Running Report 1 - November 2001

The Beginning

Quests are fantastic. Besides generating tons of great ideas for thrilling and engaging movies (well, according to the previews anyway), they provide an endless source of embarrassing yet entertaining tales for all your friends. I think everyone should have at least one every couple of years. And, if you're really lucky, every now and again, they'll be worth it. The purchase of My First Porsche (MFP) in June this year was definitely one of these.

About 10 months ago, my car was stolen. It was a nice car, but not exciting. A 1999 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro, acquired through a shockingly good deal that I couldn't refuse. It gleamed, it beeped enchantingly and it drove well in the snow. But it had the performance of a drowsy slug on a hot day. By the time the cops found the car and returned it to me I had tasted the forbidden fruit of acceleration via a generous replacement car insurance policy, and I decided it was time for a quest: a new car that would leave me stirred, not shaken.

It took three months and endless agonizing. I looked at BMW 3-series, Audi A4s, TTs, Acuras, Mercedes and Saabs. My criteria started with: manual transmission, leather, reasonable storage, good gas mileage (being my only car and required for commuting), in a subdued dark blue. I ended with a 1991 C2 Porsche 911 in shocking red (aka Guard's Red). Well, at least I got leather seats and a manual. I don't think I need to explain the 'why' to any Porsche owner, but for the uninitiated: the 911 is simply a beautiful car, both parked and in motion. There is a strong tactile sense of the road, and the suspension firm, yet comfortable enough for daily commuting/highway driving. And of course the engine has a wee bit of kick.

First Impressions

I find the 964 C2 a small automobile, but well laid out. The instrument panel is gorgeous, although it's a shame the steering wheel is not adjustable since it cuts off part of the speedometer (albeit at the 190+km/h range) and the warning light. When I first drove it, I had my seat relatively far back and at my height (185cm) this is a problem as my skull touches the roof. Since going to a driver's education course I now sit much closer to the wheel, and my head is now underneath the retracting portion of the sunroof which is slightly raised, so headroom isn't an issue. Others with longer legs could have a problem, as the curvature of the car top in combination with the sunroof drops the roof about an inch at the back.

Another disadvantage of the small cabin is condensation. So far it's been manageable by either playing with the heat controls or cracking open one of the windows. The air-conditioner is anaemic, but fortunately this is not an issue for anyone living on the Canadian West Coast. One interesting (and in some ways alarming) quirk is that whatever unspeakable things occur when riding a clutch, you can smell the results being pumped into the passenger compartment, as happens frequently on steep hills in stop and go traffic. It smells vaguely like old sneakers and hopefully not carcinogenic. Perhaps Porsche has no sympathy to those in stop and go traffic on steep hills.

Visibility is excellent, except for the rear. Due to the (beautiful) curves, you have to guess where the rear bumper ends. A larger complaint is the third brake light required for North American vehicles. It's installed at the top centre of the rear wind shield. It blocks the view of any following car's windshield and is very annoying. I'll live with it, but wish Porsche had thought of the 993 solution for my model, which uses a much thinner light. I've had vague thoughts of replacing it, but it's a flaw I can live with, so I doubt I can justify the cost.

If I had to summarize the problems of my 964 (and I suspect any 911), is that it is essentially a sports car without compromise, which means I will have to do the compromising. Typically, it's a choice between money and doing it wrong. For instance, storage options are quite limited. There are two rear passenger seats which, in a pinch, could hold the dismembered body parts of two adults stacked neatly, but more importantly, hidden (i.e. not viewable) storage is tiny. When parking downtown, I 'd prefer not to leave enticing packages in plain view. Also, given the gorgeous slant of the roof, there is virtually no head room, much less foot room for any fool that decides to ride in the back. This is one area where I really envy the cabriolet version--with the top down, I could transport very tall fools--at least until it rains.

The sound system is underwhelming for such an expensive vehicle. The midrange is adequate, but really needs some more ummf. I'm looking to install a subwoofer, which will obviously also require an amplifier. Storage space is at a premium so I'll need a small (expensive) amplifier, and the sub-woofer enclosure will have to be custom built to fit in the footwell of one of the rear passenger seats. All this costs money.

The Driving Experience

As mentioned above, driving the red beast is a sublime experience. I'll be naughty but accurate: driving my car is like sex without a condom. The basics are the same, but everything is heightened. And you might get there a bit quicker.

Steering is crisp and there is plenty of torque, although not evenly distributed. While not slow off the mark, the car only approaches neck snapping in the 4K-5K RPM band. However, as I tend not to launch my car into intersections, this isn't really an issue off the track. Braking power is profound, making checking your rear view mirror imperative, rather than just a good idea. The gears are notchy, but now that I'm used to it, anything else feels sloppy. Heel-toeing at first was impossible for me, but rather than incompetence it turns out the North American models have the brake peddle adjusted about two inches higher than their European brethren. Fixed in under 20 minutes with a Philips screwdriver and a wrench.

I purchased my 964 for $55,000 (all prices Canadian $). It was a 1991 Guard's red C2 Carrera, sunroof, heated sport seats, distributor ventilation kit, 32,000 km on the clock and in near-mint condition. The engine compartment was spotless, and the carpet was immaculate. There had been two previous owners, the first one a lease for six months, and the second the perfect previous owner. The Porsche dealer mechanic told me the owner sometimes used to drop by on Saturdays and explain excitedly how he had spent the entire day cleaning the engine compartment with a toothbrush. You can tell he even waxed the inside lip of the trunk.

The flywheel had not been replaced, but I had hoped that I could drive for a year and build up a replacement fund. No luck--it went within the week. Cost to repair, with a 'pity' discount of 10%: $3855. Ouch.

After my Audi experience, I had an immobilizer installed, and I've recently swapped the Blaupunkt Stuttgart cassette player for a Honolulu CD receiver ($250 on eBay, plus $60 to install), and it's a smart fit. British Columbia has a large provincial debt, which the police seem determined to pay off single-handedly so I also bought a radar detector ($600).

I've had to replace one halogen bulb ($14), and I bought an alternator pulley wrench in case the fan belt goes ($50).

Generally, my 964 is a commuter car (32km round trip), although when I can I take it on road trips. So far I've been to Portland Oregon (1400km round trip), and Seattle (600km round trip) twice. In addition, the local PCA organization has held a couple early morning drives along a winding scenic route to Whistler. So far I've put on about 7,000km, and spent about $720 in gas, with a tank costing about $55 (94 Octane). The road trips have kept the gas consumption average down, but the two driver's education sessions I've attended at Mission have more than compensated (2 x $200 for fees). In addition to increased gas bills, I've had to replace the brake pads ($270 for Hawk+), flush the brake fluid and have an inspection for the track ($140). I also had to buy a Nomex balaclava ($45). I must say that being able to take my car closer to it's performance potential in a relatively safe environment has been definitely worth the additional costs.

Plans

My plans for next year include trying out autocrossing and attending more drivers education events next Spring, especially at the Seattle International Raceway (SIR), which is less technical than Mission, but is much bigger and allows higher speeds. Unlike Mission, they do not provide helmet loaners, so I'll have to buy one (~$700). Also, I probably will buy some extra rims and get some 'sticky' tires ($2000).

I'm also looking into installing a sub-woofer, which will probably set me back $1000. I also need to look at my headlight alternatives. I find it's easy to overdrive the high beams in the country, although this could just be my foggy lenses. High Intensity Discharge units are appealing, but they're expensive and are illegal since they must be fitted by the manufacturer.

All quests come to an end, although the good ones will sometimes inspire smaller ones. I have my Golden Fleece, now I'm just looking for a little polish.

Running Report 2 - May 2002

The Thrills of Being Poor

Well, anyone who can afford a Porsche can't whine too much about money, but in the P-world, it's all relative.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, the 964 is my only automobile as I can't really justify a second car.   It doesn't snow very much in Vancouver, so the plan was to drive my car all year around, and work from home the odd day it did snow.  I was caught away from home a couple times, and they both made for some sphincter clenching moments.  Even with my all seasons, the car cornered like a hubcap on a hockey rink.  I don't know if the C4's would fare any better, but they could surely do no worse.  This winter I'm going to have to consider getting winter tires just to play it safe.

Oh Joyous Spring

I'm afraid to say the red rocket didn't escape spring unblemished.  I thought I had made it, but in early March, on my way to catch the Monday morning ferry from Sunshine Coast's Gibbons to Vancouver, I smacked it into the cement divider on the median.  It started snowing on my way there, and, to make a long, miserable and badly ending story short, I hit some slushy ice on the road and scraped the left front bumper.  A brief, depressingly impressive feeling of floating as the car slowly started rotating and moving toward the barrier, then scrunch, it bounced back, with the left rear rim hitting the side and then I managed to stop.  Of course, it could have been worse: it was relatively low speed and no other cars were involved.  But it was a very depressing ferry ride. 

I drove to the insurance inspection depot, conveniently located near work.  There was a huge line-up of other cars that had met similar misfortunes, but eventually they got around to it.

It looked like simple cosmetic damage, although  you can never tell until high priced mechanics have a go at it.  But it basically boiled down to a cracked plastic bumper, smashed fog and indicator lights, a rear rim that needed rebalancing and the left front quarter panel was bent.

Even though there was no scratches, they needed to take the paint off to bend it back into shape.  The good news is that in order to get at the panel, they had to remove the condenser, and thus discharge the air conditioning.  Since they did it, they were also obligated to refill it, and by law they had to upgrade the condenser to use the less efficient, but more environmental replacement to Freon gas.
The bad news is that the total came to $7000 (covered by insurance), meaning that if/when I sell the car, it will no longer be unblemished, and thus cost me in the resale value.  Some of the parts were stunningly expensive.  $400 for a fog lamp!  $1700 for a plastic unpainted front bumper moulding!  Why sell cocaine when there are Porsche dealerships?
After my vacation I returned to pick it up, and I must say it was a splendid job--I can't tell the difference and they even waxed it for me.

Thumpa Thumpa Thumpa

Nothing says "you've arrived" like a loud, distorted sub woofer vibrating the top of your roof and annoying anyone with musical sensibilities.  So I had to go get me one.  I've been under whelmed with the sound system, and after months of restlessly browsing speaker and amplifier sites, I've settled on some expensive 5 1/4" mid bass separates for the doors (Polykevlar Focals), and a 10" sub woofer.  I bought the sub woofer and it's enclosure off of eBay.   The sub woofer enclosure was custom made to fit the driver's side passenger seat, leaving the passenger's side back seat, as well as enough space to slide my seat back for easier egress.  I was considering letting the professionals handle the job, but thought it would be a rather safe and interesting project, so I roped in two friends with extensive car stereo installation experience to help me butcher my car.
On a early Saturday morning, the Recking Kru got started, and roughly 12 hours later we finished, meaning I would have saved money only if I had employed McDonalds staff to do the job, but it was all about the experience, and what an experience it was! My back may never be the same.

The plan was to 1) replace the door speakers 2) install the sub woofer and 3) install an amplifier.  The key criterion was to avoid consuming what precious little usable space existed, so rather than putting the amplifier in the trunk, I elected to place it under the passenger seat.
So, first thing we did was remove the seat, revealing the first challenge.

I had looked at a similar installation, but my Alpine 307 is perhaps a bit bigger than the MTX pictured.  We unscrewed the  ECU and alarm boxes before removing  the metal plate and angled the amplifier between the ridges.  We the tucked the ECU off to the side, and the alarm box under the front passenger mat.  We ran the wires under the carpet and through the centre console to the head unit.  I chose to reuse the existing wiring to the door speakers as they were of suitable gauge (16), and so the extra work to run wires ourselves seemed unjustified.
The existing setup had passive crossovers hidden in the map pocket, so I just replaced them with the Focal ones.  For a guideline on removing door panels, I followed a Pelican Parts technical article.  There was a surprise here:  the speaker frame also has a shell which presumably protects it from moisture.  My mid-range drivers have a considerably larger magnet which just barely fit into the box.  If you are considering installing 6.25" drivers, you may have to build your own door boxes.

Running the power wire (8 gauge) wasn't that difficult, after we figured out that you need to push it through the grommet from inside of the car, rather than trying to remove various parts in the front trunk to get access to the grommet.  After taping the wire to a coat hanger wire and pushing it through, it was trivial to route it to the battery.

There is a piece of rubber which serves to protect the storage area from moisture, which is pre-moulded to handle an 8 gauge wire running through it--make sure to thread the wire through it before hooking it up to the battery!

The sub woofer involved removing the driver's side passenger seat cushion, which was simple brute work, with a bit of a strong stomach as well because the glue holding down the cushion is simply disgusting.  I stuck a thin piece of dark cloth in it's place so I can remove the sub woofer when occasion demands without revolting either myself or any onlookers.

The final run of cables to the amplifier is, as I mentioned before, under the transmission hump's carpet and under the front seat.   As I discovered, the gap between the passenger seat and this hump is quite narrow.  It accommodates my cables easily enough, but I didn't take into consideration the seat belt which also travels in this gap.  When moving the seat all the way forward, it does rub the cables and make it difficult to move the seat.  Since I rarely move the seat all the way forward I'm not going to bother rerouting the cables, but would suggest that if you're starting from scratch, route them either forward or back of the guard rails.

My Ex

There are some things that come naturally to me.  Driving fast is apparently not one of them.  This was my motivation for attending drivers education (DE) sessions last year, and for going to autocross (autoX) school.  I attended my first auto-cross event on May 12th.  The previous day I'd attended the autoX school with my girlfriend.   I was quite excited by the school, run by VCMC, and impressed with the classroom session held a few days before on Wednesday.  Joe C., who has hand built what I understand to be the fastest autoX car in North America, the Phantom was an electrifying speaker, and anyone who starts out a speech with "You're all a bunch of punks!  If any of you had any talent, you wouldn't be here!"  gets double marks from me.  Actually, he is a hilariously funny guy, and balanced taking the air out of some of the more testosterone inflated students with injecting enthusiasm for autocross.
 Anyways, the school was a blast!  We ran a course in the morning, which they basically broke down into three separate components which we worked on in groups.  There was  quite a range of student cars, with a large component of Subaru RS and WRX's, Honda's and even a couple of Boxsters.  Mine was the only 911.   The president actually recently purchased turbo 964, and is, needless to say, a very competent 911 driver.  While doing our preliminary 'walk-through' of the course, he'd stop and say helpful things like "you have to watch this curve in a rear engine car, like a 911, or you'll loose it", or "in something like a 911, you have to be very careful not to lift up here, or very bad things will happen", or even directly "Chris, you'd better keep on the throttle through this section--don't attempt to brake or you'll end up in the bushes".
I noticed that mine was the only car inspiring visions of  disaster, and reflected that the "special Porsche character" was actually a euphemism for "at the limit will punish all but the expert".  I started to wonder if  my car was simply riding on the reputation with experts, and that 'regular' cars were, in general, superior handling machines.

The first exercise was the skid pad, where we entered at high speed and then tried to drive around the circle of cones as fast as possible without the tires squealing.  I was stunned: I expected my car to over steer, but it actually under steered!  Interestingly enough, it occurred more when going anti-clockwise rather than clockwise, and I don't have a good answer for this.  What was nice was that it responded rather well to throttle input, and didn't act like a massive pendulum like I expected.  Perhaps the 964 isn't so bad after all, I thought.
The next exercise was the slalom.  Farz, otherwise known as fc_racer to Rennlisters, showed me how it's done.  It was both alarming and exhilarating at the same time.  He was only going 8/10ths (in autocross parlance), through the cones, yet it was about 1/3 faster than I had been attempting them before.  My experience with the 964 is that it's a well behaved car (out of the snow anyways), but as you approach it's limit, then it's "special character" comes into play.  As we hurtled through the slalom cones, it felt like the back end started to lift up and become much lighter.  I still have to master the fine edge of control, but am very happy for the opportunity to experience it in a safe environment, and even if it does behave strangely at the limit, it takes a while to  reach it.  I've yet to experience oversteer in the dry--those big fat rear wheels just hunker down when needed.

Thank God for leather seats

The final exercise was the offset slalom.  Again, I lucked out with instructors and got Gary Milligan, apparently 7 time US autocross champion.  Again, he was trying to show how fast it's possible to go through the cones, and how the car feels near it's edge.  What can I say: I almost wet my pants.  My brain locks up when it tries to grapple with what it'd be like if he actually went all out, rather than playing it safe.  While I was praying for deliverance, he was calming discussing what he was doing and mixing in some idle chit-chat.

Once we finished the exercises, we ran the course again and everyone improved.  Then, on Sunday, I participated in a local autocross competition.  I came middle of the pack, which I don't mind considering my newbie status.  It was interesting that my car was clearly outclassed by many of the other competitors, in everything except perhaps resale value (other than the Boxsters).  The 964 is not, I fear, and ideal autoX car considering it's weight.  I've also been told that it's not rigid enough--the older SCs were quite firm, but the 964 apparently needs a cage for serious autoXing, otherwise the body can warp.
A more evident problem was the fuel tube.  Lots of gas was sloshing out, even with the cap on.  This is a known problem, and remedied by a replacement neck, described in TSB 9401 (part #964 201 043 03).
Over all, I learned more from autoXing than from DE days--autoX is virtually all turns and very little time to think and thus very technically demanding.  Any fool can mash the accelerator down--it's the turns that take skill.  The downside is, it sucks up an entire day for perhaps 5 minutes of driving, so DEs are overall better value for money, and more fun since you get around 20 minutes at a time.

Screaming in the Rain

The following week I attended my third DE day (first this year) at Mission.  Again, I was surprised that my car under steered, but thankfully one of the experienced instructor quickly identified the problem: me.  I had diligently practiced heel toeing all year, only to discover that it was wrong.  Unfortunately, my breaking was not smooth enough when blipping the throttle and I'd come off the brake too early, unloading the front suspension and thus reducing the front tires effectiveness and induce under steer.  I worked on that and was happy with the improvement, which was more than I could say for the weather.  It was raining and the track was quite slippery so I was extra cautious.  I've been told nothing beats the feeling of hitching a ride home with a tow truck, but I'm anxious to die curious of this experience.  Several people did spin out, but some of my autoX experience did help out as I could feel as the car started approaching it's performance limit.

High speed Insanity

My fourth DE session was unquestionably my favourite so far.  It was my first time at Pacific International Raceway PIR (formerly Seattle International Raceway).  As usual, the event began with a little pep talk about how we could all be killed if we made a small error on turn 9 or turn 1.  One person did actually spin out and compress the back of his car at the end of the straight away, but I managed to avoid taking the bus home.  Unlike Mission, which would be best described as a tortuous cement canyon, PIR is a very fast track and has elevation changes.  My instructor Dave, was the kind of person you want in charge of a submarine when they start depth charging it--very calm, focused with clear, useful directions.   By the end of the day my entry and exit speeds were demonstrably up, and we even got to practice regaining control when under steering at high speeds.  There is something deeply satisfying in attempting something challenging and succeeding it, and if you add to that the background of a rather severe penalty for failure, then the result is a heady delight at the end of the day after the adrenaline rush.

Show Me The Money

So far my voluntary expenses have been just the stereo system and a crash helmet (required since PIR does not carry loaners).  I'm also considering buying a second set of rims to slap on some slicks.  Since this will be an infrequent event, and because I'm an amateur and I never expect to get good enough to win any auto X competition, I 'll by buying some used 16" rims which are quite cheap.  There are lots of Design 90 rims that original 964 owners traded in, and as you would expect there isn't much of  market for them, so I can get a set for less than $400.  As a bonus, the tire itself will also be cheaper.  For a little extra money, I'm considering buying a set of used Design 92s, which are also 16" and while more expensive, have the advantage of narrower spokes, so it'd be easier to clean the brake dust off of them than the 92's.

I also must anticipate my 48,000 service, which will be coming up soon--I'm now at about 46,000km.

My plans for the rest of the year include a couple more autoX events and DEs.  They're both time consuming and expensive, and sunshine is a precious resource not to be squandered, so some balance is in order and I won't go whole hog, even though there are some interesting events in our club's calendar http://www.performancedriversclub.org

Running Report 3 - November 2002

A Perfect World

During winter, Vancouver can sometimes appear dreary from the constant rain and overcast skies.  In fact, one day a man came to town, and being slightly vexed at the constant drizzle, asked a small child "Does it ever stop raining here?" to which the boy replied "I don't know sir, I'm only eight." True story.

However, the summer was generally as sunny and pleasant as the winter is wet. Despite a busy work schedule I managed to indulge myself with two more track days and a couple auto-cross events and I finally feel like I'm understanding the limits of the car.  To be sure, there is much unexploited potential left, but I no longer consider the 911's 'special character' a euphemism for 'treacherous snap oversteer'.

I still drive to work almost every day. While, like all 964 owners, I secretly desire a 993 but will never admit it, my car is still tremendously satisfying, both for driving and aesthetically. Every few months my father asks me with deep concern whether I'm still happy with it, and seems very relieved when I answer, enthusiastically, yes. Perhaps it is my filial duty to stable a 911. If so, it is a weighty burden that I shall somewhere find the strength to bear.

And what could ease such duty better than a high fidelity sound system with crystal highs and intimidating bass? Yes, segue is my middle name! The focal speakers and sub-woofer are fantastic and have yet to disappoint. Unfortunately, there is a price to be paid by the lack of door soundproofing with highway driving, but the hassle of adding it is not justified for me. A thought for next year is to wait for digital receivers to drop in price. Digital radio (www.digitalradio.ca) is available in Vancouver, but the head units I find attractive and functional are still pricey ($800+).

For a Few Dollars More

Perhaps the most cost effective way of improving car handling is getting sticky tires. I'd been idly considering them for the track, but it was my auto-crossing (See http://www.tirerack.com/features/solo2/handbook.htm) experiences that pushed me to purchase them. My motivation for auto-crossing was to better prepare me for the track, but in fact I find it much more technically demanding and thus challenging, perhaps because I can safely push the car much further to it's cornering and adhesion limits.  What stood out was that my street tires gripped like a cheesecake thrown against a wall: if you're careful it'll stick and if there's nothing else it'll do, but not something to be recommended for the track glutton, much less the gourmand.  I'll be the first to point out that improving my driving skills is the most effective performance mod, but the tires had the advantage that they could help literally overnight, and also add an extra margin of safety on dry tracks.

I purchased some used design 92 16" Porsche rims from a local dealer for about $100 each, and mounted Yokohama 032R's on them: 205/16/55 and 225/16/50.  I selected them after asking around on the track, and they were by far the most popular street legal R-compound tire there. One requirement was that I be able to drive them to and from the track, potentially in rain, since I don't have either a hitch or a trailer to bring an extra set of wheels to the track.

I stuck with 16" rims since they're not at all in demand and so were relatively cheap. Along with them I bought a decent tire pressure gauge to accurately set their pressures, although at that point I had no real idea what they should be so I started out with 36/44 psi, and I figured an upcoming "Test 'n' Tune" auto-cross event would be a good place to find out.

The Test 'n' Tune day is hosted by my auto-X club, VCMC and provides part of an unused runway to try different handling settings on your car, as well as opportunities to practice slaloming. I was mainly interested in working on my car control, although they had a pyrometer there that I used for examining my tire pressure.  After going on the skid pad we measured each tire's temperature in three different places (outside, middle, inside), with the goal of having the smallest variance between the three. I found that 37 in the front and 47 in the rear achieved this, although this turned out to be way too high for track use, where 34/33 seemed to work well.  Among other exercises, there was a drag-race style launch, which was a juvenile treat. My best launch came from slightly slipping the clutch, with the back wheels chirping slightly before the car hunkered down and shot forward. Overall fun, but I left it at three goes since I'd rather preserve my clutch pad than gain 0.010 of a second in my autocross time, which is a couple seconds behind being competitive.

The following day was another autoX club event, which was fun, although I must admit that spending 8 hours for 5 minutes of driving isn't the most efficient source of seat time. The car handled like a champ, although it does feel it bit heavy since, out of slow corners, it's not in it's best power band.  For next year I'm thinking of skipping the competitions and sticking to the Test'n'Tune days, which are a bit more expensive ($80), but have much less cars (30 vs. 120) and so I get a lot more driving time.

A Fistful of Dollars

Lo and behold, as my odometer clicked over 50,000 km, I knew my time had come to pay the piper. Besides the regular fluids change, I needed the dreaded valve adjustment and new spark plugs. It's an 8.5 hour service, and it didn't disappoint: about $900. The valves are apparently now good for another two years (40,000km).
In what has to be the cheapest power upgrade on any 911, my mechanic discovered that the throttle cable had been stretched by about 25%. This lowered my throttle peddle and explained why I previously had such trouble heel toeing. I had the brake peddle raised once the cable was adjusted. Obviously I didn't notice any performance difference driving on the street. I did floor it on a deserted mountain road, but I couldn't reliably tell if there was any change or not. I'll pretend there was.

The state of my brake rotors was also drawn to my attention. A bit of a lip has developed on all four, although of course the front two are a bit more prominent.  Interestingly, they were not noticeable last year, before I had the Hawk Competition+ pads swapped in, so I presume this has happened in the last year. I'm not to thrilled at having to replace rotors once a year, especially since my brake pads have at least 30% left. Ideally I'd like the cheapest component to wear out before the expensive one. Although Hawks are supposed to be gentle on rotors, I think it's only relative to other performance pads. I'll be switching to a less metallic one for daily driving.  I knew I'd need to replace the rotors before the following track season began, but here was no immediate danger as they were good enough for the last two runs of the season, including one at Pacific International Raceways (PIR) near Seattle.

Sudden Impact

From my first PIR outing, one older 911 locked up his brakes and spun backwards into a wall of tires. This happened after turn one, a slight sweeping, shallow downhill right hander, coming into a 200 degree left turn at the end of the drag strip.  He took the turn too early and came out too far to the left, instead of hugging the right side. It's easy to surpass 220Km/h coming out of turn 1, so hard braking is required into turn 2, but he tried to suck up to the right side and brake hard at the same time. Unfortunately, braking at the limit and turning in a diagonal line brought out the rear-engined car's "special characteristic" when the tires lost adhesion: he spun into the tire wall backwards.  I use this event as an effective reminder to always keep the car straight if I have to brake hard, although it was not the only lesson that turn was to provide me. With enough seat time this, and many other basic driving rules, will become instinctive but if wisdom comes from experience, and experience from mistakes, I'm reticent to become wise.

Pale Rider

This time around at PIR, I was looking forward to using my R-compounds on a track for the first time. After some initial tinkering with the pressure, they seemed to hold quite well, although it'd been so long since my last outing that a fair comparison wasn't possible. Also, my instructor was now pushing me harder than previously. We worked on later braking and higher entry speed. I had watched the instructor in his black NSX ripping around the track between my sessions, and he was certainly a competent, aggressive driver. I had quite a bit of fun and cleaned up my line a bit, and also smoothing out my brake pedal foot pressure. Unfortunately, the two pressures of going faster and later braking overcame my abilities in the third session.  Coming down the straightaway after turn 1, going into the 200 degree turn, I made a mistake. There are four brake marker cones. My routine was to start initial medium strength brake pressure at cone 4, then quickly squeeze it on to 100%, before easing off and trail braking. This time however, I was flying in faster than before, and didn't take my foot off the throttle pedal until just before cone 4. By the time my foot was on the brake pedal and at 100%, I was at marker cone 3, and there wasn't enough room.

With the ball of my foot planted firmly on the brake, I blipped the throttle with  the side of my foot and short shifted to second gear. The turn-in point was about 3/4 the way across the track, marked by a crack in the asphalt that ran parallel to the rim of the turn. I reached the turn-in point and knew I was carrying too much speed, but had to turn in or go off onto the grass. I eased up on the brake and started turning in, and felt the back coming out, ever so slowly. I corrected, steering into the slide, but the back was still moving. There came a point were I knew it was not recoverable, so I just stomped on the brake and clutch and waited for the ride to come to a full and complete stop. During this, my instructor was silent--I wonder why? For some reason, up to that point, everything was moving quickly. Once I relinquished control, it all slowed down like some David Lynch film. Fortunately, it wasn't a very spectacular mistake.  The car stayed on the track and did a 180. I lifted off the brake and rolled backwards off the track to ask if my instructor was OK, and double check for oncoming traffic.  After it was clear we drove around and off to check for rocks etc, and also to cool down, although I didn't feel too bad.

Clearly, I went in too hot and braked too late, but I had to think why it all happened, and what precisely I should have done differently? First, I was not compensating for my increased speed--I was closing in on the turn using my previous pre-programmed routine, rather than dynamically revaluating things. Second, and I'm not sure about this, but it might have been possible to save the car had I gotten on the gas smoothly as soon as it broke away, in order to get the backend to hook up again. But then I'd need to ride it out, and I'm not sure that would have ended any better.
 

Back at the Concrete Ranch

My last track day of the season was back at the Concrete Canon, otherwise know as Mission Raceways. In my last Mission outing I'd been upgraded from Novice to Intermediate, requiring me to drive with gloves. I bought a pair of OMP Challenger Nomex gloves

I was sceptical at first, but having driven with them I won't go back--the additional non-slip feel is fantastic.  The day started out foggy, with a surreal drive in the early morning into the shrouded sun.  Fortunately, the fog burned off before things got going, although traces of it remained in the trees while I waited in the pregrid area.

The first time out, I followed an S2000 and was very pleased with the performance of my tires. During one of the twisty sections, his back end broke loose, while mine held firm. Later I chatted with him and found that his Honda is shod with Bridgestone S02s. Performance wise the S2000 certainly is at least the equal of my 964, but the brake system made me appreciate my own car. His rotors later warped that day, and I'd heard it was not uncommon for OEM brakes, whereas mine were fine. It seems that Porsche optimizes their cars, meaning it's good to go out of the box, but also that if you want to upgrade something, it'll be expensive because all the easy stuff has already been done.


The other car that I followed consistently was a Boxster S.  Equal power, more neutral handling, and far superior brakes. At the end of the straight away, I always had to let off and brake much earlier. This, in conjunction with my PIR experience, and the fact that I need new rotors, was pushing me to look at a brake upgrade.

Being a 1991 model, my car has two piston rear brake callipers, not the four piston ones that were added following my year. Besides this, upgrading the front callipers is of course a candidate.


Having 8 16" rims, I was only considering solutions which did not require 17" or bigger wheels.  After some background reading, I opened a Rennlist discussion thread
In summary, I was looking at

1. 928 S4 callipers on fronts
2. 993 callipers on fronts
3. 993 on rears
4. my 964 fronts moved to the rears
5. more aggressive brake pads just for the track
6. cooling ducts

I've decided to go with 5), mainly because of the expense and that it's not certain how much real gain there is to be had for my bigger brakes options, other than reduced brake fade under extreme braking. In addition, I'd need to get a consistent front and rear pair, since I've heard horror stories of constant tinkering with the brake bias valve if front and rear callipers aren't matched properly.  So, I'm going to buy some vice grips, do some reading and learn how to swap brake pads.

Another Day, Another Dollar

Having successfully dodged the brake upgrade bill, I'm now trying to control a case of upgradeitis. I bought a Momo steering wheel off eBay because I love the feel (and look). I now need to buy a hub adaptor (of course the universal one doesn't work), and fill out a Transport Canada form explaining why I need to remove a safety device from my car (i.e. the airbag). I could install it myself and avoid the paperwork as there are enough instructions on the 'net to get around the airbag alarm, but I'd like an approved mechanic to do it in case I sell the car so the potential buyer would be at ease.

While I didn't avoid the wheel purchase, (a modest expense), there's the issue of seats. To be precise, race seats. If I were to buy them, I'd need a pair, since many clubs require identical safety restraints for both driver and instructor. If I got seats (around $500/each), I'd need 5/6 point harnesses ($500/each) plus a harness bar ($150+ used) plus installation kits (about $150/each). Why do I need seats? Of course I don't. Plus, they can be a real pain to get in and out of, and not as comfortable for long rides. My only motivation is that I have to profoundly and uncomfortably slouch when I wear my helmet in the car with the sunroof closed, which is required in PIR. For the short term, the seats are not going to happen, but I'll be keeping my eye and ear out for other solutions for lowering the seat.
 

Running Report 4 - May 2003

The Fiscal Snowball gathers Momentum

When we last left our intrepid hero, he had successfully dodged a brake upgrade and defeated the evil Dr Mustchangeit.  But his  malicious spirit lingers. At my last track day, I noticed a bit of a lip had developed on my front rotors.  I checked their tolerance and they were indeed due for a change.  Fortunately, I had in my possession a PCA voucher for $150 off a purchase over $300 at the local dealer, so I bought a pair of front  rotors for essentially half price.  The front & rear pads also needed changing, and since the lip had not been there last year and I had done only four events,  clearly street driving with these pads (Hawk hp+) were a little too abrasive for me.  So I bought some Porterfield R4S, an aggressive street pad and apparently a little easier on rotors. I also ordered Ferrodo DS3000 race pads, which are supposed to be outstanding.  I ordered them a month ahead of my first event of the year, a PCA driver's education day in Portland, Oregon.  When they arrived, lo-and-behold, I had been sent 993 pads.  After calling up the supplier,  it turned out that the mistake was actually not that unreasonable.  Typically, the front calipers of one Porsche model will become the rears of the  next generation, so the rear 911 (993) pads were also described as 964 (front) pads.  The supplier then matched fronts with what he thought were the rears.

So I ended up with front pads for both a 964 and 993. Unfortunately, Ferrodo does not manufacture pads for my rear brakes, the infamous single-pair pistons calipers, so I had to send them back and instead purchase  some Pagid Orange pads.  I have yet to use them in anger so I can't compare, but I should have a better idea by the end of Summer.  So far, I really don't like the R4S'.  Their stopping performance is fine, but the brake dust is quite corrosive, and have already attacked the paint of my front wheels.  Next time I'll be buying straight OEM pads and swap in the Pagid's for the track. It's a bit dirty, but I can now do all four wheels in under 20 minutes so it's not a huge hassle.

For the Portland event, I decided to drive down and run with my stock tires since it was raining quite heavily   and I didn't want to drive 6 hours each way on my R compounds in the wet.  Using the Pagid's with street tires seemed pointless so I just used the R4S pads.  I was also concerned that the race pads would be dangerous  on the highway since they typically would be running cooler than they would on the track ie out of their expected operating temperature.   Some subsequent driving around dispelled this idea--they are more than adequate for the city and if I weren't worried about what they would do to my rotor, I'd have no problem leaving them in for daily driving.

The Portland track  (www.portlandraceway.com)was fantastic--a real high speed delight, flat with some interesting twists.  I was a bit hesitant because the track was quite wet and the runoff area very soft so any sideways excursions could become quite expensive, but I did thoroughly enjoy myself.  Friday was a PCA event, and the Saturday was another track day put on by Team Continental (www.teamcontinental.com).   

Unfortunately, the drive down was a little expensive.  It was very gusty, and one such gust put me in a bad mood by blowing up dust and rocks immediately  in front of me,  pitting the entire windshield and leaving a 6inch crack.  The front end was also peppered with small rocks, leaving lovely little paint chips.  The windshield has been replaced already, and I'm just waiting for an appointment to get the bonnet, fenders, front pillars and side mirrors resprayed.  Due to the car's age, and my parsimonious insurance company, I had to pay extra to get an OE windshield.  I wasn't comfortable with using a aftermarket one, although I've no strong evidence that it wouldn't be as good, other than a Porsche service bulletin reporting some problems with distortion  and thinness.

So the driving season started out a bit more expensive than I had hoped.  Winter, however, had been quiet car-wise.  I didn't drive much ie  once or twice a fortnight, and perhaps not unexpectedly the battery  was drained to the point of requiring a boost to start.  Now that I'm driving it regularly I've not had a problem, but I'll probably get it fully charged sometime later in the summer.  One curious thing that also occurred was when it was cold and damp there was a high pitched squealing coming from the fanbelt area.  This also happend last year. Once the  car warmed up it disappeared, and come warm weather it has vanished.  My current theory is it's simply the belt contracting due to the cold.

I have also obtained a used reclining Recaro seat.  Track events require my sunroof be closed, which made for a very uncomfortable seating  position with my helmet on.  I was getting tired of contorting myself in the car with a helmet, and was looking to gain an inch or so of headroom.  I looked at a variety of seats, specifically  Recaro SRDs, Sparco Milanos, Evo 2's and some OMP touring seats.  In all cases, with the mounting brackets the seats were no lower than the existing sports seats.  The bucket seats held some promise if I could use a side mount, but then I'd be drilling into the floor and have no sliders, which would make the entry and exit painful--an inconvenience I was not prepared to suffer.  Then, a friend who was upgrading his race seat sold me his  old Recaro A8. Again, with the standard spacing bar,  it was no lower than my stock seat, but I had a chat with my mechanic and he said he could weld the slider onto the seat and get rid of the spacers, which is what we actually did.   

The headroom is fantastic, and I can appreciate it even without the helmet as before my head was often brushing the roof, often leaving me with  'Porsche hair' aka the flattop special. My only criticism of the seat is that the padding is thin and firm, which makes for a sore behind on long drives such as that to my last track  event in Seattle, a 3 hour drive. For future long rides, I'll have to add some form of a cushion, or swap back the stock seat if it's just a road trip.

New Shoes

Having swapped wheels and pads several times for track events (I have an extra set of R-compound wheels), I was getting tired of the car's scissor jack.  I went out to Canadian Tire (www.canadiantire.com) and bought a cheap 2.25 ton jack & two jack stands.  The 3 ton ones were both larger, heavier and unsurprisingly more expensive, and since I'd only be jacking up one side of the car, decided 2.25 was good enough.  I have to say that to date, it's the best tool I've ever bought--makes my life so much easier, and was immediately justified as 3 days after buying the jack, my mechanic called me up and let me know of a deal: a used set of Kenisis K5 anodized rims, for roughly 1/4 the price of new ones.  At first I wasn't too sure since I already had a set of track wheels, but given the price, I decided to get them.  They're monsters!  17x9 and 17x10 currently  shod with 225/50/17 and 275/45/17.   We had to add a spacer to the rears.  I've attended an autoX and can find no rubbing, they seem fine.  Now, however, I'm left with the problem of what to  do with my 16" track rims.  I'd like to sell them, but not very hopeful of getting anything approaching a decent  price.
 

Along with the new wheels, I installed a Momo steering wheel I bought off of a fellow PCA member.  I thought it'd be an easy fun project and it  was pretty straight forward, although there are some nits.  After replacing the hub, I noticed the steering wheel was off by half a notch in the spline.  Turns out that's not unusual, but I had to have the front-end aligned to straighten out the wheel.  Also, I bought some plastic trim pieces,  but there's something wrong with the fit.  There is a small gap between the dashboard and the trim cover, even though clearly it's designed to mount flush with the dash.

I don't know what's going on, but I'll be investigating via Rennlist.  Additionally, my car has cruise control, which required me to cut a hole with a  dremel in the lower trim piece to accommodate the stalk.  Once the wheel was in place, I did enjoy the feel of it, although being slightly smaller, it obscured the top part of the tachometer.  Now with my Recaro, the tach is visible again, so it's not a big deal.

After reading up on rotor replacement and deciding it wasn't too difficult, I went out and purchased a torque wrench.  Very exciting stuff.  I borrowed an impact driver and, armed with instructions from p-car.com swapped out the front rotors, and for once it was as easy as I had imagined. The rears will also need replacing soon, but I'm waiting for 2003's PCA voucher to purchase them .

While zooming around the Seattle track, a photographer snapped a picture of me showing a fair amount of body roll.  I'm not convinced I need them yet, but the idea is now in my head, and I've noticed that in every report, I end it with a list of things I'm definitely not planning on doing, only to start the next one detailing how I did.  We shall see if this report is the exception.

Running Report 5 - May 2004

Every now and then when your life gets complicated and the weasels start closing in,
the only real cure is to load up on heinous chemicals and then drive like a bastard.... Just
roll the roof back and screw it on, grease the face with white tanning butter and move out
with the music at top volume, and at least a pint of ether.
--H.S.T.

I was driving hard, running from the darkness desperate to make the border by dawn. Eyeballs, nestled in sandpaper sockets, watched the kilometres click by on the odometer. The sub-woofer was murmuring Massive Attack melodies to my spine, in competition with the flat-six two feet further back. Flashed
headlights quickly dispatched all but the most oblivious of the slack-jawed motorists loitering in the passing lane, like corpulent teenagers blithely wandering through the mall lost in a world of vowel-elided text-messaged banalities.

Ahead lay Vancouver, and salvation. Behind, utter madness. The armrest rubbed against my left arm, still bruised from the day before, as I reflected upon the past year.

2003 was going to be The Year Of Driving. I was going to track my car until I puked. I was going to dominate and terrorize, and accessorize with a firesuit that I'd tie off at the waist in between sessions while nonchalantly vacillating between false bravado and insincere modesty--I was going to be a track dandy.

From the get-go, things went awry. First, there were some alarming track incidents which injected a measure of sobriety. Most heart wrenching was a 964 Cup car getting mashed into a dirt berm, and the most spectacular a race 993 getting hooked up on another one, setting the grass alight and catching afire before the fire marshal could arrive with its bottled salvation. Thrown into the mix was a Ferrari F40 which didn't want to get left out from all this berm humping. And all at the same event. In between the paddock gossiping, I found the track pads (Pagid Orange), in conjunction with the R-compound tires (Yokohama 032R), were quite satisfactory although body roll was and is still an issue.

Coming back after that event, I decided that in preparation for further tracking, I should get an alignment done. Did that ever open a can of worms! The shop I took it to found that all the wheels were in near perfect alignment, except for the left rear one, which showed 0 degrees camber when it should be at most -30'. Unfortunately, special tools are required for the rear adjustment so we couldn't address the issue there. I found it suspicious that it was the same corner that had previously hit a highway median (check previous running report). I contacted the insurance adjustor and asked him about it, and he talked to the local official Porsche dealer. The chief wrench there is both an expert mechanic and accomplished misanthropist--the kind of person you keep far away from customers. I talked to him directly and still regret it. He could offer only two possible answers: I was either instigating insurance fraud (for the princely sum of around $200), or was a completely inept driver and had somehow damaged the rear suspension going over a curb. He couldn't explain how I could do this to only the rear wheel while sparing the front, or do so without even noticing it, although presumably if I was of low enough character to suggest that an error had been made by his shop then I was clearly capable of anything. After the bellowing ceased, he did a quick calculation suggested I pay him to re-measure the alignment, because the fully automated alignment machine (I understand the best one in the lower mainland) at the other shop was probably inaccurate or at least run by illiterate mongoloids. He wasn't impressed that this shop specialized in alignments.

After fulminating in the basement for a while, and leafing through Soldier Of Fortune magazines with an unhealthy interest in the classifieds section, I eventually took the car into Weissach. They found the other three wheels were, as before, in perfect alignment, but the left rear was now at an even more positive camber. What did they discover? Lo and behold, the suspension bolts were loose for the suspect corner, almost as if they had not been tightened up properly during the previous alignment at the Porsche dealership. Basically, my left rear wheel had been flopping around for at least a year and a half, including through all the track events. My turn not to be impressed.

Then, The Distraction arrived. I found it in the weekend paper, under the Homes section. It was an article about good real estate deals, and I was back on the hunt, squaring my shoulders for that rite of passage into manhood: undertaking overwhelming, crushing debt in the form of a house mortgage. To make a long, tedious story short, I set out with the inflexible criteria of a character house in a 'cool' area of downtown, and ended up with a generic box in suburbia. Not for the first time, I wished I was a lot richer. Or just plain rich. Anyways, my new financial status as 'poor' put a damper on track plans, but at least I now had a garage I could fill up with odds, ends and second hand urinals.

During my house renovations, while repainting the pink walls and removing the pinker carpet, the car's alarm would frequently go off, usually when it was raining, and especially when my neighbours were trying to get some sleep. I had previously replaced the factory tape deck with a CD player, and even though the infamous green alarm wire had been isolated so as not to ground out and trigger the alarm, I suspected it anyways. I rewrapped the electrical tape and since then, the alarm has not given me any trouble, so perhaps moisture was somehow providing a path to ground.

One nit that remains is the damn battery. Left for more than a week, it can become almost completely drained. Having sorted out the alarm, there must be some other cause. My best guess is that the car is not going into 'sleep' mode. My understanding is that when the car has been locked for a while, it shuts down some systems and conserves energy. If it doesn't do this, the power drain can be too much. I need to buy an ammeter and track down the problem, which may be as simple as a faulty door switch. For now, I leave the battery on the charger if the car has been idle for too long, and once I drive it twice a week
it's fine.

Early morning preparation for PIR
 

Two weeks ago my friends twisted my rubber arm to join them for a track day at Portland International Raceway, in Portland, Oregon. It was fantastic. A convoy of eight headed down on Friday for the Saturday event, hosted by AROO. They were outstanding, with excellent flagging and a schedule respected by all. In preparation for the event all fluids had been flushed out of my car and replaced with Motul products.
The car handled fine, although on street tires I had to tone down the aggressiveness. Even so, my body was thrown around quite a bit, and on the right-handers my left shoulder became quite bruised from slamming against the upper wing of the Recaro seat. A harness seems in order, although that's a can of worms I'll not open right away. Of greater concern, however, was the synchromesh. In the third session, upshifting from second to third would produce quite a bit of grinding, and it got progressively worse. I had noticed a bit of grinding in previous events, but they were few and far between.
I could mitigate the grinding in the third session by slowing down the shifting, but by the fourth one it was very difficult to avoid that oh-so-pleasant sound. Strangely enough, on the street there's no hint of a problem, and I've since tried red-lining in 2nd and shifting very quickly to third, with no detectable problem. So, it looks like heat is somehow involved. I currently have the undertray installed, and so removing it is an option. I will also be investigating the behaviour of the Motul oil, although it is a high quality fluid so I don't think it is to blame. Given that repair estimates are upwards of $3500, it is in my interest to do some legwork before sending it into the shop.

While the car successfully dodged stone damage on this trip south, I'm seriously considering adding a stone guard, in the form of a clear plastic covering, to the bumper and portion of the bonnet. I may get the car cut-polished first before the plastic goes on--given the overall excellent condition of the rest of the car, this little investment seems worthwhile.