[flash]

well, the last Design 1 Racing Supercharger Kit sold yesterday. that makes 41 kits. not bad for a part time hack.



at some point in the next few months i will take a look at the possibilities of making them in one-off fashion, but don't hold your hopes high. i know already what it would mean in logistics, and i don't know that it will ever make sense. some of the parts will be quite a bit more expensive (like anything done on the CNC and anything powdercoated), and i won't be able to offer a lot of options. it will also take time to make it up, if and when this becomes a possibility.



in the meantime, i wanted to thank everybody who found their way to this. it is truly flattering to see how much fun people are having, given the nearly 20 years of failed attempts of others.

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[tamathumper]

You're welcome. <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/wink.png" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[flash]

lol - yeah - that just might have had a little something to do with it. thank you. my wife thanks you. the dogs thank you. everybody who wants me to finish my danged projects and get on with having fun thanks you.

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[taporite6]

[quote name='flash' timestamp='1372005190' post='144787']

lol - yeah - that just might have had a little something to do with it. thank you. my wife thanks you. the dogs thank you. everybody who wants me to finish my danged projects and get on with having fun thanks you.

[/quote]







was on design 1 racing site and was wondering if you are still working on the rear speaker enclosure and clear bra

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[ds968]

Hmmm a " clear bra " would be cool.. Oh wait, we're still talking cars ? Never mind, back to the SC : congrats flash, well done. And if ( WHEN ) I find that 968 tip daily driver we'll talk about tne one-off SC . if you had to take an educated guess are we talking 10% more, 20% more , 50% more $... ?!

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[gbarrier]

Thanks Flash. Hope the other 40 folks enjoy theirs as much as I enjoy mine.

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[flash]

ds - probably 20%



taporite - clear bra was a total fail. dead project. cab speaker enclosures were not going to do what i wanted them to do, so i abandoned the project. i will update the website this week and pull those off.

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[Rap]

Over the weekend while at Watkins Glen my instructor informed me that while at an instructors meeting it was noticed that the number 49 red 968 probably did not realize how fast his car was. It seemed people were having problems passing me after I had given the signal. I thought I was coasting when I gave the signal to let them by. My instructor said I absolutely needed to lift because many were having passing problems. I was somewhat floored but complied. I didn't know how fast my car was! Thanks Flash!

So far the only problem with the sc at a DE is that it made me lazy. On some of the courses I've run this year it was possible to stay in one gear - fourth. At the Glen it showed in my poor braking shifting turning routine. Once it was identified back to shifting and no to laziness! The difference between last year at the Glen and this year was noticeable. Actually takes some getting used to!

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[ds968]

It does indeed take getting used to it ; as I mentioned in another SC thread, to me it actually FEELS SLOWER..until you either look at the speedometer and see how quickly that needle climbs, or, look in your rearview mirror and realize how much ground you have covered in a matter of just a few seconds.

I was one of the most skeptical people here before buying the SC, thinking 35 more HP ( vs my modded NA car, that is.. ) won't make that much of a difference, but I had completely overlooked the additional 60 ft/lbs of torque, and delivered at a lower rpm level ! It does make one hell of a difference !! Still feels slower because its a lot smoother now ,which pisses me off LOL, but I'm definitely getting used to it and with a huge grin on my face as I look in that rearview mirror at the distance that builds up in the blinknof an eye and think: holy crap, this is one respectably fast car !

Related story ( and sorry to be taking up this thread with it ) but yesterday I got on highway behind a fairly new Carrera 4 S cab whose driver was making a futile effort to keep up with the 911 Turbo ahead of him both accelerating hard as they entered the highway, with me right behind at that point.. I could not resist and passed the 4S, looking at the stunned driver's face as I did that, but then my misguided confidence told me to try and keep pace with the turbo ( not misguided enough to ever think it would catch up ) just to see how much quicler those are. Well, I won't continue the rest of the story as you can all imagine it only took a few seconds to realize that it felt like a turtle chasing a rabbit. A fast turtle, but still....

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[flash]

ds968 - part of the problem is how you think about the numbers.



on your car for example, for hp, at best you had 265hp. remember, i know what your engine did stock, and i know what mods you had and what they did. no matter how "fast" the car people may have said it was relative to theirs, the power numbers would not be that different. and that number was only way up top, requiring over 7000 rpm to get it. the Stage 3 SC does 310. that's 45. also, you are making more power than that 265 from 4500 up, so especially where you drive, it's going to make a bigger difference than the mere numbers would indicate.



but again, that's peak stuff. the real story is everything BELOW peak



for torque, at best you had 225ft/lbs at peak, but if you take out that little spike in the OEM curve, you really had about 200. heck, the Stage 3 SC makes that not far off idle, and now you have almost 300 in the same area as the meat of the stock curve. that's huge.



what surprises me is that, with all the people complaining about how the car needs more power, and many of them running out and buying something newer, just to get some of it, that i didn't see a lot more people stepping up to get the kit. it's truly pretty plug and play, and has shown to be as reliable as one could hope for, and it passes emissions. perhaps people aren't as in need of power as we might think. it can't be the money. that's what credit cards are for. the payment on the credit card would be far less than the payment on a new car, and if power were the motivator, it leaves me at a loss to understand why more didn't do it.



but, whatever. no worries.

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[JWahlsten]

I would have snapped one up in a heartbeat, but I wasn't looking for more power in my 968 for the track. I want to learn to make the most of what I have. If I want to go fast I'll drive Tubbo and grab warp speed fairly quickly.



Your kit is obviously well engineered, and well tested. Just not what some of us need. I'm guessing Cloud is in the same camp.



Next step for me is suspension goodies.

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[Cloud9...68]

[quote name='JWahlsten' timestamp='1372097842' post='144834']

I'm guessing Cloud is in the same camp.

[/quote]



Exactamundo! For a street 968, I would have snapped one up, but my goal was to create a car I could use to really learn the craft of track driving, so I actually view having a modestly powered car as a better learning tool, since it will force me to maintain the maximum possible speed in (and out of) the corners. Then when I eventually go racing, I didn't want to start my racing career going head to head with GT3's, thank you very much. I figure I can always add power later.



But as I've said many times, a D1R-supercharged 968 makes for an incredible street car - 370Z-level performance for not much more than half the price.

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[flash]

ok - i get the minority of guys who want to set up a track car, and are consequently limited by the rules. that might account for a couple dozen guys.



what about the other 2000 or so cars here in the states? i found the stock level of power to be miserably lacking. granted, i am likely at the far end of the spectrum, with others that are totally satisfied at the other, but what about the center of that bell? i would guess it would be at least 500.



am i missing something?



don't get me wrong. it's not like i want to make that many kits or anything. i need a break. but i wonder what others are thinking.

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[tamathumper]

Others are thinking they don't have the cheddar. Remember, this is the entry level Porsche, and many of the owners, especially those who have been bitten by a major maintenance bill recently, might not have the emotional fortitude to spend that much on performance upgrades of any kind.

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[flash]

hmmm - i guess it's just a different mindset.

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[Cloud9...68]

I agree with Tama. While the price of the kit is more than reasonable, by the time you get the rest of your up-to-20-year-old car up to snuff, you might well be looking at closer to $10K than to $5K, depending on how much needs to be done. For many people, a sports/GT car purchase is an emotional decision, and consequently I suspect the purchase price of the car, plus the inevitable immediate required maintenance and repairs, leaves many stretched to the gills. Another $5K+ on top of that is probably too much for a lot of people, considering most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck to begin with.

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[craigawoodman]

You also forget the difficulty in convincing the better half to allow you to go down this route - you want to spend how much, on what? There are normally a zillion other things that are more important than making your weekend car/toy go faster. Holidays, house renovations, shopping (shoes, handbags), new furniture, sensible things like paying mortgages off, new cars, etc.



It may be that only the slightly crazy look at the 968 and think, wow, how much better would this be if it went a whole lot faster? It is not slow to being with. But as others have said, supercharger, brakes, suspension, engine maintenance/rebuild, etc. it is all a sunk cost that you are unlikely to get back.



Then there are those that love concourse and originality. To modify the car at all is heresy and thou should be burnt at the stake or alternatively have maximum points deducted.



So 41 people out of 11,000 cars manufactured (and remember, some have already gone down alternative routes to more power - turbos, etc). If you look at the USA 2,000 cars, 41 people is roughly 5% - which sounds about right for the general population rate of crazy people.

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[flash]

see - now that's where i guess i differ.



to me, the car is ridiculously inexpensive. i've averaged $20k per year on my toys since i was 25. i would not blink at spending $50k on a toy like this. to be able to get one, and then basically replace everything in the car and have the level of power and performance it can have, all for under $50k, it seems like a no brainer.



i also think it is painfully heavy and slow. but then, i come from a much lighter and quicker car.



so, i think maybe it's just a different experience and mindset.

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[Cloud9...68]

Craig makes a great point that for the vast majority of people, money is a finite resource with countless things competing for any that may be left over after paying the basic bills, saving for retirement, etc. For most of us, particularly those supporting a family on a more-or-less fixed income, something to increase the performance of our toy sadly falls to about No. 20 on the list - it might as well be No. 20 million. It all depends on your circumstances: Single income with kids (and I'm simply referring to the everday expenses that come with them, not the act of spoiling them rotten) = you're screwed. Double income with kids, and you have a fighting chance. Two incomes, no kids, and you have vastly more options. I would bet anybody's paycheck here that this prioritization exercise is behind the relatively low number of SC sales, despite the incredible bang for the buck it provides.

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[craigawoodman]

Lifestyle is directly proportional to income. If you have a $1M income, you will have a $1M lifestyle. If you have a $25k income, you will have a $25k lifestyle.



This is not to say one is better than the other, just that income and lifestyle are normally linked. You do get exceptions (millionaires living on the street, etc - people embezzling money to live like millionaires), but for the majority, lifestyle is income driven.



To own a Porsche, even an old one, you need to most likely be of above average wage in terms of income (or live very frugally if below average). Then it all comes down to how much disposable income you have left over, and what choices you make with that.



Some may be timing, in that, with kids at school, etc - when they finish in a couple of years may free up income for other activities.



So, firstly, you need the desire. From all of the posts, there are lots of 968 Forums members who desire a faster car and the supercharger kit. Then you need the surplus income and the desire to push you towards buying it. Then you need the desire, surplus income and no competing demands for the spend and approval from the significant other, plus the desire to install it or funds to get someone else to do it, possibly plus the desire and funds to do any other outstanding engine maintenance, etc. everytime you go through one of these "and" gates, you are dropping around 50% of the population of Porsche 968 owners. So, with around 5 to 6 combined "and" gates, the progression goes,



50%, 25%, 12.5%, 6.25%, 3.125%, etc.



So around 5% is not bad.



I think that once the performance, reliability and ease of installation (or accuracy of installation) gets known, and the car gets older - installs would increase.

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