Originally Posted by Skypalace
Re Cup Cars, I'm lucky enough to have both 996 and 997 Cups. I'd very very strongly recommend a 996 for someone looking to do even occasional DE's. Even though it's not a sequential, it's a great gearbox, I've literally never missed a shift in 7 years. The 997 Cup is noticably stiffer and tighter and more direct, and is a lot more work, both physically and mentally. And the braking without ABS is much much trickier on the 997 Cup. I knew it would be a difficult transition for me (I've always been a late braker, and done a lot of passing under braking), and as I mentioned in other posts, I've had to greatly adjust my braking, for example not being able to trail brake nearly as aggressively, in a non-ABS car. And ABS is of course a godsend in wet or damp conditions. A 997 can still be driven well in the wet (as I mentioned in another post I lapped the field in my last wet PCA race) but it's a heck of a lot more nervewracking under braking than the 996 was, when I could go late and let the ABS catch me if I was a little too aggressive.
The 996 Cup is still frigging quick and tight compared to any street car, but still has enough rubber in the suspension bushings that it's less twitchy than the 997. I rebuilt my 996 Cup gearbox once in 7 years (when I had the engine out getting rebuilt at PMNA) and it was actually fine, replaced one gear that was a little worn (2nd) and replaced the synchros. The 997 gearbox, even with the blipper, takes more of a beating, and I doubt too many people would get it to last 7 years with only a single rebuild. I know of multiple 997 drivers that have gone through multiple tranny rebuilds in a single year.
Re crew, I've done the vast majority of my races with a single crew person, as I normally register multiple groups, but 98% of the work is adding fuel, changing tires, checking tire pressures, and being on the wall with the radio, keeping me informed witch what's happening with my competitors etc. I've run many race weekends myself, with no crew at all, and if I don't have sessions too close together, it's fine. The only thing I miss is someone to check tire pressures at the wall, and letting me know gaps to competitors etc. during the race.
There are many things you likely won't need to worry about at a DE versus race that'll mean less reason to need crew help. You won't need to worry about which set of tires you'll practice on, qualify on, and race on, to be as competitive as necessary but without spending too much $$ on the tires. You won't need to have the car up on airjacks, with wet and dry tires both stacked, and wrenches sitting ready to go for swaybar adjustments, waiting to decide if you're going to go out on a wet or dry setup during changing weather. You don't need someone to call the race start, and you can make tire pressure adjustments between sessions, rather than in the hotpit lane. You don't need a crewman on the radio to let you know what's going on, to keep you calm if you're getting a little hyper or whatever. In a DE you just come in and relax if things are getting a little tense, or you've had an off, etc.
Yes you'll need a trailer since the car isn't strete legal, but that gives you the opportunity to carry some things that'll make a single person DE much easier. You can have both wet and dry tires. You can have a bottle of nitrogen for the airjacks, and an air impact wrench. You can carry a toolbox with everything you need to do brake pads and bleed brakes etc. if needed. The air-jacks and center-locks make changing tires so quick, I've literally left pregrid, driven back to my trailer, and single-handedly changed tires (ie. to rains if it starts to rain while on pre-grid), and gotten back in time to keep my grid spot.
Whether you have crew or not, you will want a good race shop to to do the work on your Cup car.
Every few weekends the pads will need to be replaced, it's easy to do yourself, it's even easier on the 996 than the 997 as you don't need to unbolt the rear calipers, all you need is a set of slipjoint pliers. Keep an eye on the rotors, esp. cracking from the outer holes to the edge, and have the shop replace the rotors when it's time (usually less than once a year in my 996 Cup).
Check your oil and brake pads and rotors every event, and every few events have fluids replaced, brake fluid flushed (I always fully replace, if they're going to bleed they're doing 90% of the work to fully flush). I also have a full nut and bolt done whenever in the shop, and alignment and corner balances redone, thinks just seem to move around a hair, even when none of the paint marks on the bolts have moved.
All that said, once you have a Cup Car (or any fully prepped race car) on track, it's very hard to go back. I've only done one DE since driving a full race car on the track, as any streetable car will be significantly softer and less precise. I thought my Dinan E34 M5 was a pretty good track car, I did many many DE's and instructed with multiple car clubs. Flat, fast, had stroked 3.9 litre straight 6 (gobs of torque, 411hp), camber plates, springs, shocks, sway bars, and I had a second set of wheels with R compound rubber.
I brought it to a BMW Club DE after racing a fully race-prepped RS America for a year. The BMW was only 3 seconds a lap slower, and significantly faster at the end of the straights and tons more torque out of the corners, but it felt like a Buick in the corners and under braking and esp. in lateral transitions. It felt so sloppy (after many years of being the quickest car at the DE) that I've never done a DE since.
I also found it incredibly frustrating to go back to waiting for point-by's etc. Your best lap at a DE (full lap without being slowed down by other traffic, all by yourself, able to do a fully clean lap) is the most boring lap in a race. I really love the stress and pressure of being competitive, and the psychological aspects of competition, trying to set up teh car in front for a pass, trying to induce them to make a mistake if you're equal enough that pure speed or braking won't get it done, keeping it together when a driver behind you is trying to do the same thing to you, etc.
I love racing a Cup, great cars, and they're spec cars - with a sealed PMNA rebuild and ECU, it's 90% driver and 10% setup that gets you the results. When I win a race, I know that I won the race, not my car or putting more go-fast bits on it. Esp. in a carefully inspected series like Pirelli Drivers Cup, all you have to play with is sway bars, wing, and tire pressures. Camber and ride height is restricted, so most everyone runs very similar setups there, and it's a spec tire.
And yes, a well-driven 996 Cup will easily take an average 997 Cup, esp. an earlier one. I finished many races in my 996 Cup ahead of 2/3 to 3/4 of the 997 field, even in competitive series like PDC. The 2010/2011 is a fair bit quicker, and at least in Pirelli Driver's Cup the average driver quality in the 2010-2011 is higher, so it's less common for the 996's to beat the 2010-2011 drivers. Of the five 2010-2011 Cups at my last race weekend (Portland Rose Cup), the top three of us had fast race laps in the first race within 23 thousandths of a second of each other. I had the fast race lap of the weekend (in the second Pirelli race), but was less than a tenth quicker than the next fastest.
Unfortunately the tricky braking I referred to above in the 997 Cup caught me out, and brake lockup caught me out in both Pirelli Drivers Cup races (front lockup and overshot turn 1 in first race, rear lockup and spun in turn 2 second race), so only finished 3rd overall in both. Too competitive a field to be able to make a mistake like that without paying the price :-)
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