Always wanted to try the GT3 bars, never got around to it! 996 Vs Cayman, I'd say the 996 is a lot more raw and a lot more rowdy. More feel through the steering too. It definitely feels like it has one foot firmly in the old school, and one foot in the modern world. And of course the 911 weight distribution. The Cayman still has that core DNA, and still communicates well through the wheel and your butt. But it feels very much like a modern car, but a modern analog car. It has a whole lot more suspension refinement and you can lean on it a lot harder without it biting you. That's pretty much just an incremental Porsche thing. Though I will say when it does snap big, it's a bit less forgiving than a big snap in the 996. Stock shifter is waaaaay better in the Cayman though. And an LSD is nice to have!.

@@DeanoTXR53 Yeah, the LSD is something the 996 really needs. Funny you mentioned the shifter, I was having lots of issues with 2nd gear. I adjusted the shifter and it's a dream, also a bit cheaper than replacing the gear and syncro. I thought the rear engine would be way different, but it is really predictable and tossable.

Hey! I know the M2 looks pretty wild from outside the drivers seat, but it was actually a frustrating car in many ways. And it was completely boring on the street 😅. It just felt like a run of the mill 2 series. Except it had more grip, brakes, and an LSD that made the car want to go sideways on corner exit. Which makes it look exciting, but the reality is that the car hated to turn. It hated to be trail braked. Understeer on entry was always a problem, even with 275 fronts. And all the controls are so numb you never really knew how close you were to the front end limits on entry. So the only thing you could do was under-drive entry and then use the torque to rotate on exit. Looks exciting... but it gets old. And you waste exit traction by using it for rotation. Plust, the M2 didn't really sound like anything (putting a mic on the license place makes videos sound good, but it's nothing like that from the driver seat unfortunately). Well, initially it sounds like a bad driving simulator, but I disabled the fake engine noise over the speakers which made it quieter but at least not fake. The 981 is an absolute joy by comparison. Really, there is no comparison. Completely different league as a drivers car. LOVES trail braking. Always communicates how much grip you have at each corner. You can be millimeter precise with entry, achieving rotation early in the corner, and then leaning on the traction on the way out. It sounds glorious IRL. 10x better than the M2. No fake noises. And you get a crazy resonance from both of the side intakes under hard acceleration that is amazing. Like, laugh out loud amazing. And it is an absolute joy to drive at low speeds. Feels properly special even in bumper to bumper traffic. The shifter is amazing, the steering feels much better, and there are a bunch of little mechanical noises from the engine bay right behind your head. Meanwhile the m2 just feels like... an overly sound insulated passenger sedan 99% of the time, with a rubbery weird shifter. I never wanted to just drive the M2 on back roads for the fun of it. Which was surprising to me. That said, you can fit 4 tires and a weekend's worth of stuff in the M2 and sit at 90mph on cruise control as you drive 500+ miles to various tracks or autox. So it's not all bad. But I'd still rather be in the 981 on those trips, purely out of personal preference. I have slightly too small font tires on the 981 right now, so that makes it prone to some understeer on exit and probably makes it seem boring on video. But even still, I'm having so much more fun now. It's so far from boring. I'm having a ton of fun again instead of feeling frustrated and held back. And I feel like I'm able to practice better skills in this car. The M2 was so limited in what it would do, that you have to limit yourself as a driver to the couple of things it likes. Meanwhile the 981 feels like a scalpel that is ready to do whatever you want it to. Truly, no comparison between the two. Hope that helps haha

@@DeanoTXR53 I definitely get it - from your driving it 100% looked like the M2 was super prone to being overdriven - not in a dangerous way, just in an annoyingly compromised way. Just watching your videos made me reconsider going for an M2C over the 981, you can blatantly see the handling characteristics. I'm surprised to hear you say it was boring on the street though, I felt like the one bonus the M2 has is being able to be an absolute hooligan with the LSD, but it definitely is an oddly unbalanced car. And I wouldn't say the 981 looks boring here, it just looks waay more balanced and neutral. If you have no idea what's going on, sure it looks fairly tame I guess. Totally agree about the sound, all of the videos I watched seemed to sound great, but actually driving the OG M2 it was waaay quieter and way more distant sounding..? Regardless of valves. Not at all as interesting as many made it seem unless you were absolutely ripping. I really want to test drive a 981 with PSE though. My main concern with the 981 is getting it up to track spec, I hear cooling is pretty bad in these models, at least compared to the M2C and base 718 (the only two other cars I'm considering). But I imagine it's not an issue for autox? Likewise with suspension, but at least the ceiling is fairly high if you're willing to spend. Plus you never have to worry about shaving weight. Anyways that's very good to hear since I was relatively unimpressed with the M2 when I drove it, helps a ton!

@@Ellie-rp3fw I was expecting a hooligan personality on the street too! But where I live there really aren't roads where you can slide it around responsibly. And when the M2 isn't sliding, it just feels like a 2 series with more grip and power :/ On a skidpad it's hilarious fun. So easy my grandma could do one handed sideways laps. But then when you're actually on track or autox looking to post a time, the hooligan becomes a bit of a nuisance. It's not the scalpel you want it to be. It drives more like an old school muscle car than a 1LE does. Which is kinda crazy and unexpected

As Tav would say, I bought the "wrong transmission" for timed competition 🤣

@@DeanoTXR53 but at least you have the right car!

Moar fun than the M2 now?

Data said it was worth a couple tenths! Hard to tell how universal that would be with the pretty unconventional gearing in this car

Yep, Bowie Baysox! PCA Chesapeake and Potomac both run here these days

🤣that's awesome! You must have bought it from Eric? Such a fun car. Are you in local as well?

@@DeanoTXR53 Sure did. Somewhat local, I work downtown. It's torn apart right now, a few of the coolant fittings failed and I'm fixing a few oil leaks, replacing the AOS, (UAOS) lots of hoses, tune-up, multifunction switch. It's quite fun to drive. I can't wait to get it back together and get to an autocross.

@@Zombiestig Awesome, glad to see it getting some TLC! Always good to refresh the AOS. I did one in 2017 around 87k miles. Wish UAOS was around back then. Hope to see it out at an event sometime!

@@DeanoTXR53 You set this thing up really well! 1 second off FTD on my first outing with it!

Smell was intense! Hahaha. Pretty antisocial in stop and go traffic. Couldn't drive to work in the AM with the windows down or else I'd smell like unfiltered exhaust all day. Also would get in all my clothes and be pretty annoying during a day at autox/track with a lot of time spent in grid with the engine running. My wife could smell me the moment I walked in the door haha. It's a wild sound. But honestly I think it sounds a little lower pitched with the big diameter pipes of the FVD hatless pipe. Subjectively I think the best sound was with the Top Gear 200 cell cats with the smaller diameter pipes (they offered 2 sizes back then). People would tell me my car sounded like a GT3. Heck, 2 weeks ago I was chatting with a guy who still remembered how my 996 sounded. Plus the smaller diameter pipes (higher flow velocity at low rpm) & 200 cell cats stopped the car from losing what felt like 50hp under 4k rpm. So overall a big win in combo with the muffler cans from Fister. There is a video from fall 2020 on my channel from when I was telling the 996 that has cold start, and interior/exterior back road driving. I think it gives as nicely accurate idea of that setup!

Thanks so much for the detailed reply! Much appreciated. Was there any smell at all with the Top Gear 200 Cell Cats? Saw that video, was great. Were you just running 200 Cell Cats + Fister cans? Based on your videos, I'm planning on doing the gundo here locally and then amping up the sound with 200 cell cats.@@DeanoTXR53

Would have been fantastic if the weather had held up! Or if I had the correct tires. You coming to the Jan 13th event?

Video is deceptive, this is a really civilized setup. No louder than a stock Porsche Sports Exhaust from this era. Zero drone around town or on the highway. Stock non-PSE exhaust was barely audible from inside the car

@@DeanoTXR53 I have to wait another 3 years before I can mess with the exhaust system. I have a 2000 and get emission tests every year until the car is 25 years old.

It is really not loud inside. Especially under normal cruising.

Are Soul doing x-pipes yet? I messaged them a few years ago and they were completely uninterested. They only wanted to do crossover pipes because they said they "sounded better" which is totally subjective. I never liked crossover pipes when I had them, too gruff. My car had an x-pipe and the difference for me was huge

And this was the run where I had the most grip by far 😅

I talk about this a little in my description. I never put it on a dyno, but unequivocally it was way worse than stock under 4k RPM. Genuinely felt like it lost 30 HP and had some strange low RPM (when applying more than maybe 40% throttle) judders that felt like an awful misfire. However above 4k RPM the engine really sang and felt like it gained 30hp and pulled great to 7k. Catless pipe absolutely sucked on the street and autocross, but it was great on track. Though noise was never an issue. I ended up switching to a TopGear 200 cell x-pipe (smaller diameter for higher pitched sound and better flow velocity) and this was a real joy to drive because it was no longer slower than a Miata under 4k rpm. There are videos of that setup on here

@@DeanoTXR53 thats kinda what im scared about spending the money and not being satisfied with the results especially driving in town but dam it sounds nice! Maybe i should go with the same setup as you did and to top it off i live in California so maybe cat delete isn't the way to go . Thank you for your feed back i will look for your other videos 👍

It was pretty brutal from the outside haha. Remarkably civilized inside when you were driving normally. And it never droned. Never. My new M2 had freeway drone in stock form until I disabled the fake stereo engine sounds

It was an awesome shifter! There was a guy on the forums who would modify eBay short shifters to fix some of their problems and also to have ball bearings. I'd definitely recommend his shifters. I think he has kept evolving them, try googling "Ben's short shifter" or "Ben Auto Design"

Absolutely zero drone or weird noises! It was quiet and civilized at low RPM (from inside) and exactly as loud as you want it to be when you're going hard. This car was replaced with an M2. In sport mode with the factory exhaust, the M2 is more boomy than the 996 was and has unpleasant bad bassy resonances during normal driving or highway cruising... but is actually quieter than the 996 when you're on it 100%. Despite having engine sounds artificially piped in through the stereo and the 996 was all natural. Go figure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

To be totally honest, I really don't like it haha. But I do like being classed competitively and having an LSD, both of which the 996 lacked. And I like the lack of stress/worry about breaking something very expensive (the engine). But if I wasn't trying to do some champ tour events and go to solo nationals, I'd probably sell it. Too much tech, no feel or feedback. But it's a very forgiving car. I feel like anyone could jump in it and do infinite one handed skidpad drift laps

Thank you sir!

Thanks! I hope the new owner is enjoying it haha. Setup is different from 2 years ago. Love the sound of the Fister mufflers, had them on the car through 3 different cat setups. Setup from 2 years ago was the FVD catless x-pipe. Crazy loud, but only on-throttle. I think the modded OEM cans is key to no drone, never had any with any of my cat setups. 3rd party mufflers just never seem to be as sophisticated at killing drone as a fister, no matter the price. The only problem with the FVD catless X pipe was lack of flow velocity (what people call back pressure) at low RPM that made the car feel like it lost 50 hp below 4k rpm. Luckily it felt like it gained 40 hp above that and wanted to rip to redline like an S2000 vs the kind of flat top end of the stock 3.6. It sounded glorious, but was really not great to drive unless you were on track. Current setup is the Top Gear 200 Cell X-pipe (the smaller diameter, not the big bore version). This was perfect. Nice and loud when you're on it, never obnoxious. No noticeable power loss at low RPM and a nice pull all the way to 7k. Perfect compromise. I miss it every day haha

@@DeanoTXR53 Thanks for the great review of the different setup you had. Did the car sell to locally? Based on the license tag you had on it, looks like the car was in the DMV area as well. I intend to switch my muffler to Fisters once I find a used oem core. Hopefully, my setup along with a Fister will have the same result as your last setup.

996 c2, no need for 4wd on these! Narrow body C2 is even great in the show with the right tires. This is on RE71R, stock size wheels and rear tires, but I crammed 255/35 fronts on. Which is entertaining (as you can see haha) but not that fast. Later on I disconnected the rear sway which biases back some grip to the rears. This was much better and I could actually be aggressive and trail brake how a 911 likes, vs just trying to under-drive the front tires to keep the rear from drifting everywhere. I did have Ohlin's coilovers so the springs themselves are nearly 996 GT3 stiff so that makes disconnecting the rear sway more palatable

Actually I'm wrong. This video was the first autox with the rear sway disconnected and me trying to get used to a car I could be aggressive with again. RU-vid's weird comment threads made me think you had commented on the FCA autox from Oct 2019. The car was bananas difficult back then haha

This was me trying to keep it neat and tidy haha

super fun! defnintely recommend it if you're in the area. only complaint is a mid track-crest in places that creates weird cambers

Now that I've learned how to drive it, I love it. But it was frustrating at first for sure. It's extremely front camber limited and tends to understeer unless you drive it on it's nose to get the rear rotating. Once you adjust to that and get a good alignment, it's an absolute blast. It's tricky to drive fast, but that just means it forces you to learn to be a much better driver to go fast. I was going to only keep it for 2 years and 20-30k miles and sell it... Im on year 3 and 40k miles with no end in sight. I'd definitely hold out for a car with a diff or the x51 engine package, especially a 40th anniversary edition as those can actually be competitive in AS. Anything you do to lower the car from the ludicrously high US spec ride height will bump you straight to ASP, which sucks because who wants to run an ASP prepped car (no one apparently, the class is dead here)? IMHO only the 40th anniversary editions, 4S, turbos and GT3 all sit at an appropriate ride height for these cars from stock.

You rolling any video during your runs?

Thanks man! I honestly could not believe it. I think cracking the 43s in an air-cooled car that is not a wide-body on enormous tires is seriously impressive driving!

Also, congrats on fatherhood!

Sure, it's a GoPro Hero 3 Black. Overall I think Im disappointed in this camera. Battery life is atrocious and it really is not very sharp. I had to use GoPro's software to really crank up the sharpness to acceptable levels. I kind of wonder what the point of a 720 or 1080p camera if its not going to be sharp enough to matter.

I can see what you mean, looking at the dashboard lines and gauges. Was this with the in-camera microphone? If so, that is impressive.

Yet another weak point on the GoPro haha. Its internal mic tends to pick up just wind noise above 30-40mph. I really wanted to be able to understand when I was getting on/off the throttle during each corner so I bought an external lav mic on amazon for cheap. It works awesome with a micover cover to block the wind.

It was a while ago, but the mic was either a Audio-Technica ATR-3350 or a Movo GM100. The Movo is what Im using these days as it doesnt require a battery. Camera is just a gopro hero 3 black I think

+dknight1288 I had some maintenance throttle on when the slide started and I didn't let off from that point. Since it oversteered on entry my first reflex was to try and use the rotation and then hold it, but my initial correction was not quite enough... and then hilarity ensued. Im just glad I missed the metal drain in the dirt there

Sound advice. I was always an open visor guy, but have had several bits of rubber come up off the road through my window teach me that visor down is the way to go. Kudos to the driver for maintaining his calm during that spin.

+marshall lytle Oddly, In all my times out at Summit this is the first time I've had anyone say anything about that. Maybe that's because I've yet to run with the SCCA

Yep, running street tires. Yokohama S Drives if I recall correctly