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Y2K''s 996 picnic table

Really cool car, enjoy :thumb:
 
Been neglecting this thread for a while; with my ownership coming up to one year anniversary next week 😲(!), and inspired by other threads in recent weeks, I thought it's a good time for a brief recap.

I'm not a 'hands on' person though, so nothing epic here, just a collection of pictures.

Anyway, rewind back to last September, I bought another Guards Red GT3....

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When I was researching 996 GT3 Mk1 vs Mk2, various reports suggested that most Mk1s would not achieve the manufacture claimed figure of 355bhp, whereas Mk2s would routinely overachieve (375 bhp & 284 lb/ft).

In fact, 911uk held a GT3 dyno day at Surrey Rolling Road in 2015, and on the day they had one Mk1 (357bhp) and four Mk2s (390-399bhp).

So last September, a few mates and I decided to take our cars to SRR for a laugh and bragging rights.

Armed with 2/3 Esso and 1/3 VPower, my car went on the roller.

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The car had three runs; first one 400bhp :eek: , then 399 😐 , then 403 8)

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403.3 bhp & 314 lb/ft
Torque curve a bit funky but Charlie (boss at SRR) said everything looked good.

Fan noise warning:
 
November came and I bought a new battery for the car. I went with the largest available (Bosch S5); a bit of extra weight but there you go.

Then my friends and I visited Rockingham. Initially I wasn't planning to do any track day in 2018, because I wanted to wait until after its first service/health check just to be cautious. However with Rockingham closing so it's now or never.

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Great day; it was wet to start but sunny by lunchtime. As expected I was pretty slow, with it being my first track day in the GT3 and first time at Rockingham.

Short clip of me following my mate's Megane and then a spin. The track had just reopened so a bit of traffic jam.


I also met a couple of 911UKers there (iOlly & edh).

Picture form edh
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Rockingham was such a lovely track, challenging and technical, with very good facilities on site and a relaxed noise limit. I wished I had visited it earlier.
 
Then in December I visited Bedford.

My car had failed the static test but the marshal allowed me on track. However, on my second lap I received my first 'noise warning board', which would then become the theme of the day. I think I ended up with about five, even with me changing up at 7k rather than 8.2k.

I got more confident with the car as the day progressed, but had a big spin in late afternoon and damaged one of the brake cooling ducts.

Mistake at the chicane then ran out of talent:


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That's it for 2018. To be continued...
 
Nice update Yk.

I'm sure you'll have told me already but has your car had a remap? Good power it's making.
I've said on my thread that I didn't expect a huge jump in performance moving from the C2, but I've been pleasantly surprised. Mine pulls hard.

I'm loving the mini champs model. I've a small collection of 1/43 scale ones. Spark are good too.

You've bought the wrong battery though. Odyssey for the win. :p
 
No remap AFAIK; my C2 had 273bhp so a bit of increase.

Marky911 said:
You've bought the wrong battery though. Odyssey for the win. :p

Well I barely weight under 10st so a large battery wouldn't hurt the 'power to weight' ratio too much. :lol:
 
Driver training

2019 arrived; I had not used the car much, if at all, during the winter to avoid salt.

The car was due for a service and the tyres required replacement (they were from 2010/10/11/14). However, as there're still some tread left, I thought I would attend a driver training day in late January to finish the tyres off.

The day was run by Car Limits and was held at North Weald airfield. It had snowed overnight so not ideal, though it was sunny and dry by lunchtime.

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I had attended two events with Car Limits before (in different cars) so I knew what to expect. As it turned out, the instructor, Mark, was my instructor from 5 years ago. Mark also instructs at Porsche Experience Centre at Silverstone, so perfect for teaching me about driving a 911.

One of the exercises in the morning, was to intentionally unsettle the car at high speed and to learn how to catch the spin. However, thanks to the old tyres, all I experienced was severe high speed understeer. I tried everything including 'Scandinavian flick' at 70mph+, there was no joy. Mark inspected the tyres and said that the fronts had hardened; in fact within 15 minutes of the course the front right had splitted, and three out of the four got worn down to the canvas (inside edge) as the day went on.

Despite all that, it was a good and educational day. The most effective modification is 'tuition', right?

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Short handling course set up in the afternoon; Mark showing me how it's done (I told Mark to 'drive it sideways') :D
 
Service time

February

I mentioned that I had damaged one of the front brake ducts at Bedford. My car had the 996 GT2/GT3 RS front cooling ducts fitted; it turned out that the GT2/RS ducts were unavailable in the UK, and they were around USD 132 from the US. I wasn't going to pay that much for a bit of plastic, so decided to fit a pair of 997 GT3 cooling ducts instead (£13 for the pair).

997's ones are a bit smaller though.
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Then it's service time at 9E. When I first viewed the car, there were one or two concerns which could potentially to be very costly. Thankfully after inspection everything turned out to be ok, so just a routine service.

Worked carried out by 9E:
Major service + plugs + drive belt
Coilpacks replaced
Brake fluid change (SRF)
Gearbox oil change
New front centre radiator (small leak) + coolant change
New air con cooling fan (broken)
Front and centre undertrays replaced (damaged during my Scotland trip after the splitter had came loose)
Underside rust protection
New wipers
New front trailing arms
Anti roll bars adjusted + geometry set up

I had also fitted a set of Cup 2s before the service / geometry.
 
Oulton Park, North Wales & Anglesey

In March, a few friends (including Marky & Cobrars from 911uk) and I attended the RS Day at Oulton Park.

It was my second time at Oulton Park, the first time was 5/6 years ago. Unfortunately the weather didn't play ball, with the exception of about an hour of 'dry' during late morning, it was very wet. Needless to say I was cautious.

One lap in my second session (first in the 'dry')


Three laps in my third session


Best on the day was about 2:09/10; these cars should run comfortably sub-2 mins. Lose the passenger may gain me a second or two, so still need to find another 7s+ 😐

By comparison, in my Integra my best was 2:19 with passenger; my friend did 2:17 in my car. 🙄

My friend (main picture) vs me (small picture) from 5/6 years ago


The driving standard on the day was very good and courteous; there were also some really quick drivers there.

Anyway, I had fun, it was wet, car back in one piece, also met a few good people from 911uk, so it's a win.

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After Friday at Oulton, on Saturday we headed off for a cuppa at Llangollen, then we zigzagged our way through North Wales before heading to Anglesey.

We stopped at the triangle so my friend could drive a lap in mine.
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Filming fly-by


Two minutes later 😬:cop:
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That happened during our 'third run' of filming. Cobrars was leading, I backed off so my other friend could take some action photos of cobrars. I came around the corner doing 30mph, and saw cobrars had stopped in the middle of the road with a police car with flashing lights stopping beside him. Then the police officer waved me into the lay-by, and then a police bike arrived. It turned out the police wanted us to stop 'playing' for a while so they could let some wide lorries through (wind farm being built near by).

The policeman was a 'car guy', an ex-Nissan GTR owner; we had a nice chat about cars and the roads in North Wales, and he said that he would like a 911 in future.

We were lucky. 👍

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Sunday TD at Anglesey; it had snowed overnight so it started off wet but soon rain stopped. High wind helped drying out the track but still needed to watch out for standing water. By late morning the condition got a lot better and the GT3 was in its element. Wind remained high though and we could really feel its effect at the high speed back straight (long right hander). Another friend and his mate joined us after lunch so we took them out for some passenger rides; it was completely dry by then and it was brilliant fun.

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I then had a session with an instructor at 3pm; I had hoped to be earlier but a Jaguar driver had hired the instructor for the whole morning. The session with the instructor really helped tidying up my lines thus my apex and exit speed improved. Then hailstorm arrived plus low fuel meant unfortunately I didn't have a chance to go out again.

Great weekend of self-indulgence. 8)

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Suspensions & a bit of history

My car came with Sports seats originally (same as my old Carrera 2). The first owner used the car as an everyday car and unbelievablely, clocked up 26k miles in the first 10 months! :eek: Then in 2009 (40k miles), he had Nomex buckets, fire extinguisher, Motorsport Cup diff and MOTON installed by Tech-9 (Porsche specialist near Liverpool), with the intention of doing track days. However, the car was then sold almost immediately as soon as the modifications were completed. The next three owners then used the car sparingly in the next nine years before the car was sold to me.

I knew nothing about setting up suspensions, so back in February I had the geometry set up by 9E. At Rockingham and Bedford, I had found the car to be a bit twitchy at high speed (possibly also because of old tyres); I explained to 9E of my intended usage (road trips, b-roads, a handful of TDs p.a. etc) so the set up was not to be overly aggressive.

After fettling by 9E, the car was a bit calmer (particularly on b-roads) whilst the turn-in was still very good. It's always a compromise but I thought it's a good compromise for my use.

Anyway, when the car left 9E, the bump and rebound were set at the 'middle' setting. I had since then experimented various settings, and finally settled with a setting as suggested by Tech-9. Below 30mph in town and on the worst of British's roads it's still firm #beacuseracecar but up the speed a bit the car drives very sweetly now. 8)

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Windscreen woe & Beaulieu

The windscreen was damaged after 'playing' with two bikers at local roads. Sticky tyres flicked up loose stones. That'll teach me not to follow motorbike to closely in the future. :roll: PPF did its job though so no damage to the paintwork and the bonnet.

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New windscreen was fitted by the good people at National Windscreens. The technician said that the new windscreen cost £900; thankfully I only had to pay the Insurance excess.

Note that Saint-Gobain have updated their logo/ marking to include a QR code
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Then in June it was Simply Porsche at Beaulieu.

Once again a great event and met a few people from the forum, including Dan and his beautiful Manthey Mk1, and Mr. 911UK

My pal's 996 and mine; picture from montygraphics
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Heatwave & Abingdon

Mid June, summer finally arrived; of course the air-con then decided to stop working during the heatwave. Fortunately a re-gas was all that was needed.

Then a couple weeks ago I did a track day at Abingdon. Never been there before so another one ticked off the list.

Just my luck, after two weeks of dry weather, on the day of track day heavens opened. Due to heavy rain and excessive standing water, action didn't start until 11am. Good fun though and good to learn the limits of Michelin Cup 2.

Video of a spin and then a few uneventful laps except for some minor twitches. Very quiet track; a lot of people had left by early afternoon.


This brings us up to date. On this Saturday it'll be the one year ownership anniversary. I did 5900 happy miles in the last year and the car returned just over 18 mpg. Still not used the rear spoiler as a picnic table though. :D

I look forward to the next twelve months and beyond. :thumb:

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Great write up :thumb:

We need to get together for a drive out or trackday
 
Nice updates Yk. :thumbs:

The car looks great in the Beaulieu photo. It still scrubs up well.
Oh and Anglesey always makes for some good pics. 8)
 

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