Porsche 944 turbo road to racecar.

[333pg333]

Well interestingly one of the rear bushes had shown some sign of wear. This allowed the rear RH wheel to move back and forwards a couple mm. This was at full droop on the hoist. The feeling was that under load it would be ok, plus we didn't have time to replace it. So, not sure if this could have been 100% the reason. Perhaps it 'helped' contribute to the situation. The suspension is actually an old design of rear trailing arms much like the VW SuperBug type setup. If it was easy I'd consider changing to a more recent setup.

Had the X-rays. Ribs are cracked but neck ok, just pretty traumatised. Adrenalin worn off, now everything is starting to tickle just a bit!

I am convinced that it wasn't all my fault. The grip just went out from underneath me too quickly. Of course having wider rubber and stiffer springs is going to narrow the window of grip to slip but I've been through that corner as fast or faster before and felt more secure. Some people on another forum are saying that I over-corrected but I think it's easy to pick apart something on video without being there. The rapid loss of grip will bring out your instincts but I also have a strong recollection of being very conscious of not letting the car snap back hard left to the inside wall. This generally produces much worse results than mine. So once I knew I was 'gone' I just wanted to straighten the car away from that inside wall. Not sure if trying to throw it into a spin once off the track would have induced rotation and bring down the car speed dramatically...or induced a rollover? What do you reckon?

[Cal]

Like you said, it's all too easy to comment from the outside looking in and I've yet to watch it with sound. At the end you did over correct it, which sent it in that direction. However, otherwise outcome could have been the inside wall, roll over.....who knows what. Looks like you turned in early then corected that which got things unsettled. The final oversteer looks like you could have been on the marbles. Was there much rubber off the racing line?

[Coffin]

Fuck that was a big hit!! ... hope you are on the mend ok.

Having just started Targa in one of these last week, I'm surprised it let go like that. I cannot believe the surefooted'ness of the 944 I was in running 225/245 front and rear, this thing stuck to the road like you wouldnt believe. .... Also allegedly the Turbo's are pretty fragile once you put power into them

[333pg333]

I guess the underlying thing is that I didn't have much experience to draw from in terms of dealing with a big moment. Once off the track, what do you do? All I had in my mind was not to get flung to inside wall. So perhaps that was why I got the car to snap back to straight ahead? My instincts were telling me that there was no way of keeping this on the track after the 2nd moment. Some are saying that you try and induce a slow spin. I agree, if that was possible I'd have loved to have done that but as those who've run down the main straight and into T1 at the 'Creek, it's bumpy and quite a lot of force wanting you to go wide.
As they say, time does slow down, but if you've got not a lot of moves to draw on then there's not a lot more to do. Especially when you're flying across the wet outfield that had received more rain in the previous week than on record for some time. Some people said that due to this the track was a bit green without much/any surface rubber. In addition to that the car was feeling a little nervous from the outset. Perhaps we have to back off the rear spring. 900/1100lbs but these were recommended from Moton. Perhaps to run on their super smooth Euro tracks?
Didn't have much rear downforce either as we haven't got the rear wing on. Of course I'm wondering what might have been.

The whole thing is becoming a bit of a nightmare really. Just have to push on. Going to be a few weeks until we know what's under there though. Work has to be directed elsewhere. That's going to be frustrating...

[Cal]

Is it back at Paul's workshop now?

[Gammaboy]

Didn't have much rear downforce either as we haven't got the rear wing on. Of course I'm wondering what might have been.

Aero Balance fail? you've got a decent size splitter/front undertray on it don't you?
The sud stepping out infront of you suggests to me that something had been dropped - oil/coolant? Combined with nose heavy aero balance in a fast corner and you've got a bad situation...

[I'm DJ!]

No! Sorry mate!

[gxxr]

With it getting squirrelly in the arse even on initial turn-in, before you start to pull much G, got a few doubts about the green track theory. Been around there on 4 year old slicks in damp conditions after a week of rain and that piece of crap was more planted than your's....hopefully no mimic of 911 off-throttle behaviour built in!

[MR 1JZ]

fark big hit man...i broke ribs in 2010...dont envy you at all!

[WRXCunt]

Yeah that looks like theres something wrong to me.. If it handles anything like mine, they never step out the rear except under stupid throttle or handbrake, instead they just tend to wash out. The run off of that corner is fucking woeful.

[333pg333]

There's certainly more to it than I can fathom. I did go in pretty deep / fast into that corner. 10kms faster than the previous laps but he had held me up quite a bit on the turns leading onto the straight and sometimes on the straight too.
I wandered over to him in the pits previously and he was working on the car. His mates were joking that it was down on power and only running 600hp. I have no idea what a 13b with a decent sized turbo puts out but it seemed fast in some places and slow in others.

No, these cars are generally setup for a bit of understeer but generally have great mid and high speed corner stability. That's why I was confident going into the corner that fast. Make no mistake, it's a challenging corner and not to be taken lightly.
Yeah, the run-off is crap.

I don't pretend to understand very much about suspension, roll centres, yaw, Ackerman, bump steer...etc etc...but there was something not quite right about the car and I think that when it hit something else on the track surface...I was a goner.
Not fun and the Ribs are a true pain. Very hard to get comfortable. They keep seeming to 'catch' and you have to rearrange yourself to unhook them from whatever tangle they're in. All I know is it keeps feeling like someone is twisting a little knife into my side.

[Michael]

What Huran said, the car in front looked to drop something lock up? It cant be smoke from the exhaust from gear change as thats a silly spot to change gears.. My graphics card stuffs up and i cant watch it again.

Yep car in front broke something containing a slippery substance and dropped it all over the track for you. You took the same line, running over all the slippery stuffs. You caught him on the turn pretty well while losing control, meaning he was on the brakes.

[Justengt4]

I think you guys might be right....that's pretty well where you start to understeer and your steering inputs after that aren't real effective either. My guess he was dropping brake fluid? the puff of smoke is the fluid burning on his exhaust?

[Gammaboy]

Apex seals?

[Billzilla]

The other thing you have to train your right foot to do is to not lift off the throttle completely when the tail steps out. Just get off it a bit and when it comes back go back to full throttle.
If you lift right off, you get the rear tyres on to the wrong side of the traction circle so it makes it easier for the car to keep sliding around. And as you probably know by now, you also often don't need to wind in as much opposite lock as you think you need.
Best to try a lot of that stuff as slower speed in the rain as the car will be more lively so you can train your hands and feet what to do more safely.