Boxster in NASA-TTC - Page 2 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

easyc · 07-31-2007, 04:58 PM

My attempt to answer some...

I have never seen any 996 or 986 Porsche use Ohlins coilovers... Motons are the external reservoir of choice... The HR springs are not matched to your struts... you will have improved handling because of the lower CG, but I just don't know how much. You can get brand new PSS9's for 1900... why not go for that? The PSS9's are so widely used in the Porsche world... I love mine and except for an upgrade to Moton's I wouldn't go any other way. And with the upgraded springs I am sure they are even better. You will most likely be able to get away with your stock Droplinks for a weekend or two, but after that they will break. I wish I had a picture to show you the difference between the stockers and the Tarret ones... OEM look like a pencil... Tarrets are just huge... There are post after post over on rennlist about failing stock droplinks with aftermarket sways. I think its essential. Also... the GT3 bar offers more adjustability than the HR front... I believe its cheaper as well (call sunset porsche).
Ive never run nasa, but from what I have heard Hoosiers R6's are the only way to play... a good 1-2 seconds a head of the RA-1s. As for your wheels... if you have OEM 17"x8.5's then I am sure they are great... they will actually weigh just as little as the carrera lightweights... no need to go different there. Biggest weight loss past removing carpet, radio, spare tire/tools, seats, and etc is the Covertible top... chunk it... I believe that is something like 150lbs... mechanism and all... you can put it back in, shouldnt be too hard. Also you shouldn't get any HP increase by chunking the exhaust... so you shouldnt get any dyno points from that, just a hefty loss of weight... Hopefully I didin't miss anything.

iflyadesk · 08-01-2007, 06:00 AM

Then I guess the question is does anyone have a Lapis Blue hard top they'd like to sell? That way, I could remove the soft top and mechanisim, then put on the hard top on the way to Ohio, then remove it for the race.

Motons would bump me into a higher class.

If the drop links are the same length as stock, I can just use those as a template and fabricate some heim joints.

easyc · 08-01-2007, 11:26 AM

I have a lapis blue hardtop on my kitchen wall... but its not for sale... haha. You should get a fiberglass one and race with it on... larry at Gtmotorsports.net is a place to start.

iflyadesk · 08-03-2007, 08:49 AM

Since the Base M030 rear bar is so inexpensive, I may just get both it and the H&R to have some options.

My next and final issue is shocks (I've pretty much settled on spring rates).

The rules place the following restrictions:
- Less than $2400 for the shocks alone or less than $3000 if sold with springs as a coilover kit
- Two or less dampening adjustments
- No remote reservoir or piggyback configurations

So, Motons and JRZs are out because of price.
The KW Competitions are currently $2980, but an engineer at KW says the price is going up $500-$700 in coming months, and I spoke with the national TT director, and he said there is no grandfather clause... so KW Competitions are out.
KW Variant 2s are not revalvable to accommodate stiffer springs, so they are out.
Ohlins do not accommodate race springs, so they are out.
LEDAs look good, and meet the requirements, but they have to be custom built from England so they have a 6-8wk lead time (and I have about 4-5wks left). Also curious is their twin-tube design. I thought most race shocks at this level were using gas/oil monotube. However, they claim it won't overheat or cavitate, and Mantis Motorsports seems to be doing well with them.
All Japanese shocks are out based on valving quality: Cross, Ksport, etc. (If you have personally run a Cross on a dyno or know a winning race team who uses them, please put me in contact~thanks!)
I know nothing about the H&Rs
I know nothing about the Penskes, but I'm calling them today to discuss.
PSS9s require some sort of spring modification (I'm sure you guys know what parts I'd need to accomplish this) and ideally need revalving to accommodate springs that are twice as stiff as what it comes with. I probably couldn't get them revalved in time for Nationals. What I may do is buy a set, throw the stiff springs on, and then sell them after the event to someone in the Boxster community while I wait for my LEDAs to arrive from England.

So, if any of you have either raced with CROSS, H&R, Penske (or something I'm overlooking) and won, know winning teams who use them, or have seen them perform on a shock dyno, please let me know!

We're getting close!!!!!!

easyc · 08-03-2007, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iflyadesk

PSS9s require some sort of spring modification (I'm sure you guys know what parts I'd need to accomplish this) and ideally need revalving to accommodate springs that are twice as stiff as what it comes with.

Have you talked to the BSR guys who run the stiffer springs on the PSS9s? I don't believe they have revalved... Is it that big of an importance? I understand you are trying to get the best car you can, but isn't that a little overkill? I know ruf and matheney racing in germany use revavled PSS9's...

As far as the cross coilovers... there are only a couple of boxsters I know of who run them, but both are on the street. Bruinbro on most of these forums does a ton of track stuff, and he has them.

iflyadesk · 08-03-2007, 10:07 PM

I bought a set of PSS9s off of ebay earlier this evening. So now everything is in the mail except my upgraded springs. w00t!

iflyadesk · 09-02-2007, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by easyc

the Covertible top... chunk it... I believe that is something like 150lbs... mechanism and all... you can put it back in, shouldnt be too hard.

My convertible top weighed 37.6 lbs and my motors, trannys, and hardware weighed 17 lbs. So 54.6 total loss to pull the top, FYI.

The sound system: head unit, door speakers and enclosures, dash speakers, subwoofer, amp, and CD changer weighed 38 lbs.

The spare tire and jack were 29 lbs.

Seats were 46 lbs a piece. I took them both out and put in an Ultrashield with custom bracket totalling 20lbs. So that was a net loss of 72 lbs...but that makes me very suspicious of the supposed 60lbs of weight loss from going to GT3 seats. Unless they are 16 lbs a piece with the hardware, there's no way.

A shocker was the interior carpet panels on the front of the engine (7 lbs) and on top of the engine (8 lbs). 15lbs from removing two pieces of carpet. If I have time this week, I might try to pull the center console and all the carpet from the bottom.

easyc · 09-02-2007, 07:09 PM

Nice info... good to get real numbers! Nationals are in a few weeks if Im not mistaken, so good luck! Last year's TTB nat'l champ has instructed me before, he's hella fast in his M3...

And I would want to say with OEM rails the GT3 seats would be over that 16lbs... but the way I have my driver GT3 seat, with BK floor mount hardware... Im under that number.

iflyadesk · 09-02-2007, 08:27 PM

I'm trying to decide if this is a race car or a street car. I'm caught in no mans land for the moment. If I decide it's a street car, I may very well get the GT3 seats.

Here's some pics! I drove it around tonight. The seating position is so low, I can't see over the steering wheel. I need to get a smaller steering wheel ASAP!

noone986s · 09-03-2007, 05:03 AM

Looks excellent.

I am upgrading mine in stages, just installing the KW variant 3 coilovers and a Kevlar seat with factory hardtop. Plan to upgrade the sways next. Mine is more for trackdays than racing but I think we will end up in a similar place.

Good luck

iflyadesk · 09-03-2007, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by noone986s

Mine is more for trackdays than racing but I think we will end up in a similar place.

All roads lead to racing.

noone986s · 09-03-2007, 10:22 AM

Yeah, I just hope my wallet can take it

iflyadesk · 09-03-2007, 06:15 PM

Racing is an addiction whose only cure is poverty.

iflyadesk · 09-16-2007, 05:29 PM

Well, I'm just now flying back from the National Championships. It was crazy learning the car and the course at the same time. I dropped nearly 23 seconds off my lap time in three days. The final was a 1:40.800, good enough to break the previous lap record, but not good enough to win. A 272whp/320ftlb Neon piloted by National Time Trial Director Greg Greenbaum squeezed out an incredible 1:39.7. Third was an M-coupe that I only beat by 0.14 seconds! It was a close race, really!

The car was an absolute dream! At the limit, it would understeer if I did something that would make it understeer and oversteer if I did something to make it oversteer. Absolutely no predominance or lack of balance. The brakes were insane! I was braking deeper than anyone else out there. I did 137mph indicated (with the 245/40/17s that number is suspect) and braking at the 225yd marker going into Madness!!!! Going into the keyhole, I could brake after the 0yd marker at 118mph. Just amazing brakes. The power steering didn't act up. In fact, the car didn't break at all. Driving the crap out of it for 3 days straight and not one peep. Most excellent!

Good times.... 2007 NASA TTC Runner Up National Champion

easyc · 09-16-2007, 07:54 PM

Congrats! These are amazing track cars for sure.

Topless · 09-18-2007, 06:17 AM

Congratulations Ifly! Any day you bring home a podium finish at such a high level event is a great day indeed! Sounds like you made some good tire choices, got your car really dialed in and drove like the wind. Good show.