JCPerformance

Appreciate your feedback..

race911

Define "track"--pony trot, or fully developed?

While you'll get many more answers over on the 993 Turbo board, I can say that anything ~3500 lbs. and worth pushing $200K does NOT make a good track car, save for the occasional 5 seconds-off-the-pace session just to exercise the car.

JCPerformance

Understood. I was considering a sunroof deleter car with some modest mods.

I posted over there--thanks for the suggestion.

MarinS4

My definition of a "good track car" is something that is not only fast & fun but cheap to repair/maintain. I also try and think of it as somewhat disposable. God knows they get balled up all the time.

IMHO the 993 turbo does not fit in any of those boxes.

OverBoosted28

Agree with the above insight, but a properly sorted car, can be driven at 7-8/10ths and still be a hellavu lotta fun. Suspension is everything!

vincer77

Yep.

race911

Let's see what this unicorn is all about! (Still would love to know where the '96 sunroof delete Speed Yellow Turbo, fresh from delivery in San Diego, that had a factory installed roll bar ended up. Really Old Guy owner and I were enjoying a spirited run up I-15 toward Las Vegas, us in my then-girlfriend's '89 MR2 Supercharged. He was realllllllly happy about taking delivery of that car.)

But here's the thing--say my faux RS is a 2:02 Thunderhill/1:40 Laguna/1:50 Sears runner with semi-craptastic tires. You may get a warmed over 993 Turbo within a couple of seconds (Greg H. was always a good benchmark, not sure if he still runs his.) Am I enjoying laps in a now even ~$150K car out there to do, say, 2:05/1:44/1:55? More challenging to go play golf.

Here's a lead-follow I did with Greg way a few years ago. He thought there was something screwy going on, and wanted me to take a look. But on equal tires you can see where the performance envelopes exists on equal tires.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

JMHO,....

993TT's can be a lot of fun at the track with proper component selection and preparation. We've done several of these over the years and all of them have been a real blast on a track, especially one with some straightaways.

Is it a racecar, hell no,...not without a LOT of preparation that basically transforms it into a GT-2, but it still can be a very competent dual-purpose machine and give someone a great deal of enjoyment.

Naturally, one needs to factor today's values on this sort of activity in order to mitigate any potential risk. Drive intelligently, and you can have the time of your life. Make poor decisions, and you could lose a lot of money.

OverBoosted28

I'd say driving my car at just about any track, at just about any level would beat golfing any day. Can't see any adrenaline involved in golfing. :-)

race911

Track driving even 1 sec/min of lap time off pace becomes beyond rote. Crank it back to 2 sec/min, and you're fully conversational with your student to the point it's only a moving classroom. (Exception for wet or non-asphalt.) Golf is ~75 focused, 30 second pressure points, albeit over four plus hours.

Now, a test day and chasing setup is a moving target with a myriad of variables.

Greg H.

I've been racing spec miatas and have come to realize a 993 tt is a crappy track car. I'll never sell mine, but I don't track it any longer, and it's not because of the value.

Greg H.

Martin S.

that tracked 996 Turbos, as well as Carrera 4S cars. The AWD is very forgiving...but don't forget the 993 & the 996 Turbo cars are quite heavy. As a consequence they will eat brakes, and may chew up tires a bit quicker than a NA car....

The 993 Turbo would be fun to take to the track for a DE and Time Trial, but as a race car.....not the best choice, weight...weight...weight. Sure you can take out several hundred pounds, and remove the viscous coupler providing power to the front wheels...then you have sort of a slightly underpowered GT2 car, a car some have called the "Widow Maker". Why? Don't really know, an urban legend?

And finally, having been going tracks in the west for a number of years, you just don't see Turbo cars that often...with the 993, it's probably the value. With the 996....maybe a 996 Turbo owner will chime in.

race911

^^^ 996 Turbos are even more boring on track. And I'm sure you can extrapolate it further out to the new cars. Viscous couple AWD doesn't really enter into the equation with the 993/996--in the dry when are you getting rear wheel slip to move any significant power to the front? The sophistication in AWD was the 964 (but they're totally underpowered and don't need it at all on dry asphalt), and then the 997-today.

I'll take an underpowered sports racer or formula car any day over a (near) self-driving pig if the goal is lap time.

Quadcammer

I'd say its probably as good or bad as a stock 993 NA.

In stock form, they don't make the best track cars. With some suspension mods, some standard safety and weight savings stuff, and the right tires/driver, they can perform very well.

Greg H.

Ken - do you find na rear wheel drive cars more engaging? Turbos, in my opinion, have a lot of lag when you're trying to transfer weight in a turn. I've seen pro drivers do it but to consistently drive my car at the limit continues to escape me. I just got a new Z06 and, speed aside, it's a lot more fun even though it's not a car that inherently handles well.

Greg H.