Planet 9

**K-Man S** · #1 06-24-2007, 04:53 AM

I promised I would upload this video from yesterday's track session so I am doing so in basically the raw footage dumped from the camera sans any editing and converted to a 720p WMV file to get it down to 100mb. The video was shot with my Sony HDR-HC1 camcorder that shoots in HD but the files are so large that I have to convert them down at least a bit to make them even remotely manageable. This video is a little over 9 minutes long.

The video starts with me waiting on the viper and turbo to come down to the staging area. The viper zips down and heads out and I don't have my helmet on yet! The turbo waits for me and it turns out the viper slowed on the entry way so we all headed out onto the track. Both of the other two drivers are seasoned guys and neither of them has stock cars. The Viper is generating somewhere close to 600hp now, has dropped some weight, and picked up some new electronics. The Turbo is on Motons and the Turbo has been "tweaked' as well although its owner won't say just exactly how much. I *think* everyone was on Michelin Pilot Sport Cups, obviously of different sizes.

The first thing that is evident is that the video starts out noisy, my windows are down, but I asked ahead of time if I could run windows up for a couple of laps to capture what it truly sounds like in my car at the track. No one on this website other than those who have been to the track with me have ever heard this before so you are in for a treat when I roll the windows up. Later I roll them down, it was getting too hot, so when I do you'll hear it get full of wind noise, sorry nothing I could do about that. You'll probably also notice that I am running up on the turbos butt some, I don't mean to, but my car is outbraking either of the other two cars, of course both of them are out accelerating me.

So sit back and watch the laps go by. I do need to explain one little "incident" which was TOTALLY my fault. At one point I was gaining on the viper and saw a shot at close the gap further and set myself up for an agressive line through turn 5, however, BING my low fuel light goes off, I glance at it, miss my apex turn in point and end up dropping a couple of wheels off track. So in Forza style I plow through and get back on losing some valuable time. At that point no use in trying to run down the Viper any longer, I don't have enough fuel to do so and it is time to come in.

A whole heck of a lot of fun and hopefully gives others a feel for what it is like in a Cayman "GT" on the track.

PLEASE RIGHT CLICK ON THIS LINK AND SAVE AS, DO NOT PLAY FROM THE SERVER. RIGHT CLICK REPEAT RIGHT CLICK AND SAVE THIS LINK:

http://www.planet-9.com/files/CaymanTurboViper.wmv

Enjoy! Your Comments and Criticisms welcome.

**Coupe-de-Gras** · #2 06-24-2007, 05:11 AM

Very very nice Ken! Your engine sounds really good.

ygfamily21 · #3 06-24-2007, 05:38 AM

nice video... u almost had him(the viper)~!! lol

douzzer · #4 06-24-2007, 05:52 AM

If you're gonna drive that hard, in a car that hot, it's time you got some proper driving gloves! And an Alcantara wheel, for that matter.

Crying shame about the fuel alert and off track excursion -- by that point in the video I wanted the Viper kill as badly as you did.

We'll all be waiting to hear what's up with cylinder 2 (2 right?) and the Milltek's cats.

Oh another thing: I just set up my GTimer2 and had some fun with it. The thing works right on the money. Reports 174hp on my GTI, with a K&N on it, versus OEM spec 172hp. (It only manages only .85g, but that's on ContiExtremeContact four season tires so we'll blame that:-)

It would be awesome if we could see the two axis G meter in the video. Maybe if you zoom in a wee nip and change the shutter mode it would be readable (benefit of running in HD). That would be like the F1 television coverage! The GT2 is worth at least twice what we're paying for them

.

Oh yeah, and for audio: what you want is an outboard mic and a big foam windscreen on it. Total outlay under $50 if you're smart about it.

**juurdane** · #5 06-24-2007, 05:57 AM

nice drive; the GT3 just gave up!. One question: how fast were you in the main straight?; I see the RMP dial almost at the end in 90% of the track!

russian porsche · #6 06-24-2007, 07:03 AM

awsome video

it looks like your brakes are better then the vipers cause every turn you'd slow down later then he did, and you could definetly tell that cayman outhandles the viper no prob, towards the end of each lap you would really get close to him because of all those tight corners, but then he blasts out in the straight. Imagine 50 more hp and I think you'd pass him within 2 laps easy. Great job it looked like lots of fun

Urban Assault Vehicle · #7 06-24-2007, 12:13 PM

WOW

great driving

was that a 996 or 997 turbo?

**K-Man S** · #8 06-24-2007, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by douzzer

If you're gonna drive that hard, in a car that hot, it's time you got some proper driving gloves! And an Alcantara wheel, for that matter.

My palms don't sweat and my hands don't slip so I'm still trying to figure out what the advantage of a set of gloves is.

Oh yeah, and for audio: what you want is an outboard mic and a big foam windscreen on it. Total outlay under $50 if you're smart about it.

If Sony had only made it that easy for this camera, still waiting on a compatible outboard mic...

**K-Man S** · #9 06-24-2007, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by Urban Assault Vehicle

WOW

great driving

was that a 996 or 997 turbo?

Modified 996 Turbo, the only 997 at the track was a 997 C2S. Oh wait there was a 997 C2S Cab in run group 1 come to think of it a very pretty red one.

basch · #10 06-24-2007, 02:19 PM

Thanks for sharing that.

I can't watch in-car videos like this anymore without hearing "I will get you my nemesis!" You must have at least thought that, right?

**K-Man S** · #11 06-24-2007, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by basch

Thanks for sharing that.

I can't watch in-car videos like this anymore without hearing "I will get you my nemesis!" You must have at least thought that, right?

Actually no, but now that you mention it, I'll probably think that next time out...

**K-Man S** · #12 06-24-2007, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by juurdane

nice drive; the GT3 just gave up!. One question: how fast were you in the main straight?; I see the RMP dial almost at the end in 90% of the track!

It was a 996 Twin Turbo not a GT3, and he didn't give up he realized he was holding me up and losing ground to the Viper so he let me pass so I could go after the Viper and he could follow my lines and try to keep up. In April his Turbo was faster than my Cayman, now my Cayman is faster than his Turbo, all depends on the tweaks and setup.

As for the RPM, good catch, at the top of the hill/hump at Alpha Zero I am redlining in 4th gear. How fast is that? I don't know I'm not looking down at the speedo to find out!

When I hit redline there I back off a little and set up for braking. I "could" shift into 5th but honestly don't want to as I don't need to go that much faster there only to have to drop down 2 gears into 3rd to make the turn as opposed to 1 gear (4th to 3rd) to do it. Call me lazy or whatever, and yeah maybe a little more time improvement to be had there but it would be a lot of work and if you get it wrong the results at a point where your car is unloaded at that speed could be disasterous, so yeah, I'm playing it "safe". Someone please go look up the max speed in 4th gear I think that's in the FAQ...

If not it should be...

Ok looked it up here: http://www.planet-9.com/faq.php?fa...#faq_gearspeed

Says 125 maxed in 4th gear and that seems about right to me as the fastest I've been through there is 130 in 5th gear when I did short shift a little early one time to try it. Also my students were going through there at about 110 in 4th gear and they had more RPMs to go. I know some cars that are hitting 140 at that point like the Viper.

alex@princeton · #13 06-24-2007, 05:32 PM

[QUOTE=K-Man S;156243]My palms don't sweat and my hands don't slip so I'm still trying to figure out what the advantage of a set of gloves is.

could be to keep from the shuffle steering

sorry couldn't resist,

this way a great video to watch. I sometime wish i could run with the windows up to see about aero savings for better speed down the strieghts but not around here i guess. the video is so fun to watch and see how the cars handle the turns and braking zones

thanks alot for shaing

Fiebru · #14 06-24-2007, 05:55 PM

That Viper wasn't bad at all on the turns. I figured you would catch him at some point, but it didn't happen. I understand he had the advantage on the straight aways, but it wasn't as much as I expected. It's pretty amazing how well you did on the straight aways. I did notice how the Turbo was slowing you down on the turns right from the start.

Fiebru · #15 06-24-2007, 05:59 PM

BTW, one of the best track videos so far.

Thanks!

***DaveN007*** · #16 06-24-2007, 07:34 PM

I have learned from the instructors at several BMW track events that how well a Porsche driver does is a function of how lousy the other drivers are. The Viper driver was really lousy.

**winchester21** · #17 06-24-2007, 08:33 PM

really enjoyed wathcing-- great stuff- can't believe how well you outbraked the others.. Thanks for posting.

mojozone · #18 06-24-2007, 08:46 PM

Great stuff, Ken. Interesting that you didn't even make your tires sing until you got around the Turbo. Definely bigger radius turns and better flow. Thanks for sharing. Mike

Ghost Rider · #19 06-25-2007, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by DaveN007

I have learned from the instructors at several BMW track events that how well a Porsche driver does is a function of how lousy the other drivers are. The Viper driver was really lousy.

I've never driven a Viper, but I'm guessing it's a bit harder than a Cayman to use all of its potential.

Ghost Rider · #20 06-25-2007, 12:27 AM

BTW, Ken, I think your driving skills have improved even more than your car has. I don't think any 2.7 Boxsters will be passing you!

On the other hand, I can't see the alleged low fuel light come on in the video.