elfer.

These are my favourite pics of the GTS in the absence of any action during the winter. Low res, but who cares.

Charger hooked up. About time.

So far it looks like the charger’s doing a great job! Happy.

After some searching I found the original evo review of the 997 GTS. Here it is! #997 #997gts

Over the next three weeks I'll have to make the car ready for its three-month winter break, since the car cannot legally be driven on summer tires between 1 December to 1 March. Check-list to go through: - Fill up petrol; this is to minimize risk of moisture/condensation in the tank. Apparently it will also keep seals from drying out. I am not too convinced about the need for fuel stabilizers. The temperature in the garage is likely to be quite stable. - Check tire pressures. Most sources online talk about raising the tire pressure to 50psi or 3.5 bar. This is obviously clearly above what the normal range is (2.3 - 2.5 bar) but is needed to avoid any flatspotting. A good idea may be to roll the vehicle once a month forward or backward a little bit. - Wash and wax the car, wheels. Drive around before putting the car in to storage to get rid of any moisture in brakes etc. - Clean and vacuum interior. Remove all items from the car (chewing gum etc) - Battery. Either disconnect or get a trickle charger. I will need to look at the options for a battery charger (e.g. CTEK) but the availability of a socket in the garage. Other pointers - Cover exhaust pipes if there are mice (the car cover should prevent this) A couple of good links: http://www.rspmotorsports.com/winter-storage-tips.html http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1045929&page=3 http://rennlist.com/forums/997-forum/598020-winter-storage-checklist-thread-2.html

Stuttgart

There is one potential modification that may materialize next year and that would be lowering springs. I’ve thought about the TechArt lowering springs for some time (a 30mm drop) which would most likely be fine with the current dampers. Cosmetically it would be a massive improvement and dynamically the feedback is vastly positive. My main hesitation is that driving around the city will become slightly more cumbersome. Speed bumps will probably become a bit of an issue. But let’s see ...

- Alastaro track specifics. The track is a mix of tight (near 180 degree turns) that require heavier braking with a couple of higher speed corners that require just a light touch of the brake. 

I have now hit 50 000 kilometres. The car had around 43k when I bought it, so I have still put only around 500km per month since then. Looking forward to the next 50k!

Dirty front wheel.

// In July I took the GTS on track. It's the first time I have ever driven properly on track. My main hope for the day was to get to know the car, the track and gradually build up speed and experience ... and ofcourse to have fun! The track is Botnia Ring, a 4-kilometre circuit near Vaasa in Finland. It's an approximately four hour drive from Helsinki. Following its extension in 2014 it's now got X turns. I like the track a lot. Obviously I do not have many other references but I thought there was a good mix of high-speed straights and corners coupled with some tight turns. And in no way too intimidating or too fast for somebody learning the track. I didn't keep track of the exact laps (too much fiddling with Harry's Laptimer) but think I ended up with 25-30 laps during our four hour slot. Below some of my observations from the day: Progress and finding the driving line Watching the videos of my driving lines I can see massive areas of improvement. Particularly for the chicane, the last corner (before starting line) and the first corner (turning into the main straight). Had I co-driven with somebody more experienced (or watched videos of other people before the track day) I could probably have corrected this earlier. There are plenty of good YouTube videos of faster cars and watching these give a good idea of the fastest line. They help a lot so keep this in mind next time when you are driving a new track or revisiting Botnia Ring. I am fairly well briefed on the theory of how to approach a corner but one good reference to look closer at is Vic Elford's book. Grip and getting to know the car There is an incredible amount of grip. It may sound obvious for those used to driving a 911 but there is so much grip in the dry from the 305s at the back - even if they are Pirelli P Zeros rather than Michelin Cup 2s. For the first hour or two the track was wet, which was a good chance to try to push the rear out. Only once did I end up with the wheels on the gravel on the inside corner. In general I braked early and tried to focus more on carrying speed quickly out of the corner. I think next time the focus should be on gradually approaching the corner with more speed and braking harder. That will give a chance to explore how the turn in feels. Given the bias towards weight in the rear of the 911, braking hard will bring some of this weight forward, which in theory should improve the balance if turning before lifting the brake. Keep this in mind. Gear shifts and being clueless I did not give gear shifts much thought and given my slow entry in to the corner I mostly downshifted one gear at a time down into the second gear. This because I enjoy double-clutching and now had the time to throw in an extra gear change. Had I approached the corners more aggressively I would have skipped changes and gone have into second directly. That said, the second gear felt too low in some corners. By eventually carrying more speed through the corners I don't think second gear will be useful given it redlines at around 100 km/h. In street driving I would not downshift to second gear after ~75 km/h and I often found that the gear would end far too soon when exiting a corner. It might be a good idea to read about how to think about gear shifts in corners. Heel and toe is obviously what professionals do to get revs matched up but for now feels very challenging and requires plenty of practice. Other observations My sensation was that after a lap or two and getting some heat into the tyres I could feel much more "roll" in that the car and the tyres feeling noticeably softer. Again, I have zero experience of the difference in feel from semi-slicks versus normal tyres but I would imagine Cup 2s to be firmer given their stronger sidewall (check). There was some surprising noise from the brakes in some corners on three or four occasions during the four hour session. I can not attribute this to any specific part but it felt like a strong resonating noise from the front brakes, particularly the driver's side. If this pops up again, look into this. The car had its four-year major service done at a Porsche Centre three weeks ago and a 111-point check at another centre two months ago so I do expect everything to be in shape.

All in all, not an expensive job. The auxiliary belt is around 200 euros and the vacuum pipe around 130 euros.