[968Oz]

I've reached a cross road in relation to my 968 that I'm sure many others of you may have been at some time. When I bought my 968 I thought it would be fun to take it to the track on occasion, but that was a secondary benefit of the car. I really just wanted an interesting car that I could love and care for. So over the couple of years I've been getting the car up to as close to perfect condition as I can. I'm almost happy with it now but of course there are always a few things more things to do. But ... a few months ago I did my first DE day and since then have done a track day and a hill climb event, and I'm hooked. Great fun, a great distraction from the daily grind and I want more! So to my dilemma. If I want to take the track seriously I'd need to modify the 968 appropriately. As I mentioned my 968 is now in pristine condition and I'm not sure that after getting the car back to that condition I want to start ripping out seats, welding in roll cages, deleting air con etc. Unfortunately, I don't think I can stretch to another car at the moment (we have a 928 and a Peugeot 407 that deal with everyday duties) so that leaves the option of modding the 968 or selling it for a car that has already been track repaired or another car that I could live with rebuilding.
I'd appreciate any advice from those of you who have been here before or who have more experience in motor sport.
Cheers
Ian

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[Cloud9...68]

I have a similar dilemma, so I can relate to your situation, so, for what it'sworth, here is my current thinking on the subject. Having a dedicated track car, either a 968 or something else (personally, I think a 2nd gen Toyota MR2 turbo would be the ideal car for this purpose), wouldof course be ideal, but then you have to deal with the gargantuan hassle and expense of either towing it to and from the track, or keeping it at the track in a (usually very expensive) garage.

Is your 968 a daily driver? Mine isn't, so my current thinking is that I'm going to do a modest set of mods to mine, to make it more track-worthy, while keeping it driveable on the street:

- RS Barn header and cat back
- RS Barn Stage 2 chip
- Remove the AC (mine has died, but since I don't commute with the car, I find I can live without it, even here in blisterng central Texas)
- Racing seats, and Flash's chassis brace/harness bar
- A grippier, fatter, smaller non-airbag steering wheel, and removal of the passenger side air bag (mine's already disabled because I take my kids in a a fair bit)
- The appopriate set of struts and shocks (the Leda's on RS Barn's site look promising), adjustable for track and street use
- A more aggressive, track-oriented alignment
- Possibly a set of racing tires, but the hassle factor again rears its ugly head here

I already have the M030 sway bars, strut tower and lower suspension brace, a Guard LSD, Big Red brakes with Zimmerman rotors, and a few other goodies, so I'm hoping the above, plus maybe a lightweight flywheel, will make enough of a difference to make the car a lot more fun on the track, while still keeping the car usable as the weekend toy/grocery getter/kid transporter that it is today.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I'd be interested to hear what other people who like us have caught the track bug are contemplating.

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[flash]

a dual purpose car, while a common practice, is never a good idea - something has to give

i'm in a not altogether different situation - i finally have the street car just about like i want it, and don't want to trash or break it on the track - i can't decide whether or not to seek something else for the street (355 or something like that) or stick with the 968 - i can't find a better street car that fits all of my requirements in one, so i'll likely keep it as is and build another car - fortunately i have an enclosed trailer, so the race car can live in that and not in my garage

so, my recommendation is to figure out how to keep the car as is (fun mods or not) keep it off the track, and build another one - a 944 can be had for almost nothing (in fact there was recently a tub for free)

if you really can't do that, then i would get ready for the idea that things are going to go wrong with your car if you expose it to the track - it's the nature of the beast

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[968Oz]

"a dual purpose car, while a common practice, is never a good idea - something has to give"

That's how I feel too. On my first track day I ended up with about 20 stone chips in the front bumper cover (fortunately I was taking the car in to get the bumper resprayed soon after). So after spending all this time and money getting the car right I feel reticent about subjecting it to track "abuse". A 944S2 or preferably a turbo is something I'm thinking about. There's plenty around for little money or with some track mods already in place.

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[PorscheDude]

Buy a prepped car. Far cheaper and there's plenty of them out there.

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[thingo]

You could get a normal 968 for pretty cheap, the S2 and turbos don't handle as sweetly.

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[Cloud9...68]

I agree that a dedicated track car would be the ideal, and someday having something like that is definitely my dream, but I just can't get past the ginormous hassle of having to trailer the darn thing to and from the track (and finding the space to store it and the trailer), or the thought of forking over the equivalent of a payment on a Cayman to keep it at the track. Not to mention the cost of building a track car.

I understand that if you have a pristine street car, you wouldn't want to subject it to the abuse of the the track. In my case, my car is far from pristine, so for a few thousand dollars, I could make it pretty track-worthy, while still keeping it driveable on the street. So for me, I think this would be the better option, at least for awhile.

But if you have the space, and the funds to build and keep a dedicated track car, I couldn't agree more that this would be the way to go.

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[968Oz]

"You could get a normal 968 for pretty cheap, the S2 and turbos don't handle as sweetly."

968s down here in Australia are somewhat more expensive than in the US. A well cared for coupe would start at mid-$20s. Due to their rarity and desirability as track weapons, M030 CSs start around $60K. 944s are more reasonable and it seems well sorted versions at least match 968s on the track. But that's just my observations rather than personal experience.

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[firefish]

Getting your car set up for the track (not building an all out race car) should probably increase the value of it rather than reduce it, at least that it is the way it is in Europe. Since the '68 is still a rather expensive car compared to '44s and such you don't see any crappy low-budget racers. Instead it seems that the mildly raced 968s, especially the dual purpose cars that also has to perform on the street, are being more well kept by their owners, probably since they are being bought for a "real" purpose in the first place rather than simply serving as an ice cream truck.

I can see your concern about reversability but that should be no issue really. There are really nice bolt-in roll cages that are fully certified (www.heigo.de) that reqiures not cutting in panels et.c (but floor mats needs to be cut). As far as the air goes I would keep it, there are so many other things to consider before those 10 kg becomes an issue (the compressor also sits really low in the engine bay) and being able to drive (and therefore think) cool is at least in my case more of a factor in setting good track times than loosing a couple of extra kilos.

I have Leda and they're ok. Count on getting two years out of them between rebuilds (which are not expensive if you don't have to ship them to the UK) and probably less if you see a lot o dusty road use and hard track time. Shoot for the stiffest springs you can live with on the street and know that the adjustability is somewhat crude as compared to the expensive stuff.

My car is a pretty rough ride on the street and sits a bit too low to be practical but I use on the track and as my daily driver during three seasons. In addition to the Ledas it has been on a diet and buckets are gone in favour of Sparcos among other things. During the winter I'll fit a half cage, Elephant Racing sways and rock solid bushings all over. Lexan rear hatch and carbon fibre hood + fibre glass fenders too in addition to relocated battery to get it more focused on track performance. It will still serve as a dd though. I'm rolling on Toyo R888 and they're performing good on the street, even when wet and cold, and I'll never go back to "normal" tires on the 968 again.

Yes, it will be cheaper to buy the finished product but not nearly as much fun. Working your car can be really awarding and it is always fun to "grow" together and upgrading your car together with honing your skills as a driver.

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[flash]

that is my philosophy too - in my experience a track car has always been in better shape than a street car - while the duty is more severe, the maintenance is more diligent - when looking at a car to purchase, i rarely worry about paint, since i almost always end up painting the car anyway - the other things though are generally in much better shape on a track car - what i dread most is a car that doesn't see any use or is just putted around

this is also why i do not recommend a dual purpose car though - if you can't afford to have it off the road for a few days while you fix something that didn't break on the track, but needs service, you tend to let it run down and get worse - also, owners who don't track their cars tend to forget how long ago something was done - guys who track gauge by "seasons" and have log books

seriously, a 944 can be picked up for hundreds, and set right for the track for a very few thousand - then you can get out there and have fun - you can leave it "streetable" to get back and forth as long as you are only doing DE events - if you plan to race, you really need a trailer

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[rxter]

Post 3:::::

"Street" is a very, very benign way to describe that animal. Most of us would consider that a track car my friend....

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[flash]

lol - well, i guess perspective is everything here - if i use it for street, it's "street" - my car may have a lot of the preparation i would empoly in a track car, but it's still intended for street

i did the same thing with the mgb though - i had one that was a street car and one that was dedicated track, which were nearly identical in preparation, with the exception of carpet, stereo, top, yada yada

i like to do that - this gives me a LOT of seat time in a car very nearly the same as the track car - i find i can work on technique much better that way - it's almost like driving a race car every day - you are bound to get pretty good that way

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