On-Track Experience
***
Links aren't working - need to fix that ****
This
page will start with my experiences with the new-to-me 944,
in the 2003 season. For prior experiences, check
the
track log or
the
schedules.
2003
I bought the 944 for $500 in January, 2003, through an
advertisement in the Rennlist Classifieds. I arranged
for delivery to Kevin at
Randolph Racing, where
it underwent extensive rebuilding / modification. It
also went to River St Collision for paint and body
work. Kevin and I took it up to NHIS for a test-day
in mid-May, and we continued to prepare it for the
season.
The first full event for the car was over Memorial Day
weekend at
Watkins Glen.
We arranged for Caroline's Aunt Karen and Uncle George to
meet us there with their 35-foot motorhome. Caroline
and baby Jack flew in to Buffalo and hitched a ride in with
G&K, and I drove the 944 from Boston. I bought
some cheap used street tires and wheels, as the original
15" phone-dials would not fit over the turbo brakes that
Kevin installed. I also had some fresh Kumho
Victoracers mounted on 17" Cups that I bought from a friend
in Florida. These fit nicely in the back of the car
for easy transport. We drove on the street tires for
the first day because of the rain, and found the handling
to be erratic. After inspection (long overdue), I
noticed that the street tires were mismatched. Not
only were there 3 different brands of tires between the
set, but the very directional tread on the rear passenger
tire was facing the wrong way! No wonder I got loose,
went off-track, and grazed the armco at the end of the
chute (It was actually also due to my poor footwork, as I
didn't yet know how to heel-toe, and the 944 was not as
forgiving as the C4). We mounted the Kumhos for day
2, and the handling was greatly improved. I've since
bought another set of 17" cups that came with a great set
of Kumho street tires. Our lap times were quite slow,
especially mine, as we learned to drive all over
again. Caroline did better, with lower lap times, as
we were rewarded for smoothness, or in my case - penalized
for the lack there-of. We both felt that the car was
going to be great on the track, with a little more
tweaking, as it had a lighter feel that the C4. The
car is actually about 500 pounds lighter!
The Allegany PCA region hosts the event, and they allow
non-Porsches to participate. There were some fast
Mini's and other makes, but Caroline had the most fun with
a BMW M Coupe. These little three-door rockets put
out 240hp to our 170hp. After one of the sessions
where they played some cat-and-mouse, with Caroline coming
out ahead, the driver complimented her on the car.
"Wow - that's a fast turbo", he said. That made her
feel pretty good...
Other notes about the event: we stayed at the Glen
Motor Inn, and G&K took the motorhome to a nearby
trailer-park each night. We really enjoyed having
them at the track, as it made things very comfortable with
the baby. Also, we really enjoy their company.
George spent some time around the paddock, and we chatted
with a guy driving a $120k Mercedes, and another guy
selling his 944. We had an excellent dinner with
G&K at the Glen Motor Inn, and we ran into some of
their wine-making friends. On Sunday, Caroline's
parents drove up, so it was a real party. Overall, it
was a great event!!
========
After we
returned from the Glen, I was still concerned about the
handling, so I double-checked with Karl at Racers-Edge to
see how Kevin could tweak it. My main concern was the
fact that I felt that the steering was very light. We
hadn't pushed the car enough at the Glen to determine if it
had a tendency to understeer or oversteer. After
speaking with Karl and Kevin, it turned out that Kevin
never set the ride-height to Karl's specifications (this is
partly my fault, as I served as the go-between, at times,
and Kevin never really had the specs in the first
place). At any rate, the front came down alot, and
the rear went up a bit, if I remember correctly. When
the car was aligned, I asked for a bit more caster to be
dialed in, to provide a heavier feel through the steering
wheel, and to improve high-speed stability.
========
The next
event was the PCA Zone One 48 Hours, back at the
Glen. Because of a schedule mix-up, G&K were
unable to attend. Caroline flew in to Buffalo again,
but this time she left the baby with her parents, borrowed
a new Bimmer off the lot, and met me at the Glen. We
stayed at the Glen Motor Inn again, and we got to eat at
Maxie's Supper Club on Saturday night. This time, I
installed heel-toe pedals, and although I didn't get much
practice on the street, they felt perfect on the
track. I picked it up like second nature, and after a
short quibble with Caroline about which pedal to use, we
decided on a configuration that we both liked.
Actually, she was much more accommodating than I. I
liked it with the big pedal, and she wanted to stick with
the stock pedal. I tried it back with stock, and
decided I could only get along with the big pedal, where-as
she tried it both ways, and although the preferred the
stock pedal, she decided that the big pedal wasn't too bad
after all.
The heel-toe driving improved my smoothness, and I was
rewarded with slightly lower times than Caroline. We
had a pretty non-eventful event, which is a good
thing. Caroline did a great job passing the faster
cars in White, including RSA's and turbos, where-as I was
in the faster Black group. Although I passed some
faster cars, including 951's, 911's, etc, I was
mostly being passed by Cup cars, 964's, and 993's.
Overall, I was satisfied with the car and the times, but I
know that there is much improvement to be had.
Caroline was down to 2:34 and was down to 2:32. We
need to get consistently under 2:29 before I am comfortable
Club Racing, and we need to get to 2:22 before we can think
about getting on the podium. Still, I felt that we
had made great progress.
========
Next, I
drove solo out to the Glen again, for the NER mid-week
event at the end of July. Once again, I packed the
Kumhos into the back, and made the long journey in the car
with no radio and no AC. The muffler is quite loud,
and the springs are quite stiff, so it is not the most
pleasurable experience. To make matters worse, I got
ticket in New York, on the Thruway, doing 87mph in a 65
zone. Ouch!!!
I had a great event though, getting my times down to 2:30
consistently, with a 2:29 thrown in for good measure.
I shared a garage with a Vette guy named Chuck from South
Carolina (NER also allows non-Porsches), and he talked me
into a new line through the toe of the boot. It was
only his first time there, but Arnie Zann, his instructor
told him about it, and he told me. Apparently, its
not too good for 911's, but Chuck loved it, so I figured
I'd try it out. Sure enough, I seemed to do a lot
better job holing my position through the turn and up the
hill on the sole of the boot. Basically, you enter
the toe in about the center of the track. Usually, I
would get all the way to the left, even jogging out a bit
to follow the track, before pulling it in to the right,
through the apex and then a full track-out. The new
line puts you in the center of the track coming up the hill
after the laces, and limited-slip keep the tail in place as
I motor around the apex, again tracking out to the edge of
the track. Although it felt much faster, my laptimes
dropped back down to 2:32. I didn't check the segment
times, as I am just using the camcorder for timing, but I
think I might be losing time elsewhere in the track.
Its going to take some time to put it all together, and I
feel I need to do more to explore the limits of this
car. The trick is going to be conserving momentum, as
the lack of power will make it difficult to regain lost
speed. I'll need to take all of the corners
faster. I'm already checking the tach on some of the
corners and I'll need to make that more of a habit for the
whole track.
========
Next:
Lime Rock in mid-Sept
need to update this page...