This actually never happened. I was ready to start on the project but other things got in the way. I've run a few track events since this time but nothing more. I still intend to do something with this car though.
I have an event at Sebring in March. It's all up to which car is ready. Before I take the 911 back to the track I want to upgrade the torsion bars. This car actually handled better in the early 90's. I took the big sway bars off to improve the ride comfort on the street. It helped a lot.
Now I just have to decide if I want better track performance or a car that actually works on the street.
It's been a while but we're back. This 1973 911 was a Project for European Car magazine in 1991 and 1992. During the course of several years we played with the car and turned it into a respectable track day car. We actually did this before we even had track events. At least track events as we know them today.
I have an event at Sebring in March. It's all up to which car is ready. Before I take the 911 back to the track I want to upgrade the torsion bars. This car actually handled better in the early 90's. I took the big sway bars off to improve the ride comfort on the street. It helped a lot.
Now I just have to decide if I want better track performance or a car that actually works on the street.
It's been a while but we're back. This 1973 911 was a Project for European Car magazine in 1991 and 1992. During the course of several years we played with the car and turned it into a respectable track day car. We actually did this before we even had track events. At least track events as we know them today.
During those two years we made a bunch of changes to the car and we kept a couple of advertisers happy. Automotion helped us a lot with the car and provided parts. Most of those parts have been long since removed in an effort to get some ride quality back into this 911. I'll have more on all of that later.
I also got to hang out with Derek Bell for a few days as he drove the car and suggested some improvements. Derek also tried to teach me how to drive a 911. That may have been one of his least successful activities.
Since that time I've made a few more changes to the car and got rid of some of the things we did for the magazine articles. Over the past few years I've driven the car at a few track events while I tried to decide what to do with the car. I've been back and forth with several ideas. At one time I even thought of making it an RSR replica but I couldn't afford the good wheels. Oh well.
These pictures are from Homestead last year. The car still runs nicely but not the way it did with the big sway bars and the DOT tires. This car is actually a whole lot nicer on the street than the car we tested at the old Bridgehampton road course out on the end of Long Island. It's just not as much fun on the race track any more.
One of the major decisions I had to make was whether to make this a true track day car or a car that could be driven on the street in comfort. I've opted for ride comfort over performance. OK I've heard of dual purpose cars, and I've even tried to create some. It's never worked.
You have to have a priority. You have to decide what's most important to you. In the case of this Porsche I'm going back to having a nice street car. The car runs great right now so most of the issues will be cosmetic ones.
There is an issue regarding the alignment on the car and I'm looking around for a shop that actually knows what they're doing with a Porsche. The last time I had the car aligned it cost me $250 and the car still pulled to the right on a straight road. The shop was called Golden Wrench and is located in Naples Florida. I would avoid them at all costs.
This is going to be a lot of fun. It's also going to be about a lot of choices. Stay tuned.
Richard Newton