What % of porsche owners race or autoX their cars?

I was just wondering how many people autoX or race their cars?? I am new to porsche ownership and look forward to auto crossing mine.

Street Drag racing here.
Regards Juan
www.geocities.com/titos88911/MY911.HTML

I don't think this site represents all Porsche owners. It represents the ones that actually work on their cars, or at least have an intrest in the mechanicals. We are probably also more inclined to race them than others would be. Myself included.

I would love to auto -x mine, but there just aren't many held up in my neck of the woods.

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Matt Chamblin
78 911 SC

I used to auto-x my 944 regularly, until I lost my license. That car's going to be sold quite soon.

I plan to do time trials, and auto-xes with my next Porsche (likely a 968). If I can afford two cars (Porsches), I will most certainly take one of them fender to fender racing as well.

I agree with RarlyL8, the percentage of the people who race/auto-x their cars on this board are probably higher, in comparison to that of all Porsche owners vs. auto-xers/racers...
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

Statistically speaking..... This site is probably not representative of all Porsche owners, most of whom would not consider racing or autocross. Now that I know about autocrossing, I'd take my '73 Datsun pickup if I didn't have the SC. And I'd get more applause than anyone. The biggest crowd pleaser at the last one (besides the debut of 'Randy's' early 911 full race project car) was a rental car! It's a BLAST!

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'83 SC

I like the big tracks. It's no fun to me unless your hitting triple digit speeds and have people to set in your cross hairs and pass!

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8 9 9 1 1, The last of the line.

I must agree with Superman, the more unusual the vehicle, the more attention it get on the autox course. see this site for one of the funniest runs I've seen: http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/bimmer/1998/09/crushing-the-cones.html

To make things worse, John finnished rather well in the 1 ton Enterprise rental van.

If your PCA chapter doesn't offer too many autocrosses in your area, check out the BMWCCA, they usually offer quite a few. I bought my p-car (yes, it's only a 914-6) for the purpose of autocrossing and advancing to club racing. Now, I just need to figure out how to drive a rear wheel drive car (and one with the engine in the back too)
http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/bimmer/1998/10/images/ax-38-600.jpg

my 924 is getting fully done over fo racing and autocrossing. it will be the most impractical vehicle this side of a DeLorean.. but it will be damn fast. racing is expensive and you can't be too attached to your car. the first thousand dollars i'm spending is actually going to make the car SLOWER (safety modifications, which add weight, but make it possible NOT to break your neck when you hit a wall). the first thing someone told me when i said i was doing a racing conversion is:

"are you willing to drive it to the track with the possibility that it may get smashed to pieces?"

autocrossing is a bit safer but a fast road racing car does not necessarily make a fast autocrossing car. if i wanted to autocross, i would not do it in a Porsche, i'd do it in a turbocharged VW GTI, or a Ford Capri. why? they are small, cheap, fairly disposable, and you can really "lean on them" without worrying about destroying it and setting your bank account back three or four figures.

though this site may be a good cross section of themore enthusiastic Porsche owners, it is not really a good place to consult Porsche race car drivers or racing teams. there are a few that regularly post here, but you will find a much larger percentage of Porsche racers on other sites. if you need the URLs e-mail me. i have literally over a hundred Porsche high performance sites bookmarked on my machine. if you need good performance or autocrossing links, i can send them to you.

good luck!

obin

I've driven the Ford Capri and I know there are quick VW GTIs. But the 914s at the autocross are, like vultures. Like circling sharks. One of them has tires perhaps two feet wide and a 2.9 liter 4-banger that seems to want to tear the car in two. A ride in that car would result in significant bruising and soreness, if it had two seats.

Nobody beats those guys. Nobody.

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'83 SC

I don't know, I've been doing quite good with my little 84 8v 944 NA...

My times are usually within 2 secs off the auto-x kings, MR-2 turbos. I usually beat miatas, which many people believe do quite good. RX-7s, and the z cars are also usually behind me. I've even beat the C-stock class leader by over 5 secs with street tires once!

Anyway, Obin, e-mail me at tazdevil82@aol.com, with a couple of the links you believe are good. I'd specially be interested in any front engined links, though mid, and rear are fine as well.

Thanks much,
Ahmet

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It's all the driver...

Superman,

yes! the 914s are autocross KINGS! i only said i'd drive a cheaper car for autocrossing because the motor parts are cheaper and there is an even larer selection of cheap and durable performance parts for autocrossing GTIs and Capris.

if cost was not an object, i'd choose a Formula Ford, Ralt-Fold, or even a 60hp turbocharged shifter kart for autocrossing.

obin

A go cart would clean up, no doubt.

Two seconds is an eternity. In high school, I ran the 100 yard dash just two seconds off the world record pace!

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'83 SC

Our local auto-x is dominated by a Formula 3000 with an aluminum Buick V8. The fastest "real" car is a pre-73 911 with a 3.6 in it (I hear you Jack). Then come the 914s.

Obin,
What kind of autocrossing are you doing that makes you worry about your engine? It is rare to find a course over 60 seconds long and you are not on the throttle for more that a few seconds at time. Hard street driving is much harder on the engine than autocrossing. Time trials or DE is WAY harder on the car than autocross.

As far as posting fast times, the driver makes a much larger difference than the car.



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Jeff Parker
72t

I used to autox the 911 but where we do it the pavement is rough and it was tearing up my tires. I bought a 1986 Toyota MR2 that was wrecked for cheap and fixed it up with junkyard parts. I have won my class (CS) everytime with it. Now that I have the MR2, I don't take the 911 anymore. I just use it for DE, which I find to be much more fun!

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E. William Reinecke
1988 Carrera Targa

jeff,

it's not so much the engine, but the gear ratios. my 924 has gear ratios that are spectacular for road racing, but absolutely crappy for autocrossing. not to mention it's a racing pattern so you pretty much have to rev the hell out of 2nd gear just so that you will end up redlining 1st gear at 30mph... otherwise you grind gears. you can autocross a 924 quite nicely, but not mine. a better 924 would be a later one such as a 1981, or a 1982 turbo.

i still say i'd autocross with a turbo shifter kart. that would RULE! the best part would be making short work out of the big-block muscle car types that show up to autocrosses and beating them with a vehicle that could fit in their trunk!

obin

My first autocross last year was in my 1992 Acura Integra GS-R. I would not like to run a larger car than that. Miatas clean up here, but there was another first-timer that finished top-of-the-stack, in a 1990 C2. I plan to bum a ride from him next year...

I'm fortunate to live in an area (near Seattle) where there have been autocross events every other weekend from sring to early fall for the past few years. While many of these events are held in wet conditions, this has proven to be a good learning tool for car control. I believe the learning curve for autocross is higher than for track work, even though the seat time per event is much less. The payoff for lots of events and seat time autocrossing is that your instincts will be honed so in emergency situations you won't do the wrong thing. You will also be driving at 10/10ths and will find the limits of the 911 platform repeatedly so that eventually you will be able to do things with this car that you previously thought impossible to do in any car. This is the beauty of this car we all love. By the way, I prefer this board to all others I have visited - a very helpful spirit and friendly folks. Thanks for having me.

Randy