Porsche 996 cup car

[Cplus]

Nice work mate. Good purchase.

And seeimg as the the videos are from May, I’m guessing this little thread has some more content in the w8ngs

[darkside]

Well played,

I reckon old cup cars are so much car for the money as a track toy. Hadn’t realised those key differences between the 996 and 7. I can see the attraction of the 996. You have done well to have so much history on the car. Have been watching the 997 market for a while. I like the idea of a sequential. Buiks had what seemed to be a really nice 997.2 for sensible $$.

Look forward to following your progress with it.

[BLO 767]

You finally posted it Simmo :D Been following on the kraut forum.

This in 997 is also my grail. As you say - the tinkering is part of the fun of owning and running your own Cup.

Scarcely gets more pure than a GT3 race car + H pattern.

[womblesti]

Very nice mate. I’ve always thought they make a logical track car option.

Can you give us a ball park buyin price?

[200MPH]

These make so much sense. Seen them below 50k, so good value. I could never do it myself as I worry about 20k plus engines... Though I spent that much on my last engine, so I guess ignore me!

Top work in any case!

[takai]

Very nice, looks like a bucket of fun.

Keep the updates coming.

[spiller]

Thanks guys, I figured this was a good place to keep a bit of a journal on the car and glad no one seems to be bothered by my novel length posts!

should have gone aircooled /i
looks great, i also agree with the 996 being closer to road cars- much less daunting!
how does it compare to the 996 GT3 you had, or the lotus?

Haha yes, bloody water pumpers . Being able to compare the cup car to my old road 996 GT3 has definitely been one of the most interesting parts of owning this car so far. Full disclosure, my road car had loads of upgrades that set it apart from a standard car (cup car final drive, basically full cup suspension, monoballs, full exhaust, tune, 997 TB etc - it was a real monster).

Main differences:

-The road car had way more mid range torque and I reckon more power overall than the cup car does. You really need to be up the cup car at all times to keep the momentum going. The lack of variocam means if it falls below about 5500 RPM there's not much going on. 6-8K is the sweet spot at all times.

-Gearing is surprisingly longer on the cup than on my road car. When you add the cup final drive to the road car, you very short 1, 2, 3 gears, as a consequence the car didn't mind lighting up the rear tyre at any chance. As a result, the road car chassis always felt like it was at the limit of the power and torque on offer, whereas that is not the case with the cup car. R-compound v slicks is obviously a big part of this but so is the gearing.

-The cup stops a lot better due to the motorsport ABS and being 200kg lighter + slicks. As a result, it leaves the road car for dead in corners.

-Driving style between the two is different mainly due to the slip angle of the slicks compared to r-compound, and this is something im still trying to get my head around. Overall, the cup car is a lot more visceral with the stripped interior and solid mounted engine and gearbox, but as far as suspension and chassis goes, cup and road (at least my road car) are basically the same.

The lotus was a very fun street car but didn't hold a candle to either car. It desperately needed a more aggressive suspension set up.

Mate, you go through more cars than most do underpants. After playing around/tracking the GT3, could always see you in a Cup car, and glad to see that you finally took the plunge. It's not surprising that it has a few niggling issues after laying dormant for so long, but will eventually be a fast and rock solid package. Good to see you fucked off the pony car.

Yes mate, I have a real problem, but trying to fix it ha! I was enjoying reading your thread the other day as I'm considering another CP9A and thought to myself, "fuck he's had this a while, why can't I be like that"

Nice work mate. Good purchase.

And seeimg as the the videos are from May, I’m guessing this little thread has some more content in the w8ngs

Thanks, my updates so far will run until December of last year and I'll continue getting the thread up to date when I have more time. In all honesty though, I did not drive the car a lot last year, however I'm sure I'll remember something to ramble on about in this thread!

Well played,

I reckon old cup cars are so much car for the money as a track toy. Hadn’t realised those key differences between the 996 and 7. I can see the attraction of the 996. You have done well to have so much history on the car. Have been watching the 997 market for a while. I like the idea of a sequential. Buiks had what seemed to be a really nice 997.2 for sensible $$.

Look forward to following your progress with it.

Yep they're a good reliable car if you can find one with history. I spent hours researching where mine had been and even added up the mileage using old natsoft data. I enjoyed every bit of it though and still have a few blanks to fill in. I have the contact number for the guy who managed GMR at the time but working up the courage to call him and be that guy asking questions about shit he probably forgot years ago and doesn't care about any longer. Ideally you want one that has been constantly used so you don't have to go through the recommissioning process like I have. I haven't driven a 997 but I'm told they're like a baby 996 RSR, i.e. a full blown race car. People's opinions on what constitutes a race car are quite subjective, some say the 996 is more street car like, and it certainly shares a lot with the street car but the car is without a doubt not streetable. You'd destroy the clutch in pretty short order. So is the race car more like a road car or vice versa? Depends where you've come from I guess. 997 also has rose jointed suspension in all (or most) areas.

You finally posted it Simmo :D Been following on the kraut forum.

This in 997 is also my grail. As you say - the tinkering is part of the fun of owning and running your own Cup.

Scarcely gets more pure than a GT3 race car + H pattern.

Gday mate, it's been a while. What is your user over there on the kraut forum ya bloody lurker! Not that I post much over there so pot calling the kettle black.

Very nice mate. I’ve always thought they make a logical track car option.

Can you give us a ball park buyin price?

Prices seem to vary a bit, not many 996s around and the 50K buys are probably a thing of the past now. 60-70K now, more if it's got history of recent engine work. I know of one car selling a few years ago for as low as mid 30K, it was a minter too. Very lucky buy that one.

These make so much sense. Seen them below 50k, so good value. I could never do it myself as I worry about 20k plus engines... Though I spent that much on my last engine, so I guess ignore me!

Top work in any case!

Not gonna lie, every time I drive it I worry about breaking something expensive. If you destroyed a motor it would probably be a walk away type affair (at least for me!). I guess the good thing about them is they *generally* don't suffer from unexpected terminal driveline issues and so the maintenance costs can be very much planned for. Famous last words. Being a old race car though, they've had a lifetime of being thrashed hard and I've found so far that there's always something the fuckn' thing needs, whether it be big or small. That's race cars for you I guess. Buiks are a great shop to work with, they know these things in and out and as a customer, from
my experience, they are very careful with your money, which is quite refreshing. I probably worry about maintenance more than I need to. The biggest expense if you want to race them competitively is throwing tyres at them. A little over 3K per set and the fast guys buy new ones for every race meet. Not something I can afford to do and so I'm happy with sprints and track days for the time being.

[itsnotagsr]

Mate of mine had one of these and ran it in Prod Sports in the early/mid 2000s. It was bullet proof. Just kept servicing it and changing tyres.

[Andy San]

Mint! I would love to piss the sigma off and get into one of these someday...

[rowdytoot]

Love it

[Rascasse]

Great read, thanks for sharing.

Congrats on getting the Cup back out on track. Here's to hoping for rock solid track days once the cooling system is sorted.

[MR-PUNANNY]

Bloody Awesome man! Love it!

[leothedrummer]

Great writeup, thanks for sharing.

How good are racecars?!

[enigma9000]

Love the car, love the colour, love the detailed posts. Keep it coming!

[Marlin]

I too am appreciative of the quality of your posts and rate your choice.

Please do keep sharing.