Track Prep 101

Monday is another track day at BeaveRun where Bill will be instructing so we spent a little time on the 996 this weekend attending to some things that were still not optimal. First off the brake pads that had been on the car for the first track day proved to be insufficient, fading after only about 4 hard laps. So we will be testing various compounds to see what works as advertised! First up is a set of Hawk HP Plus pads which are Hawk's Autocross and "Track Day" pads. Designed to be driven to and from the track and still perform well in normal street driving, these pads sound like they will be what we're looking for if they perform.


Next on the agenda was getting the ride height and corner weights squared away. Given that this is the '996 to GT3 Project' we started out by setting the ride heights to roughly what is delivered on a Porsche GT3. 25.5" from the highest point of the wheel arches to the ground (tire contact patch).



After this was done we pulled the 996 onto our setup scales to check the corner weights. Way off! After a few hours of tweaking the H&R coil overs we stopped at what is a much better, but still a compromised setup. This is afterall a street car and not a race car. So getting 'perfect' corner weights may not be possible.

Tire pressures were also adjusted from the factory settings of 36F/44R to 32F/40R. The common wisdom is that this is a better setup reducing some understeer, improving grip and at the same time giving a better ride around town.

We'll see how it does and report back on Monday. To the track!