'97 Porsche Turbo S vs '01 Z06 at Thunderhill

[itry2hide]

I had the opportunity to ride with my friend in his Turbo S last weekend. We were at a NASA event up at Thunderhill in Northern California. We were "racing" in the high performance driving school, groups 3 and 4.

First and foremost, the Turbo S is one beautiful automobile. I think less than 500 were ever made, with only 180 coming into the US. It weighs in at 3500 lbs, has 424 horses and all wheel drive. My friends car has an upgraded suspension, and he was running Hoosier's on Fiske wheels. In addition, my friend has been racing Porsche club for the past six years, but not with this car. He is a very accomplished driver, but does take it a little easy with his collector's item car.

The point of my story? There was an '01 Z06 three cars behind us. By the fourth lap, the Z06 was right behind us. When we hit the straight away, my friend could not hold the Z06 off. See ya. Off course my friend said he let the Z06 pass 'cause my bud didn't want to risk his Porsche. In reality, the Z06 was faster, especially in the straights. Now, we did start to catch up coming out of the corners, but by the time we really started to close, the Z06 would pull away.

I think the only place where the Porsche was superior to the 'vette was in braking. It appeared that we could go a little deeper in the straights before hitting the brakes.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to talk to the driver, so I don't know if the Z was modified. It did sound a little louder than mine, so there may have been some mods on the car.

Anyway, I'm going back up with my friend at the end of October. I will be breaking my cherry, having never been on the track. Thunderhill is pretty good for first timers, as it is a long track (3.1 Miles) with lots of run off space. I'm going to be running completely stock. Any ideas? This will be my first time on the track. Should I change out my brake pads? What tire pressure should I run. I've also heard that changing to dot 4 brake fluid is a good idea. Is this hard to change out? Can anybody direct me to web sites that might help with some of the things I should do to prepare?

Thanks

[gmblack3]

Flush out the brake fluid to ATE super blue or something DOT 4. I have the carbotech panther + pads on the front. Very nice pad, easy on the rotors, alot of dust of course.

http://www.carbotecheng.com/main.htm

I just run the stock pressure 30psi all around.

Leave the AC on at all times. It will keep both fans on and you will not have a problem with water temp. I also leave both TC and AH on.

Try to be smooth and take it easy on the car. You don't need 6500 for every shift. (ok maybe a few times) If you get the "Trans high temp" on the dic, do a cooldown lap and bring her into the pits till the next session. Hit the reset button and you will get the tranny temp. You can avoid this by being smoother and shifting early. Add the extra qt of Mobil 1 when you get to the track.

Have fun!

[chrisj]

I took my car out for a DE event pretty much straight out of the box too. No mods.
Here are some simple things:
Take off the center caps on the wheels and the lug covers.
You can pull the lap belt all the way out and let it back in to lock it in place. If you then scoot the seat up a little after that, it holds you pretty well.
Make sure to turn the traction control off. I left AH on as I am very green and I figured it wouldn't hurt me.
I turned on my oil temp guage on the DIC to make sure that I didn't run too hot - I did have to shut down one lap early on the last round of the second day because I was apparantly running much better than when I started - it started to creep way up there.

I don't remember my tire pressures. There are arrows on the sides of the tires showing you where you want to wear to. I have heard a lot of different opinions on what to run the tires at, so try a couple of different pressures.
I also purchased some racing tape to apply behind the wheels and over the turn lights. I was trying to save rock chips, etc from debris. You can purchase racing tape at racing stores, motorcycle stores (sportbike places), the track, or the net.

I applied my Z06VETTE static cling to the front window, cinched up my helmet and headed out! What fun it was.

chris