Quick update:
Frame is straight, thanks to Chuck's Frame in Richmond.
Roll cage is in, and new seat mounted just above the floor by Piper Motorsports. Driver's side has NASCAR bars and a gutted door, and passenger side has an "X" just inside the door. With the sunroof delete and revised seat mounting (which still includes sliders), I now have almost 5" above my head (I'm 6', 5-1/2")!

More about that seat: If you've been in OG Racing recently, they had a prototype Kirkey seat sitting next to their counter. It's still not on OG Racing's or Kirkey's web sites, but it's a containment seat that's easier to get in and out of than their prior version (still available) and very comfortable, at least for short periods of time. I bought that prototype since that was the only way I could get one in time to have it mounted before the car headed back to Richmond for some body work (rear fender replacements) and paint (still black).

I've sourced used front and rear fiberglass bumpers, and they'll need to be painted separately since they won't be available until after the current work is done. Then just a few (hah!) little thinks left like rebuilding the transmission, installing an LSD (which I think I've found), installing the motor and transmission, welding on new rear sway bar mounts, removing lots of extraneous wiring, installing a kill switch, installing the bumpers, replacing the oil lines and running extensions up to the bumper, installing the center oil cooler, replacing the windshield, rear window, and quarter windows (removed for the cage), installing headlights, installing turn-signal lights, installing tow hooks, having it aligned, shaking it out, adjusting the suspension, and all those other things I've forgotten about.

It's fun and rewarding, and will be a lot more rewarding when I get it on the track!

I'm considering a steering wheel quick release, but that will probably come later.

Making a serious commitment

Well, first the commitment: I've purchased a 1986 Carrera Coupe roller, slightly bent, and intend to build it into a track car (PCA Club Racing "E" stock, street legal of course - I still intend to drive to the track). It's in Richmond, VA right now, and goes to the frame shop at the end of this month, then to the body shop in November (cut off the flared venders, weld on new steel stock metal, fix bent right rear quarter panel, etc. and then full paint job), then to Piper Motorsports for a full cage around New Years. The cage should be interesting, because I want to maximize safety with something approaching Nascar bars, but since I'll drive to the track, need to be able to operate the window, at least somewhat. Want the car to be legal for both PCA and NASA, but not too heavy either. Mitch Piper has more experience than I do (or anyone I know) and hopefully he'll have the best compromise. I'm going to have my Carrera transmission rebuilt - considering limited slip - but might do it myself if I decide to hold off on the LSD. For now, I'll use the engine from my Targa but I'm trying to find a good deal on a 3.2 for either the Targa or the track car. I'm hoping it's together and ready by the end of February for the NASA Comp School (which I hope to attend). Otherwise, I'll get the cage in the Targa updated or rent a race car for that weekend.

Now an update: Since my last update, I spent 3 wonderful days at VIR (and had a PCA race checkout). They combined Red and Black which gave more track time, and really gave my left arm a workout. Then this past weekend I went to NJMP - Thunderbolt with PCA Delaware region. Although this is only their second track event, Delaware Region did a great job and hosted a wonderful event. FOUR HOURS of track time on Friday (open only to solo drivers), and another 3-1/2 hours or so spread over Saturday and Sunday. It's a wonderful track with 2 maddeningly slow areas that I know are costing me seconds (both related to the only 2 left turns on the track). Although my usual friends weren't able to come, I made some new friends there and, once I found the cars that were about my speed (especially Chip C, seen playing in this video) it was a blast. The car performed well - a little loose as usual, but I only got "too loose" twice :-( Note: steering 2 off without losing control is not, for the purposes of this blog, considered "too loose").

Needed purchases for next year:

For car:

3.2 Engine

LSD?

Race seats (or use what I have - Recaro SRDs which are relatively heavy)

(frame/body work, paint)

Cage

For driver:

Racing suit

Nomex shoes

Nomex socks (and more than one pair)

Nomex balaclava

(cool shirt system?)

I guess I'd better start buying lottery tickets...

Transmission update...and MORE!

Okay, so transmission broke on August 16th, and I quickly found an appropriate one (from a 911SC) on eBay and picked it up on August 23rd, and installed it (with much help from an old friend) on August 28-30. The car was ready for VIR September 4-6, and performed flawlessly on the drive down, hours on the track, and the drive back (>250 miles each way). A few special things about the weekend:

• On the way down, I stopped off near Richmond and bought a coupe roller, to try to get ready for the track by next season. The caveat is that it stays in Richmond until I complete my promise to the spouse to get the house cleaned out. Making good progress so far (nothing like the right incentive!).
  
• While at VIR I took and passed my race checkout drive. I hope to take a NASA class next spring (in the coupe :D). Better learn those rules...
• I drove a 2:24:84 in my Targa with an almost-stock suspension (improved bushings and slightly larger torsion bars)--I was pleased
  

So one step closer. Lots to do between now and next spring, but it's DE's, instructing, and cleaning the house for now. (oops, and work too, of course).

Summer of Fun

The summer has been going well (until transmission problems yesterday...that's another story) with some excellent students and great weather at the track. So far I've done 8 days at Summit Point main, 2 days at Shenandoah, 3 days at Mid-Ohio, and 3 days at Watkins Glen. The big change to the car this year doesn't change it's driving (just the driver). We installed a Racepak G2X data logger, and it immediately showed me how (and where) I could get faster--and I'm just beginning to use it. First of all, the most immediate improvement was due to the shift lights. I no longer need to look at the tachometer or even be concerned about it--the lights get brighter and redder as I approach the shift point. No more hitting up against the rev limiter and both slowing the car down and frightening the engine. The next item of usefulness has been the accelerometers. My car can log 1.3 lateral G's with RA-1s, so when I'm consistently taking a (relatively) constant-speed turn at a reading of 1.15 G's, I know I can take it faster. Unfortunately, that means actually looking at my data before the end of the event, and so far I've been too tired to do that--but I'm working on it! The third easy improvement is to see what gear is faster. For example, at Watkins Glen I used to downshift to 3rd at the bus stop, and upshift to 4th after the sweeper, down to 3rd before turn 6 (leading into the laces), and back up to 4th running down the laces. On the suggestion of John Sullivan, I tried downshifting to 4th for the bus stop and staying in 4th right to the toe of the boot, hard on the gas (with less torque) most of that distance. It was a lot faster after I'd tried it a few times (and developed the courage to stay on the gas--less torque meant more stability). It felt a lot slower, but was actually faster - that's where the data logger is really useful.

Share a HANS Device

My son got a new helmet. While he got a great deal, it would have been helpful to have the HANS anchors installed at the same time (now his dad may have to do it). When I bought the HANS (see first post) I watched them install the anchors, and the instructions seem very clear (esp. the part about "measure twice, drill once!"). Just need to get the anchors, a little time...with Mid-Ohio coming up very soon. I might just try to convince the wife how much fun a drive up to OG would be (hey, bring the helmet and HANS while you're at it--and can you wait while they install it?). We're going to share the HANS at first, esp. because few student cars will have harnesses so it won't be as helpful. 

Brighten my night

After a minor fender-bender 12 years ago (8 days after I bought the car!), I had the headlights changed to H5's, as on the 87-89 Carreras. The original sugar scoops used sealed-beams and weren't very bright, but the newer ones were only marginally better. I got a lead on a lightly-used pair of H1's (European lights, separate bulbs for low/high beams) and received them this week. Since I still drive to the track and will be driving to Mid-Ohio in a couple of weeks (much of the driving in the dark), I'll be installing them. Considerations include female connectors (H5's take special connectors which must be replaced with H4 connectors--H1 and H4 use same connector), and also installing a headlight relay to minimize voltage loss through extra wiring and the headlight switches. Total cost for project will be $75 as I got lucky with the headlight purchase. The only other purchase needed prior to the event will e a Chatterbox Communicator. While these are now available in a bluetooth configuration, my understanding is that the older wired version is superior for DE instruction, and OG has them in stock. I'll also be renting a helmet for my son--we've been sharing to date, but as we may be driving at the same time now, he'll need his own. Since he's away in college (in Ohio - picking him up on the way to M-O), I'll rent a helmet that at least fits me. so we can both have out own. Then purchase one for him when we return. The car has Toyo 888s on it now and plan to drive to the track on them unless it's raining, in which case I'll be mounting the RA-1's. If I can find someone to drive one of those sets to the track for me, I'll switch to street tires and save my R-compound tires from the 6+ hour drive.

Starter Post

Well, here it is, my first blog post. Others have been after me to create a blog for 2 years (I work in medicine and also in e-Prescribing, and I assume e-Prescribing will be next), but it took OG Racing (www.ogracing.com) to convince me of the value of a blog. I'm a typical middle-aged guy who works 50-70 hours/week, and relaxes during the summer by working on my car and driving on the track, and during the winter by working on my car and skiing. I bought a 12-year-old 911 Carrera Targa 13 years ago, and first got out to the track about 2 years later. Doing only 6-9 track days/year, I spent years in the green and blue run groups, finally making white (uninstructed) just before my son turned 18. Once he began driving on the track too, it qualified as "family time" so my track days went up significantly. I did about 16 days his first year, and 20 days last year, moving into the black run group. Last weekend I became an instructor for PCA.

In the mid-Atlantic region there is a strong contingent of D-I-Y Porsche guys who I fell in with (the implied "bad boy" nature of that statement is intentional), and went from doing nothing myself (despite having done top end rebuilds on Audis and Fiats several decades ago) to doing most of the work myself. It started (as most do) with brake pads. When I moved to track pads, I would swap out street pads between events. Ha--now I just leave in the track pads. I did some minor electrical work, but the big change was doing my suspension. The bushings were worn, and I wanted a little more stiffness. 10 years ago the stock shocks wore out so I already had replaced them with Bilstein Sports, and I upped the torsion bars to 21 and 27 mm diameter. I used polycarbon bushings (rather than polybronze) on the advice of Matt de Maria (Stuttgart Performance Engineering), and with lathing them to fit, they have been great and never squeaked. I also put in monoballs both at the top of the front struts and on the trailing arms. When I went to have the car aligned, however, it was quirky and would not align correctly. I had learned shortly after purchasing (through a well-known-to-me P-car mechanic in the Philadelphia area) that despite a clean PPI (by him), it had left front end damage. Well, turns out that although cosmetically great, the frame was not completely straight and had been welded that way. So it spent much of the winter of 2007-2008 at EuroPros in Gaithersburg, MD, getting the frame straightened. The shop was great in that they worked with me to do the job affordably on a car with decreasing value. After that, it aligned very well and now has -2 degrees and -2.5 degrees camber (F/R). Since my son was driving and I was going faster, I installed a Safety Devices 6-point roll cage and Recaro SRD seats (both purchased used at significant discount), with G-Force 5-point harnesses. 

Every now and then, I make a decision I regret for a long time. In this case, it was the torsion bar stiffness. If I had to do it over again, I would have gone significantly stiffer, but at the time I did not have a roll cage and didn't want to flex the car at the expense of the suspension geometry. 

On the other hand, sometimes I make a small decision that makes me smile. In my first multi-item purchase from OG Racing, I chose the BSCI Dual Durometer SFI-rated roll bar padding. Small decision, but I have the safety and low profile of the high-impact core when I have my helmet on, and the soft foam outer piece when I drive on the street without a helmet (I guess it's kind of late in the blog to mention I still drive to the track, including 4.5 hrs to VIR, 5.5 hrs to Watkins Glen, and 6.5 hours to Mid-Ohio). That purchase also included Halon fire extinguisher and Brey Krause mounting bracket, I/O Gear camera mount (see http://www.vimeo.com/1341378), and a Longacre 14" mirror kit. Of course, all that was a fraction of the price of the HANS I bought 2 weeks ago. I hope I never have to use it. As I'm cheap, I considered the DefNDer (OG has both on display) - it just didn't fit me as well.

So last year was a great year on the track for my son and I, and this year I was invited to the instructor candidate class for PCA Potomac Region - and passed. I've got another 20 days scheduled this year and have a couple of significant decisions to make:

• Do I want to race. I'm middle-aged and not getting younger, and I'm not particularly fast (some of that is the car... :D )?
  
• Should I increase stiffness of my suspension?
  
• Should I bag my Targa and get a coupe - and if I get a coupe, stay with SC/Carrera which I know and can work on, or go to 996 for more power, more advanced handling, but less raw "sports car" feel?
  

I don't need to question that whatever I get, I need to put in an LSD over the winter. But first, a summer of driving!