[Trackrat]

Man, this is seriously good stuff. Nothing like the voices of experience Thanks to everyone for the contribution!

Originally Posted by mooty

some disagrees with me. but i am certain that cup car CANNOT be DE'd. i am at BW right now. in my stripper. i ran the race group and red, the fastest group of PCA here. the stripper isn't that fast, i have traffic every 3 turns. i am on someone's bumper. one instance, i moved fast, else i would be in his cabin down the front straight. after one session, i only ran the race group. with cup, you will be on brake a lot than on throttle due to traffic.

No surprise, you are a fast guy in a fast car I suppose BW would be considered a tight track and technical so would be big differences in speed between those who know the track and those who don't.

Originally Posted by tcsracing1

This is why porsche make the "clubsport" RS in europe. For those looking to have a decent track car that can also be easy to own/street legal. It is the best of both worlds.

The 3.8RS will go down in the history books as one of the best 6 speed p-car street strippers of all time. You will see a lot of these RS models at tracks in 20 years. Fully stripped and on trailers.

Now, that being said, by the time 2013 rolls around you may actually want to sell the RS track trainer and buy a 991 CUP to taste a little racing. Keep the spyder as a collector/toy porsche, as all CUP racers should have at least one old street Porsche to hold in the garage to remember their roots..

You have been there and done that (x2 lol) and what you say makes perfect sense and I cannot argue with the logic. In fact I agree with all of it

Originally Posted by CWS

Okay, let me try to give you a serious response.

1. I would always, always, always keep a 3 RS for lots of reasons, not least of which because it's a special car. Beyond that, there will likely be times when you may not want the hassle of transporting/supporting the Cup or events were you don't feel like bringing a Stinger missile to mix it up with the bare-knuckle brawlers.

So the question on the RS comes down to whether you plan to mod the 4.0 RS (assuming this still has a slot in your warehouse) or bubble-wrap it. If you plan to track and mod then swap all the parts from the 3 RS, return the 3 to stock and sell. Otherwise keep the 3 as your street-legal track toy.

2. Buying a Cup purely for PCA DE events is definitely overkill.

With those caveats aside I'll say that there's no comparison between driving a Cup and a modded street car (short of a full stripper but then what's the point) on the track. Given your trajectory it's inevitable that you'll eventually get into a Cup. Just recognize that it shouldn't be your only track-day tool.

3. The fragility of the sequential box is overblown IMHO. Consumables are more about the driver than the car. If you're constantly on the edge you'll use more; not so much, less. Doesn't matter the car.

You seem set on a 997 Cup so I'll save the 996 vs 997 analysis. Just remember that the absolute speed differences between the two are small enough that a better driver in a 996 Cup will be faster than a less skilled driver in a 997 Cup. I'd caution against making too big a jump at once. Jumping into a much faster car without transitioning through intermediate cars is one of the worst mistakes you can make in terms of driver development.

Again, a strong, compelling case put forward by a man who is a similar situation. Your comments are spot-on and perfectly sensible.

This thread is already priceless and should be stickied for all the other tortured souls who will be coming here after me and asking the same questions.

I can see it coming already- a DE run group for race prep cars (Cups) only. HOD is already doing that out here at some events.

Thanks guys, awesome stuff!