| Dec 2003 |
| Jan 2004 |
| Feb 2004 |
| Mar 2004 |
| Apr 2004 |
| May 2004 |
| Jun 2004 |
Feature car of the month - December 2003 |
|
|
|
|
| These numbers
are the ones displayed on the tacho of my 911 Turbo (996) at the time I
bought it (May '01) and now (end of Nov. '03). Yes, that's over 130'000 km
in 2.5 years, or 53'000 km per year!
The love story began mid May '01 in Lausanne (Switzerland), after a test-drive of an immaculate silver/black 996 Turbo. The car had been first registered in August 2000, had been driven only 7'500 km in 9 months, looked like new, and its owner agreed to sell it to me at a reasonable price. (As far as buying a 996 Turbo is reasonable...) During our first year together, we slowly adapted to
each other. A first day on a small track in September '01 showed me how
much I still had to learn... But winter was approaching, and it soon was
time for a set of snow-tires. Yep! This TT was meant to be a real
daily-driver, whatever the conditions would be! Hey, I didn't spend that
much money not to play with my toy anytime I wanted! ;-) So we both
survived our first winter together with not a single scratch. Actually, we
had loads of fun, and the TT proved it's an exceptionally reliable car. |
|
| Another track-day early '02 in Dijon (France), and I was hooked. I wanted to replace the comforts seats with the sports ones, but quickly forgot about the idea: the sports seats from Porsche don't provide any significant additional lateral support, and they're incredibly expensive! So I made the big move, and ordered 2 Porsche/Recaro buckets (a.k.a. GT3 seats). I also chatted with 'my' mechanics about a power increase. Silly me! I even couldn't handle what I had, and already wanted more... Luckily for me, the guy convinced me to work on the suspension setup rather than to add power. So the adjustable coilover-setup from H&R got ordered too. After 2 days at the shop, my babe was looking more serious: quite a bit lower and fitted with black bucket seats. Wow!... When I first drove it again, I thought it wasn't the same car: much stiffer, more precise, less body-roll, etc. And the seats were giving me the impression I was truly part of the car: I was sitting IN the seat, not ON it. Yes, it was a really different car. And I loved it. | |
|
|
|
With my improved toy, the adventure could really begin, and 2002 saw me visiting a bunch of different tracks: several times in Dijon, once in Imola, and two 4 days events at the (in)famous Nürburgring. At the end of the season, I attended a race-license course in Hockenheim, and took part of the last session of the '02 Swiss Porsche Cup in Magny-Cours. That gave me a total of about 18 track-days for my first year! Did I mention I was hooked? |
|
| Oh, and besides
that, the car was still being used as a daily-driver, of course! And this
also included a few trips to the Swiss Alps, with a lot of small twisty
roads and mountain passes...
|
|
During 2002, a few other improvements were made to my TT: a short-shift kit from Techart got installed during summer, and a roll-bar and 6-point 
harnesses (Porsche/Tequipment) and a 34 cm steering wheel (Techart)
followed in October. Frankly, I wouldn't go back to the original parts!
The short-shifter works great and gives a better, sharper feeling. The
roll-bar of course improves the safety, and the harnesses link the driver
and pax the the car even more. Being quite tall (189 cm), my knees were
sometimes touching the stock steering wheel, which was quite disturbing.
The smaller and much thicker wheel completely got rid of that trouble, and
made steering much easier. Once again, I had the impression to have got a
new, much better car. |
|
 Oh,
and the tires got improved too! Instead of the standard Pirelli
Assimetrico, I switched to a set of Pirelli Corsa (road-legal semi-slick
tires). What a difference it made! Don't expect them to last very long,
but boy do they stick to the asphalt... Truly impressive.
But with our second winter approaching, the Corsa
soon got replaced with a set of Pirelli Snowsport again. With some more
experience with my TT, snow-driving was even more fun than the year
before! The Turbo had to spend quite a few nights outside in the cold
(down to -18°C) and under the snow, and it got driven pretty hard too.
Know what? It didn't show any sign of weakness! None! Would many other
400+HP sportscars cope with that? Not so sure... |
|
By the way,
some of the pictures I made during this winter are still popping-up
nowadays (almost one year later) all over the Internet on various
car-forums. Many people are shocked to see a 911 Turbo covered with snow
and ice, and say that the owner should be shot for that. But hey, the car
still runs great, I take care of it, and if a 911 Turbo can't take a bit
of snow and some sub-zero temperature, it's the engineers at Porsche who
should be shot, not me! ;-) Luckily for them, this car seems to be
able to cope with anything... |
|
2003 saw another big improvement: Pagid yellow brake pads and Castrol SRF brake-fluid. The pads make the TT as squeaky as an old bus, but they could stop a train! This pads and fluid combination makes fading almost nonexistent, even during track-session or hard driving in the mountains. Impressive. With this setup, the TT and I visited another bunch of tracks this season: twice at the N'ring again, Le Castellet, Lédenon, Spa-Francorchamps, etc. We joined the Swiss Porsche Cup for a few events too, and the Alps were visited again. One of our trips included 15 different passes in less than 4 days. Can you say 'fun'?... |
|
| Now, winter is
knocking at the door again, and the TT will get a new set of snow-boots
tomorrow (I'm writing this on Nov. 27th). The track season is over, and
I'm looking forward to some new fun in the snow!
So yeah... This is how I managed to drive about 132'500 km in 2.5 years. My Turbo is now 3 years and 3 months old, and has accumulated a |
|
| total
of 140'000 km. Of course, there were some issues, but only very minor
ones. The fuel gauge needed to be re-calibrated once, the rear-wing
suddenly wasn't operating correctly and got replaced (both issues done
under warranty), and ... huh... a few other details needed some quick
fixes, but they aren't even worth mentioning. But the clutch is still the
original one, and the rims only got very few slight scratches. The front
bumper has its load of paint chips, but that's normal. It just proves this
car is no garage-queen! Besides that, the car still looks gorgeous. Maybe
not like new, but pretty damn good for a car that's been driven that much. |
|
| By the way,
last summer, a friend of mine convinced me to dyno my babe. When we tested
it, it had already slightly over 107'000 km. As a reminder, the 996 Turbo
is officially said to develop 420 HP and 560 Nm. The outcome was quite
good: 424 HP and... 591 Nm! Not bad for an old lady, huh? I'll probably
dyno it again next summer to check the evolution. At this time, my poor TT
will probably have over 170'000 km! And I guess it will still be running
strong... |
|
|
To summarize, here's the list of mods in no particular order: - H&R coilover setup - Techart 34cm steering-wheel - Techart short-shifter kit - Porsche/Recaro bucket seats (leather) - Porsche/Tequipment roll-bar - Porsche/Schroth 6-points harnesses (driver and pax) - Pagid yellow brake pads - Castrol SRF braking fluid - Cargraphic alu pedals - rear-seats removed (10 kg saved...) Cars are meant to be driven... Have fun! --Pierre on Nov 26, 2003 PS: If someone knows of a 996 Turbo with a higher mileage than mine, I'd be glad to hear about it! |
|
|
|
|
