gstahl

Wanted to let everyone know about my centerlock hub failure at Buttonwillow PCA DE event this past weekend.

Update: Porsche has been helpful and is working with me on the vehicle.

Folks should ensure they properly use and maintain their center locks.

savyboy

Geoff- Lar mentioned this happened. Sorry to hear! Who torqued? You personally? You can just say "not me" if you don't want to go there...question is were the locking splines fully engaged? A lot of shops just ignore this, the CL nut backs off and expensive repairs follow.

Also- Porsche specifies that if the breakaway torque (required to loosen the CL nut) is ever less than 296 ft lbs that the hub must be replaced to avoid exactly what happened to you (hub broke).

Just throwing this info out there before the s hit storm ignites.

PS- do you have an aftermarket brake system installed?

fc-racer

I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you. I'm just glad that you walked away safe and sound. Cars can be replaced after all.

9972RS

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TRAKCAR

Wow, thank you for posting.
Scary stuff to all of us for sure.

Having said that, most help from Porsche comes with NDA's and lawyers.
Until you get further I would delete unless you are pissed enough to torch the grounds. Then have at it...

Glad you and your passenger are not hurt and alive.

CRex

Holy smokes. Glad you're okay--that's most important. Like others said, your best recourse is legal action at this point. Any pics of the failed hub?

ChrisF

Geoff:

Very nice meeting you and Lar at the track this weekend. It's gut wrenching to hear of this type of failure and resulting damage but as others have said, thank god you're in one piece. I hope you achieve success in whichever manner you choose to approach this with PCNA. This is completely unacceptable on any car, let alone one with "GT" on the back.

gstahl

A couple notes...

- Still trying to resolve this with PCNA. That said, I wanted to post the basic facts (as I know them) which mirrors CPSC(NHTSA) incident report of what happened as enough folks knew about the issue/incident to have less factual accounts float around. Do not plan on posting any images at this time.

- Everyone, I mean everyone at the event(s) were awesome, great support, great friendship. Wish the car had held together.

jenk12m

Truly sorry to hear about this

NJ-GT

This is unfortunate.

On all the years of 996/997 with 5 lugs (1998 and up), this type of failures did not exist, the weaknesses in the Center lock design have been described at large, yet VW is considering CL for the next GT3.

Shall we start sending letters to PCNA customer service requesting 5-lugs as standard or as an option in the next generation GT3, GT3 RS? I sent my letters years ago to get the RS in America, to get Color to Sample in America and they acknowledged the receipt and somehow the two things happened.

This time, we should ask for manual transmission and 5-lugs (no problems with coolant fittings and worn-out LSD in the new PDK/9A1 powerplant so far).

tradervic

I put a deposit on a GT3 today.

I should check with PCNA about what their stance on tracking cars is before signing on the dotted line.

fdss

report what happened to the government. If there there are enough complaints PCNA will jump through hoops to resolve it especially with the government from their largest market breathing down their necks!!!!

FINN987

Really glad everyone came out of this OK, and really hope Porsche steps up and owns up to the issue.

I was on the track when this happened and judging from my video, I would have seen the loose wheel cross the track in front of me had I been ten/fifteen seconds further up the course.

I was just about to start looking for a 997.2 GT3 RS 3.8 / 4.0 to trade up to, but this incident now gives me pause.

Serge944

That is just -BRUTAL-. Car totaled over a wheel lug. Sorry to hear.

SSTHO

Really sorry to hear about this. Glad you walked away.

Thank you for laying out the facts, but I agree with 9972RS. Good luck!