Track days in the 987

[Buzzlt]

16 hours ago, spyderman8 said:

If you’re looking at a Elise, consider an MR2 as well as they’ll be cheaper - and a bit easier to get in and out of! Got most of my coaching in these two.

I had an MR2 and thought it was totally underpowered for the chassis. Also It threw a piston through the sump and the starter motor with only 50k on the clock. I seem to recall the engine was a bit of a dog, often suffering from oval bore wear. Maybe I was unlucky.

I drove a supercharged Exige (I think the same engine). That was a proper go kart but as said getting in and out of either that or the Elise can be interesting. Each to their own I suppose.

[Tengocity]

23 hours ago, spyderman8 said:

If you’re looking at a Elise, consider an MR2 as well as they’ll be cheaper - and a bit easier to get in and out of! Got most of my coaching in these two.

Not sure I would get an Elise... too smitten with Porsche and flat 6 engines!  And I feel I've moved beyond MR2s these days. I fear they'd feel dog slow after the Boxster and M4!

[james_ly]

My track car is an MR2, on road tyres. It's an absolute riot and more fun than my Boxster and my old VX220. Fast it's not, but I basically don't have to worry about running costs which is nice. Would like to get the Boxster on track this year though.

[Guvs]

55 minutes ago, james_ly said:

My track car is an MR2, on road tyres. It's an absolute riot and more fun than my Boxster and my old VX220. Fast it's not, but I basically don't have to worry about running costs which is nice. Would like to get the Boxster on track this year though.

Try this (Date change to come possibly 10th March) 

 

[david_yorkshire]

I've tracked both boosters and 911's;

I don't ever recall having braking issues on my 986S - and that included a race training day on the 'Ring.

RS29 pads are great - used to run them on my 96 GT3 along with SRF. One of the best brake setups I've ever used; both strong and easy to modulate. PF discs too if I remember correctly.  No extra ducting needed.

I'm spoiled now with the PCCB on the 991 - no  fade at all, even after multiple high speed stops (think end of Bentley straight @ Snett - 160 mph plus into a left & right complex)

and no black dust at all !

Fluid in this car is just standard Porsche

[Pothole]

On 12/15/2018 at 11:46 AM, Tengocity said:

I know what you mean, but renting usually seem horrendously expensive, with huge excesses on insurance too.

 

 

Not sure about the excess, but IIRC the cost per person with three of us was £400 for the day. Seems more expensive than tracking your own car, but when you factor in true cost (wear and tear), fairly comparable in reality I think. Haven't actually done it, so didn't get as far as eyeballing the excess. 

These guys will do a decent Caterham for £1,000 a day inc fuel, plus £100 each for additional drivers. Excess of £2,500 for mid-range Caterham. You get a little tuition in that price, too. Looks OK to me! 

https://www.bookatrack.com/track-car-hire#pricing

Bunch of places that do Elise track hire from about £800 for the day inc fuel and insurance. Not sure on the excess.

I wouldn't day these options are 'horrendously' expensive. But just an option. Like I said, have somewhat gone off tracking my own car, so I'd lean toward rental in future.

 

[spyderman8]

bookatrack I believe have or are in the process of selling their Caterhams as they are now part of Ginetta.

[skdotcom]

On 12/16/2018 at 6:55 PM, Tengocity said:

Not sure I would get an Elise... too smitten with Porsche and flat 6 engines!  And I feel I've moved beyond MR2s these days. I fear they'd feel dog slow after the Boxster and M4!

The Mk2 MR2 Turbo is pretty quick, 5ish seconds to 60. Japanese import only mind.

[Tengocity]

8 hours ago, skdotcom said:

The Mk2 MR2 Turbo is pretty quick, 5ish seconds to 60. Japanese import only mind.

Like an Mx5 with a turbo then, but I like NA engines, so would rather have something that's quick without a turbo if possible. 

[skdotcom]

10 minutes ago, Tengocity said:

Like an Mx5 with a turbo then, but I like NA engines, so would rather have something that's quick without a turbo if possible. 

I must admit to being the opposite. I'm gradually getting used to the delivery style of the Boxster engine, but having driven turboed/supercharged cars for nearly 20 years I found the lack of immediate grunt a bit disappointing.  It reminds me a bit of driving my Honda CRX back in the early 90s; you really had to rev that baby. Having said that, I didn't buy my 987 for the performance, I wanted a nice sounding classy convertible that drove well. Overall I'm happy.

As for MX5s, I didn't think they came with a turbo, didn't the Japanese market do a supercharged one though?

[Tengocity]

13 hours ago, skdotcom said:

I must admit to being the opposite. I'm gradually getting used to the delivery style of the Boxster engine, but having driven turboed/supercharged cars for nearly 20 years I found the lack of immediate grunt a bit disappointing.  It reminds me a bit of driving my Honda CRX back in the early 90s; you really had to rev that baby. Having said that, I didn't buy my 987 for the performance, I wanted a nice sounding classy convertible that drove well. Overall I'm happy.

As for MX5s, I didn't think they came with a turbo, didn't the Japanese market do a supercharged one though?

It's like an MX5 in that if you put a turbo on then you can get Boxster type performance. But why do that if you can just buy a Boxster? You'll get more of your money back if you ever decide to sell it, and you've a better car for the road too.

 

[skdotcom]

3 hours ago, Tengocity said:

It's like an MX5 in that if you put a turbo on then you can get Boxster type performance. But why do that if you can just buy a Boxster? You'll get more of your money back if you ever decide to sell it, and you've a better car for the road too.

 

Sure, but im pretty sure that in the japanese market they made a MX5 with a supercharger, same as they made a MR2 with a turbo. So no need to to any aftermarket nonsense and throw money away.

I've no interest in anything other than german cars myself though.

[Willemite]

I do four or five track days a year in my 987.2S, and really enjoy them. So far have been to Blyton, Croft, Oulton Park, Anglesey, Donington and  Snetterton. So far have booked Cadwell Park and Silverstone, as well as returning to Blyton for this year.

All have been PCGB days,which whilst a bit more expensive, are very well run events where the behaviour of the other drivers is usually very good and courteous and they restrict the numbers of cars so it’s never too crowded. It does mean though that you do get make to look very slow in a standard Boxster by the guys in the GT3RSs etc. 

Heat build up in brakes led to crumbling pads last year, so GT3 ducts (bargain at 2.99 a pair!) and more assiduous cooling down laps hopefully reduce the chance of that. Managed to boil the standard brake fluid at Oulton in November so racing brake fluid now put in.

Tyres overheating and going off is less of a problem since the OPC filled the tyres with nitrogen (now standard Porsche procedure). Tyres have always been PS2 as my car is still under Porsche warranty. 

If anyone on here doing track days  is also a PCGB member then it would be good to meet up if you are doing any PCGB track days, I’m from Yorkshire so tend to stick to the more northern tracks.

 

[911-32]

On ‎12‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 9:01 PM, Tengocity said:

I mulled over coilovers but not sure the overall rigidity in the chassis was there, so would ruin it for the road perhaps.

Its a fair hypothetical, but in practice, I can only say good things about coilovers in a road car provided you don't go too stiff.  I don't feel any more chassis flex or scuttle shake than I did on the std stuff.  I posted the spring rates for a range of options in my running report and I am very happy with the cheap BCs I fitted which are similar to KW spring rates and are set towards the soft end of the range for damping.  Mot of the fluidity of the std set up remains, but the roll and weight transfer are massively reduced and the ride height is (of course) now spot on - no big arch gaps and not silly slammed. 

[911-32]

Grr

[911-32]

grr

[Tengocity]

7 hours ago, 911-32 said:

Its a fair hypothetical, but in practice, I can only say good things about coilovers in a road car provided you don't go too stiff.  I don't feel any more chassis flex or scuttle shake than I did on the std stuff.  I posted the spring rates for a range of options in my running report and I am very happy with the cheap BCs I fitted which are similar to KW spring rates and are set towards the soft end of the range for damping.  Mot of the fluidity of the std set up remains, but the roll and weight transfer are massively reduced and the ride height is (of course) now spot on - no big arch gaps and not silly slammed. 

Thanks for that input, really helpful. I've got KW coilovers on my M4 and had them on previous cars and always been very impressed. In comparison the Boxster feel very soft! I may yet look in to them further should I decide to keep the Boxster long term and want to invest significantly more in it's track capability. If it becomes more of an out and out track car then I think coilovers will be fine as it's more the flex and shudder you get on rough roads that are an issue, and that's not such an issue on track.

Have you got a link to your running report? I'd be interested to look in to the spring rates further.