kb

Just returned from 3 week business trip in Europe and had a chance to join a fellow Rennlister from the UK, at the UK Porsche Club's track day at Goodwood. John and I have been talking about meeting up when I am in the UK for about 1 year now, for a ride in his 993 with 9M heads. First off, I am just a 993 enthusiast and not a spokesman for or affiliated with Ninemeister.

So after all the raining and floods in UK, I had resigned myself to passing up the opportunity but on Saturday 7/21, the sun came out and I headed 65 miles south to Goodwood with my wife, who came along as my independent witness.

There were some showers but by the time we arrived, it was still sunny and cool. John was off to lunch and after introducing myself to the UK Porsche club staff at the Jackie Stewart pavillion, I knew I was in for a ride and a half. They were almost as excited as myself when i said I had never met John, but exchanged emails with him for a while. They asked me if I knew he had a very fast car and of course my response was - well that's why I'm here. To feel the power from the 3.6. They laughed and re-assured me that John was a sensible but very quick driver.

I sign in and select my helmet after paying a very gracious fee of 5 pounds ($10) as a PCA member. We then leave the pavillion to take pictures of the grounds and estate. Could not believe all this belonged to an individual - Lord March, which includes an airfield.

So we are still looking at the grounds from the pavillion tower when a gentleman comes by asking if Gil is up here. Over here - and I went up and introduced myself and my wife as well. The fellas down at registration had sent him up as soon as he got back from lunch. After the pleasantries, we went down to tour the cars, cooling down after the morning run. I noticed John's 993 was in lead dog position to start the afternoon session and I mentioned it to him.

What a great guy John is - reflects the commeraderie that Rennlist provides to all of us. He made me feel at ease immediately and mentioned there had been showers in the morning on the track so he was looking forward to the sun too. UK track days are run with 5 cars at a time, to allow sensible speeds with sufficient passing opportunities.

After about 15 minutes of the first heat being run, we were summoned to take our positions. Can you guys feel the adrenaline building? I get the thumbs up from track staff to put my helmet on and get ready as we are next up.

All the while John and I are just chatting away about the 993 turbo s, 996 gt3 and 993 rs that would be lining up behind us, and what my expectations were.

Come - let's ride one Goodwood lap with John and his mighty 993. First gear - lots of low end grunt, and I am pushed back in my seat. 2nd gear - up to about 82 and end of track - very very late breaking and a sweeping right hander. Still in 2nd gear and accelerating to 3rd and picking up speed. No brakes as I feel as if I'm in a free fall thru the 3rd bend still running hard. A quick left and right and we head for the 5th right turn and longest part of the track.

OMG - 4th gear and the engine is pulling like a freight train - No $$$h ---t. I look in my side mirror (on my left fellas) and cannot see any one behind us in sight. 4th gear and at about 125mph, John is still moving hard and the track was coming to an end. Not John, he shifts into 5th gear and smashes his right foot - we are doing about 138 - 140 on the straight. I notice we are kindly reminded there are 150 yards, nope 130 yards 100 yards left.

John hits the big reds, and we slow down enuf to settle the car before a sweeping right turn, short run and left bend and back on the straight before the crowds along the J. Stewart pavillion. We rocket past the stands and John asks me what I felt on lap 1. I was choking in my own nervousness. My response - Oh great, some late braking but you certainly know this track well. I look at my wife taking pictures and wonder if she thinks i'm spooked yet. No time to figure that out as we start lap 2 with even more ferocity. Man - his car is properly set up with PSS9's and you could tell they inspired confidence not to mentioned John's talent. Every line was taken right on point so by this time I was gripping the sides of my seat less and starting to enjoy myself, even looking forward to the long straight and the max speed we would hit this time.

3rd lap is a blast and still no one in sight behind us. John said we had no one to play with and I agreed. At the start of lap 4, it started to drizzle and I think John knew I was nervous and backed off a bit as we slowed down considerably. As we go past the pavilllion stands again, one last time, John moved aside for the silver 996 gt3 who was running a mixed rain/slick tire. We were waived on to do our cooling lap and folks, these 9M heads are for real. Nuff said, I do not want to oversell my point.

We come back in and discuss the laps and if I can post pictures, you will see my enthusiasm. Met a 993 cab owner - Mike who is a friend of John's. Very nice chap who has owned a 996 gt3 rs ( ride was so stiff it almost broke his back), a Ferrari 355, 996 turbo and one more car, i do not remember. Guess what - he came back to the 993 which is testament to build quality of these cars and from someone who can afford what ever he wants. This has been long and hopefully not too winded.

Thanks to John and Mike, we had a great time.
(Need to resize my pictures and will post them asap)

jdistefa

kb,
Great writeup, thx. Looking forward to pics.
I'm already interested in those heads, now I want a set for sure.
Does anyone know what the status is for North American distribution of 9M product?

kb

A few more pictures to come.

kb

A few more to share

Wilder

Damnit man, just when I thought the end of the slope was in sight...

Let's see, where can I come up with another $15K????

SC2993

Great write up, thanks for sharing your experience with us!

kb

Matt -
I had hoped to contact Colin at Ninemeister and visit the shop but never heard back. Sent 2 emails with no response before and when I was in UK. Wanted to know status of NA heads myself. Hopefully he will read this post and give us an update.

'95 993

Gil, thanks for the kind words, really enjoyed seeing you after so many email exchanges, glad you enjoyed the ride, the best part is the torque the conversion delivers, or maybe the road holding, or is it the relief when the big reds bite at the end of the long straight

Any other rennlisters over in the UK send me a pm and maybe we can meet up, always a real pleasure to meet fellow rennlisters, especially if they are as nice as Gil.

All the best

John

TargaTango

Gil, Thank you for a very interesting and well written story. Great to read. I felt like I was there. It is a little too early for me to give impressions on my 9m 3.8 kit. For various reasons I have not been over 4,250rpm nor experienced WOT. Also my car should now be considerably lighter so I cannot quickly make a before and after comparison. However, first impressions are very favourable and give every indication that Colin's performance specs will be achieved. I will write some more once I have had my live ecu remap, but since I have to get my car to Mainland China this is a ways off as we cannot simply cross the border from Hong Kong.

John, congratulations on a lovely car and it is great to see your Rennlist spirit.

FLYT993

Beautiful write up! This is the stuff that makes our little community the envy of others. John, you're 1st class man!

This also confirms what I've believed about the 9M conversion, and have asked (in addition to a few others) a few times when they will make their debut on this side of the Atlantic. It's my understanding that 9M has heads with the SAI ports to accommodate the CA emissions requirements. But I think the Achilles heel for us here in the US, is the lack of techs able to do a "live remap" of the ECU. Todd from Protomotive, is the only name that has come up on this board ostensibly with the skills and equipment to be able to pull it off. Geoffrey from RaceTek has a set on his 964 race car, but I haven't heard of any other 911's in the States that have the 9M conversion. Everytime I think about putting this stuff in my car, I start drooling

FLYT993

Is anyone thinking about putting these 9M heads on a US car?????

David 23

It seems to me that the 9m heads etc. is the only real way to get significant gains from our 993s. Is this correct? I understand it provides more power than a 3.8 conversion?
Would it be possible for someone to have a set of heads sent to the US, then installed here by a competent shop, and have Promotive do the remap?

maurice97C2S

There's an imported US car here in England whose owner is thinking about it ...

Might be a role model .. ?

cheers, Maurice

Caveman

Thanks for sharing. Makes my mouth water but the house extension has to come first... :-(

John, we must catch up sometime. Do you ever venture into London for any of the meets? Maybe the next Rennlist meet (which is often at Worcester, just off of the A3)?

Cheers,

David

'95 993

Hi David,

Would love to meet up but unfortunatley living (swimming most recently) in Cheltenham means that A3 meets are a bit far for me, plus when I venture to london it always by train. However, if you ever venture over to Oxford (where my office is) happy for lunch meet.

Cheers

John

I do lots of PCGB track days each year so maybe see you at one of these?