No dry sump a problem at the track?

Has anyone heard of a 996 oil starvation problem during hard cornering? If so, what is the fix? I was shocked by a 2003 thread that bumped to the top of the 911 forum today, especially this line: "...Take your 996 or Boxster to the track today with sticky tires and you risk blowing the motor due to oil starvation (no dry sump)..." My brother is scheduled to take his 2000 996 to the track soon and we hope to put this rumor to rest before then. Here's the thread link: https://rennlist.com/forums/911-forum/106777-porsche-the-downward-spiral.html

either you are a pro driver or you are on slicks, it's not going to have oil starvation. but B&K does make a deeper oil pan for it just to make sure.

http://www.bkauto.com/porsche/r9095.php Update: the R-9095 has been approved by the Porsche Club of America for use in PCA club racing Stock and Prepared class cars Scavenging and aeration in the oil pan have been identified as a problem in 996 and Boxster models experiencing high G-forces on the racetrack. The R-9095 oil pan spacer provides a simple solution. This spacer increases sump capacity by half a quart, providing more reserve to ward off starvation. The R-9095 kit clears all factory options including the rear skid plate. Added oil capacities as well as increased oil pan surface area increase oil cooling and engine performance. *Oil pan and sump baffle are OEM parts and do not need to be purchased

There is also an oiling kit from porsche motorsports, if you can find it anywhere. Unless you're really pulling some hard Gs on an early 3.4 motor I wouldn't worry about it at all. The fact is the m96 motor is superior in every way to earlier counterparts, who are not without their own demons( valve guides on the 993), it is an integrated dry sump, 99.9% of guys who go to the track regularly will never see the virtue/need of a true dry sump. NASCAR motors go pretty damn hard on wet sumps.

Teams have run our inferior motors in Grand Am without blowing up engines and they run Hoosier slicks!

First, I sure didn't read all 8 pages of the 911 thread but what I did read was pure BS. You can't claim to love Porsches and racing and not realize that Porsche has never left racing. The 996 cup car/R/RS/RSR have been a huge success and have allowed not only the pros but also us hacks to enjoy them. From the drivers seat, not the couch. Further, the 996 converts into a pretty fine race car. The 996 is just as suited to being converted to a race car as the early 911s were. And, a whole bunch faster. Enough on that. Eric, the Grand Am Cup guys run on a Hoosier R-compound spec tires. It's actually a little slower than a Hoosier that you would use for club racing or DE. Having said that, they drive the cars very hard. I think most have the oiling kit though. LaughaC, I really don't think your brother has anything to worry about. I DEed a 3.4 (no oiling kit) on Hoosiers for several years and then raced it for a season with some pretty serious suspension with no problems at all. I swapped for a 3.6L but only to get more power. The 3.4 was fine. Jim

This statement is very true! You can also find 996's running on slicks at SCCA and PCA events without incident. I have been taking my 986 to the track for years (on R Compounds) and never experienced a problem. Beyond that I have seen drivers of hundreds of other 986's and 996's track their cars and once again I have never witnessed or even heard of an oil starvation failure on an M96 motor. Is a failure possible.......I guess? There was a poster once who thought that he saw his oil pressure gauge drop around a corner (he was probably lifting to look at the stupid gauge) but even he stated that he never had a motor problem. In reality, beyond a bunch of "moldy figs" that like to try and state that their old "air-cooled" Porsche's are superior because they have a dry sump this problem does NOT exist in the real world for the thousands of enthusiasts that track their M96 motor cars. Some of these guys (the figs) would have you believe that these cars are literally falling apart with track use because they just aren't built like the "old cars". I go to the track regularly and this is patent misinformation! Has any of you seen a groundswell of posts discussing on track failures of these motors........NO!!! Believe me after watching post after post on the RMS issue, if this were a real problem the failure would have been discussed endlessly. For what it is worth Porsche improved the oiling on the '02 + 996 and from what I understand part of the power kit upgrade also includes a baffle upgrade for these cars. I think the bottom line is for 99.999% of the drivers that track their cars this should not be (and has not been) a problem. I have certainly not heard of a groundswell of failures (none for that matter) due to the M96 wet-sump. For that .001 percentile driver that might possibly have a problem the solution is buy a GT3 Cup and take that to ALMS! Now......where is that list I had of Nurburgring times that compares new Porsche�s to the older cars..........just kidding.

Gratuitous track pics

Great pictures, Ray! Jim, thanks for the tire information. It's hard to distinguish R vs true "race" compounds anymore. It does get very old reading and hearing the flat bottom, cheap, no pedigree, no "true" dry sump, and therefore not good enough for racing BS.

(stolen from another thread, but the icon seems appropriate here)

Most of the guys who whine about the 'fake dry sump', failure prone motors have never gone fast enough at the track to break a VW let alone a m96.

Heh-heh-heh....moldy figs....hehhehheh . Good one.

Ray, Are your pics from club race weekend? If so I was there but I don't remember seeing your car. Jim

Forget that . . . most of them have never been to the track, period.

I was there every day except Monday (I was out everyday in the DE not the Club race). I saw your car (nice BTW, how could you miss mine!!!!). I will be at R.A.D.E. again in May, as well as Blackhawk, Gingerman, and TRAC again (as well as some others hopefully) next year. Hopefully, we will run into to each other (figuratively) next year.

Well then you saw one of those lowly water cooled cars beat a euro 993RSCS, a couple 993TTs and a bunch of other aircooled cars for the sprint win. I'll be at TRAC next year for sure. Maybe the club race at Autobahn. Look me up if you are around. Jim

Thanks all! This thread managed to bust the myth about a 2000 996 sucking air instead of oil in curves. My brother won't be able to use that excuse if I manage to pull away in the curves (if we ever manage to get on a track together). It might be an old myth, but it was new to me and I wanted to see the latest solutions. The oil pan spacer looks like a good idea anyway as long as it does not decrease ground clearance significantly. This lets me get back to my ongoing quest to further improve my hp/weight ratio.