Pilot,
I am a rookie driving in green. So dusting any of the other cars in our combined green/yellow group is nothing to brag about. (Ok- a little bragging, I actually caught and passed 2 different 996 Carrera 4S's on Sunday)
The fastest part of the track is the back straight right before you brake and I didn't feel comfortable looking down while braking for the 'bus stop' chicane. At the top of the Esses at the track out cone, I was glancing at my speedometer and consistently showing 114 or 115. I saw 117 once. Even at 115 in 4th gear at the begining of the back straight I never made the shift into 5th gear as the road is still uphill. I did redline in 4th once or twice, which would be about 125 MPH.
This is only my 3rd track(and 6th track day) but it is now my favorite. It has it all; Smooth. Clean. Technically challenging. Long (less traffic). Hills. Multiple passing zones. Historical(It's THE GLEN!) A great track!
Warranty - running street tires there is no question that I am covered by Porsche warranty. If I were driving on R-compound tires, Porsche might not cover an engine oil starvation or wheel bearing problem - but then they might. I don't need R-compound tires to have fun, though most of the cars in the advanced run groups were on Pilot Sport Cups.
Porsche would probably deny a warrantee claim if there were excessive amounts of high engine over-revs. But that is a problem with shifting into the wrong gear that could happen anywhere - not just the track. Watkins Glen is actually not a place you are likely to shift into the wrong gear. I was only shifting 2 or 4 times per lap, and only between 3rd gear and 4th gear.
My tires didn't seem to take that much of a beating. I did increase the wear on the outer 1/4 inch of tread, but I don't get to use that part of the tire on streets and freeways anyway, so it evens out
This was a great weekend, but I was dissapointed that the folks from NY Metro didn't drive more carefully. There were LOTS of car incidents - at least 3 disabled cars per day out of a field of about 250. I guess if you have a subway you take more risks with your car.
I had a great time - thanks for letting me tell a bit of my story.
BTW - I never really 'got it' for the two downhill/uphill sweepers at the end of the back straight and the toe-of-the-boot. If anyone can think of a way to explain it to me, I would appreciate it. Every once in a while it would feel good and my instructor would say I got it, but I couldn't come up with a consistent way to drive these turns. I guess I'll have to go back again to figure it out