Visit to Fordahl Racing - Seattle Wa

Greg Fordahl, a mechanical engineer - had an open house Sat. for the Pacific Northwest Region of PCA. His shop specializes in setting up the suspension (and a whole lot more) of cars for the racetrack. He will have at least one car at this year's Sebring 12 hour race. http://www.fordahlmotorsports.com/ It was amazing to hear how much knowledge is contained in something that sounds simple: suspension set-up. One key point I heard was that our 911's have a "height set-up" that is different from the ROW set up. Due to headlight height requirements, our cars sit higher. He said: "one of the simplest things to do is to replace our springs with ROW springs". He also mentioned that the 991's used on the racetrack actually use the engine from the most recent 997.2's. He had a brand new 991 GT3 on the lift as well as a track prepared 993 Turbo. A Boxster track prepared and a couple of 944s. He said they were looking forward to "tearing the 991 GT3 apart" and improving it. He was amusing as he said, over and over again, that the lawyers at every manufacturer (including Porsche) insisted that it was okay if one of their cars ran off the track and hit whatever with the front of the car, but it was just not acceptable for the car to go off the track backwards. As a result, all modern Porsches are designed to understeer. A great session.

I was there too (I asked about N rated tires) Great session and some interesting cars.

Quotes source post: 12081681

Sounds like an interesting session. What was the response regarding N rated tires?

Regarding N-rated tires: essentially approved by committee in that the test driver is looking for performance, another person is looking for longevity, the lawyer is looking to make sure that the car won't go off the track backwards, etc. So the net is that there are better tires than N-rated. An interesting point that he made was that if you want to consider tire quality in terms of durability, look at how truck tire casings are valued: the highest value ones are Bridgestone, Michelin and (I think) Yokohama.

Quotes source post: 12082481

So, the responder thinks that N-Spec tires are certified because they meet several different parameters simultaneously, and that the tires are not necessarily the best at any one parameter (tire grip, longevity, smoothness, etc., etc.). I would suppose that tire price IS NOT one of the parameters used to certify the N rating. I would think that tire noise IS one of the parameters. It makes sense I guess, especially from a corporate standpoint. But, it does give credence to those people who argue that "such-and-such tire is just as good or better than an N-rated tire". Their argument may be correct if they are judging based on certain parameters and not considering all of the parameters Porsche uses. I guess I am still unconvinced that the N rating is of paramount importance. However I don't knock those that are convinced because it is probably the safest and most certain route to take.

Right. N-spec is Porsche approved. Approval is a committee process so it is going "satisfice" rather than excel in any one area. Also politics are involved in terms of which tire companies are represented. So it is a safe choice but not necessarily the best choice for your particular usage scenario.

Oh and he did mention situations where an owner trading in their care (or presumably lease return) without N tires got $s knocked off for that reason. As an owner of a 13 year old car, that is not a concern for me.