2001 also had some oil starvation problems as I recall. I'd aim for a 2004 or newer. You will have a hard time finding one without a sun roof. Don't worry about it. You'll never notice the difference driving except for headroom. A seat will fix that. A GT3 seat will cure your headroom problems. There are several guys 6'5" driving 996's around Calabogie and Tremblant now. The Recaro might do too. All cars from 2000 on had E-gas, and the newer ones are far less intrusive. Same goes for PSM, on 2006 and on you can get pretty far out of shape before it intervenes. When it intervenes it is because you messed up. In your shoes, I'd look for a car that had been well maintained as opposed to trying to find a rare non-sunroof or LSD equipped version. With a rear facing child seat your 996 will probably be a 3 seater since no adult would be comfortable in front since the seat has to be pushed way forward to provide the room needed. Any of the Porsche models is a blast on the track - exception the Cayenne of course. If you are new to the DE game, don't worry about the model, you will have a ball with any of them. If you get the track bug seriously then you want something like a GT3 <grin>. Best,

The '99 is the lightest, but it is also the least powerful. If you were going to turn a 996 into a racecar, I'd look for the lightest optioned (i.e. lightest) Mk II you can find with the X51 powerkit. The '99's are great cars, but they are at a hp disadvantage vs. the Mk II's (especially x51 cars). Also don't forget the Mk II's have improved cooling, a stiffer chassis, improved aerodynamics (less lift), and improved high g oiling (revised baffles). There are some on this board that do not think these differences are substantial. However in my experience, the power and chassis revisions can be easily felt on a back to back test drive. No reason to take my word (or anyone elses word) for it. Head over to a few local Porsche dealers and spend a day doing some test drives. Good luck!!

Well--if LSD is not the limiting factor, then I should just save up for a 996 Mark II? The 2004 40th Annie is looking better and better, but wow are they high right now! I wasn't aware that non-40th anniversary Mark II 996es could have the X51 power package as an option?

The x51 was an option on all Mk II's. Unfortunately it is about as rare as the LSD option on '99's. It can be added at any time (to a Mk II), but get out your wallet and prepare to cry it is very expensive. What are your plans for the car? DE's, Club Racing, SCCA, other?? How often will you track it (track days/year)?? Will it also be a street car (or track only)?

My prospective Porsche 996 will be a nice road car that would be tracked 3 to 4 times per season.

If that is what you are looking for I'd say buy the nicest, latest model 996 you can afford. LSD and x51 would be nice if you can find them, but you could turn any 996 into a dual use machine that would perform very well with the usage that you describe.

Thanks for the advice Bob. I think you are right, any model will do for a couple of years to see how I like the DE sessions and how I do. Do you or anyone else out there know of a trustworthy car broker to to find a US car for me? Cdn prices on used cars still seem out of line. Or is is it bad form to show up with a US car at a Rennsport region events? From what I can see on this site the Cdn Porsche dealers are not too thrilled to work on US cars.

FWIW: I was on the track last week and could only detect a minor difference between my 99 and an 03 down the straight away. This is after countless sessions and noting whenever I met up with him on the main straight. There was an ever so slight advantage to the car with the 3.6 but essentially felt like we were staying dead even. Both cars were stock (only thing I have is an exhaust and he had an intake) Edit: not an attempt to defend the 99s or anything. At first when I noticed it my thought was wow I need to find out what mods this guy did. He has a little bit more pull. I was pleased when I found out it was a 3.6 at work !

Maybe he has a slightly better corner exit speed? I mean, all it takes is a little, and it will make it seem like he is pulling you when, in reality, there is no difference at all. If you are talking purely stock cars, I think the differences betweeen 99-01 and 02+ are negligible (assuming no X51, etc . . .)

I disagree. The 3.6 is definitely faster than the 3.4 with noticible differences. The 3.6 chasis is stiffer and signicantly better and you should be albe to tell in your first turn on a track. I actually bought PSS-9 because Darren let me drive his 3.6 with PSS-9 at Watkins Glen. I was really impress with the turn in of the car and I thought it was PSS-9 that makes the difference. It was not! I was wrong because my 3.4 with PSS-9 does not turn in like that. Since then I have had a couple of students with bone stock 3.6. They all turn in really nice on the track in stock form. My $.2 Kam

TD, Come on spare me the noob answer . I know when I am catching or losing someone through a corner. My point for everyone was that when both cars were at roughly the same speed the 3.6 has a slight advantage but not much over the 3.4. Only reason to post is that a lot of people think there is a huge difference between the power of the two cars but in reality it is minimal and the weight difference almost negate it. The corners are where I was gaining on this particular car but once I got to the straight it was a match shift for shift all the way down the straight with him slightly edging away.

hmmmm. Interesting that our experiences differ. I think the PSS9s are a good choice for a DD that gets taken on the track for a few DEs. I think they are a bad choice for a track car. The power to weight ratios remained the same for 3.4 and 3.6, so how could it really make that much of a difference in acceleration? I find that most of the difference is really attributable to corner exit speed. Of course, I am talking purely stock here, so once the cars start getting mods, hard to tell the ultimate impact.

PJ, I didn't really mean it like a noob answer. I mean you can both go through a corner at the same speed . . . but just a second earlier on the gas or just a few mph makes it really seem like the other car can "pull" you. I have been driving for awhile, and I am still amazed at this. At the club race in October, there were two 944s that were really fast and I thought they were S2s because they were "pulling" me on the straights. I later was very, very humbled to learn that they were plain old n/a 944s driven my club race veterans. It just proved to me how much of a better job they were doing at preserving their momentum/acheiving a higher exit speed despite the fact that it appeared to me at the time that we were taking the corners at the same speed. Either that or they were cheating. The only time you can really know that a car is truly pulling you is when the acceleration differential is really large, which it is not between the 3.4 v. 3.6. For cars that have roughly the same power/weight ratio, you would have to get next to each other on the straight, and then agree to hit it at some defined point. As you know, that just never happens. When I first started racing (still noob, so not trying to sound like expert), I found it interesting to see what happens when you go into the first corner of the race -- imagine 80 cars trying to go through T1 at VIR at the same time. This accordion effect makes it seem like other spec cars are faster than yours leaving the corner if they get on the gas sooner than you do (which is normal since they are in front of you). I found that I could do pretty well if I could force myself to get back on the gas "before" I "should." This would let me get a slight jump (or at least be back on the gas at the same time) over the cars in front of me. So, I wasn't trying to be condescending, I was just pointing out that the car in front of you during a DE situation will nearly always seem like it is pulling you (even more so if they are slow through the corners) because they get a jump on you exiting the corners. The only way to fight it is to get a run on them or get on the gas so early that you nearly punt/pass them at corner track out. In any event, it is always more fun for the 3.4 guys to claim that the 3.6 guys have a huge advantage over them P.S. I know you are saying the differences are neglible. I agree.

TD, No harm no foul. All in good spirit. I agree that the 3.4 and 3.6 cars are very very close based on my experience. Now others may disagree as they are allowed to and I am sure we will hear some more opinions. time for some...