Poverty spec 997 as a track car?
Discussion
Am thinking a C2S in poverty spec - no satnav or sunroof. Eventually I'd strip more weight out of it. I just spoke to a Porsche dealer who reckons I wouldn't need to uprate the brakes or suspension substantially. Residual value isn't a problem because I would keep it for years.
I shied away from a 996 because of the engine issues. I know the GT3 is an incredible car but it's an extra £10k and when I watch the videos of them on track they always seem to be waiting for something slower to get out of their way, which isn't fun.
Would the 997 engine stand the abuse of regular (ten a year?) track work, and would the cost of consumables be substantially higher than two sets of brakes and tyres, plus 3/4 oil changes?
I shied away from a 996 because of the engine issues. I know the GT3 is an incredible car but it's an extra £10k and when I watch the videos of them on track they always seem to be waiting for something slower to get out of their way, which isn't fun.
Would the 997 engine stand the abuse of regular (ten a year?) track work, and would the cost of consumables be substantially higher than two sets of brakes and tyres, plus 3/4 oil changes?
nsa said:
Am thinking a C2S in poverty spec - no satnav or sunroof. Eventually I'd strip more weight out of it. I just spoke to a Porsche dealer who reckons I wouldn't need to uprate the brakes or suspension substantially. Residual value isn't a problem because I would keep it for years.
I shied away from a 996 because of the engine issues. I know the GT3 is an incredible car but it's an extra £10k and when I watch the videos of them on track they always seem to be waiting for something slower to get out of their way, which isn't fun.
Would the 997 engine stand the abuse of regular (ten a year?) track work, and would the cost of consumables be substantially higher than two sets of brakes and tyres, plus 3/4 oil changes?
How much all in is this car going to cost you?I shied away from a 996 because of the engine issues. I know the GT3 is an incredible car but it's an extra £10k and when I watch the videos of them on track they always seem to be waiting for something slower to get out of their way, which isn't fun.
Would the 997 engine stand the abuse of regular (ten a year?) track work, and would the cost of consumables be substantially higher than two sets of brakes and tyres, plus 3/4 oil changes?
nsa said:
I think what you're saying is just buy a GT3?
yes because trust me by the time u buy the car, add all the bits then u crave upgrades so it stops like other GT cars you may as well have gone out there and got the real deal. I done the same on a car as countless others on here have. Nice idea but get the 996 gt3. great carsMagic919 said:
Gen 1 997 engines have their moments too. And for Gen 2 997 money you'd be able to get 996 GT3.
If the budget is £19k or less, buy a 996 with dud engine and ship it to Autofarm to have it rebuild in 3.7/3.9 guise. Would leave a few k for brakes & suspension.
If the budget is higher, buy a GT3 (Maybe even a carefully selected Cat D)
monthefish said:
If the budget is £19k or less, buy a 996 with dud engine and ship it to Autofarm to have it rebuild in 3.7/3.9 guise. Would leave a few k for brakes & suspension.
If the budget is higher, buy a GT3 (Maybe even a carefully selected Cat D)
nsa said:
There is a guy who did this and built a fantastic car, but has probably spent the same as if he'd bought a GT3. I could stretch to £35k for a 996 GT3 but I'm not thrilled at the prospect of spending say £5k a year to track it. Back to square one I think. I run a 924/968 hybrid now and absolutely love it. I keep toying with the idea of selling my two cars to get one great car that I can use on track. In the end the money will probably put me off. I wonder though if I'd have as much fun in a GT3, when your baseline should be being the one of the fastest cars on track.
The build process can be fun but id be more inclined to built a track car with a 964 rather than a 997. Nonetheless in your shoes id buy the GT3 given what u wantnsa said:
Am thinking a C2S in poverty spec - no satnav or sunroof. Eventually I'd strip more weight out of it. I just spoke to a Porsche dealer who reckons I wouldn't need to uprate the brakes or suspension substantially. Residual value isn't a problem because I would keep it for years.
I shied away from a 996 because of the engine issues. I know the GT3 is an incredible car but it's an extra £10k and when I watch the videos of them on track they always seem to be waiting for something slower to get out of their way, which isn't fun.
Would the 997 engine stand the abuse of regular (ten a year?) track work, and would the cost of consumables be substantially higher than two sets of brakes and tyres, plus 3/4 oil changes?
Ah, but is it? If you decide after 1 year that the 997 is not working out, by the time you have hacked away at it to make it trackable, it will be worth half as much to sell on. The GT3 on the other had, will have lost next to no value.....you could always bail out and buy something else if you wantedI shied away from a 996 because of the engine issues. I know the GT3 is an incredible car but it's an extra £10k and when I watch the videos of them on track they always seem to be waiting for something slower to get out of their way, which isn't fun.
Would the 997 engine stand the abuse of regular (ten a year?) track work, and would the cost of consumables be substantially higher than two sets of brakes and tyres, plus 3/4 oil changes?
nsa said:
There is a guy who did this and built a fantastic car, but has probably spent the same as if he'd bought a GT3. I could stretch to £35k for a 996 GT3 but I'm not thrilled at the prospect of spending say £5k a year to track it. Back to square one I think. I run a 924/968 hybrid now and absolutely love it. I keep toying with the idea of selling my two cars to get one great car that I can use on track. In the end the money will probably put me off. I wonder though if I'd have as much fun in a GT3, when your baseline should be being the one of the fastest cars on track.
Was it me? I bought my 996 for 20k, 4 years ago... I probably put another 10k plus into having carbon everything, titanium dampers, rebuilt brakes, GT3 bits and pieces, engine upgrades etc, mostly performed at Autofarm. It was getting pretty close to exactly the car I wanted and was featured in 911 & Porsche World etc. However, we moved to Singapore and the car sat in storage for over 2 years... Then we moved to America, so I decided I better sell it.I originally thought I'd 'keep it forever' and it would just be my toy for 'playing with' as the modifications and development are most of the enjoyment for me (I wouldn't have wanted to mess about with a GT3) but things change. Including servicing and correcting things that went wrong, it probably cost me around 35k including buying the car and I sold it a few months ago for... 12k.
Still, you probably couldn't get a good GT3 for the money I spent (especially back then) so it was sort of worth it, had I kept it forever.
So, that turned out to be an expensive hobby. Does it bother me? Not really. Does it make any financial sense? No. I have these strange ideas about buying a 997 when we come home and doing the same, maybe one with a blown engine (I have my eye on an NA Cayenne V8 engine) but I've already accepted it would be financially silly. The more sensible option would probably be to find another early 996 for 8k and just go mental on the refurb and have Autofarm build you a 3.7 engine that should be bullet-proof.
So, 8k for the car, 12k (from the top of my head) for the 3.7 engine, a couple of grand for a 'box upgrade/ rebuild and then 5k for brakes (rebuild 'em and fit upgraded discs and pads and you are good to go), suspension and interior modifications. Add another 3k for sorting any other issues you have and that would be 30k all in and you won't get a 'good' GT3 for that money. It then shouldn't require significant maintenance work for a good while, unlike a 30k GT3. It should also be lighter and arguably handle 'better' if you do all the RSS suspension mods, compared to a tired GT3, at least.
What would you get back for it? With the Autofarm engine, I think you'd see 15-20k all day long, maybe more to the right buyer as the rest of the mods will never be worth much on the 2nd hand market.
If you are genuinely never going to sell it then it actually makes pretty good sense. Is there going to be anything quicker/ more fun on track that would be low maintenance, cost less and can still be used everyday?
dom9 said:
Was it me? I bought my 996 for 20k, 4 years ago...
It was somebody else, but your post about sums it up. I bet it was a cracking car and somebody got a bargain at £12k. I suspect GT3 is the way to go. Just a big move in money, and I seriously doubt it would be 2-3x the fun for probably 5x what I'm spending now. Just frees up garage space to sell two cars to buy one, and the GT3 is probably bulletproof in terms of residual.Gassing Station | Porsche General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff