Looking for advice on next steps
 

Hi everyone!

I was lucky enough to attend the PCA driving clinic at summit point in my 944S and had the greatest time ive ever had in any car! I met a lot of great people and my instructors were awesome.

I have since been thinking about how I can get back to track but safety has been one of my biggest concerns. At the clinic, Steve Wilson pointed out that my car was smoking down the straight and Zach from ASG took it for a spin and confirmed a burning oil smell. Since the clinic I got under the car and poked around. I believe I have 3 oil leaks that are close or above the exhaust that are contributing to the smoke/smell: rear main seal/oil pan, lower balance shaft plug, and valve cover gasket as well as sparkplug wells.

I recently moved and no longer have a good area to tackle big jobs like the rear main seal so I'll have to get a shop to do that. If I used this car I would also like to replace the rod bearings for peace of mind. My 944 has about 120k miles on it with a top end rebuild about 15k miles ago when I got it.

My goal is to have a car that will be safe and reliable for DEs/autocross. I would like hans, harness, seat, and roll bar for the track but not a full cage since I would still like to drive the car on the street. I don't care about power, just a safe/fun platform for me to continue learning on. I saw on the dorki marketplace 944s and e36s that had everything I wanted and would come out to be less costly than me building my 944 up.

My space/budget doesn't allow me to have a tow setup and also limits my tinkering (brakes, wheel bearings, suspension, alignment, etc are ok; full engine rebuilds, clutch (at least on a 944), etc are not). My budget is around $7k up front and about $6k annually for maintenance/consumables/fees. I am wondering what more experienced people here would do. Build up my current 944, go for an already prepped car, or I don't have the budget/resources to get into this :(

Thanks!
Nick

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Street car is preferable for students at least through Green and Blue. Any "safety" you add for track will too some extent compromise safety on the street, let alone race seats may not be the most comfortable or easy access for street use. Sort the leaks, go to DEs and Autox and have fun with the car.
Dirk

Sorry, but the answer is always Miata....

I have not one second regretted buying my Miata. It's still -barely- allowed on the street, thus on antique plates, which means that if need be, and regularly do so, I drive it topless (haha, I know). The seats are comfortable enough for a 3 hour drive, would not advise the trip to VIR.

YMMV.

The reliability will be more complicated and expensive than the 1st level safety side. The 944's aren't getting any younger and they are not cheap to maintain.

For my 944, it was seats, redline bar, reinforced front control arms, harnesses (and later on HANS). The seats and redline bar (harnesses too, but I' sure they are expired) are sitting in my basement, so let me know if you are interested in them.

My biggest decision drivers are safety and financials. I am more than willing to compromise on street comfort to gain more comfort through safety devices on the track. I understand that using harnesses on the street can increase risk so if I could run a 3 point on the street and harness/HANS at the track that would seem ideal to me.

If this points me to Miata then that is no problem for me, I hear they are amazing fun too! The only downside would be PCA events, I'm not sure if I would be able to participate.

John, thank you for the offer, I will send a PM to follow up!

all marques are welcome, except Miatas are still banned right??

X2 Excellent recommendation here!

This is the approach I took. My upgrades were safety first (roll bar, harnesses, Hans, seats) and then I started doing handling upgrades and now performance upgrades. I still have the 3 points and use them on the street and only use the harnesses on the track. The stiff suspension and zero toe is more annoying for street driving than the seats, IMO.

As for build vs buy, you almost always save money buying someone else’s upgraded toy but they didn’t necessarily make the part choices you might make and you won’t learn how the upgrades affect the car and your driving inputs if you don’t have before/after deltas.

For example, I started on pilot super sports, then went to 200TW tires, and this year I’m trying r-comps for the first time. Each jump has allowed me to gradually explore and expand my limits in a manner that I felt was beneficial and safe, whereas if I had started on r-comps right away, I probably would have gotten overconfident in my abilities and had a lot more incidents.

I also started autocross the first year and a half I started DEs. I felt that allowed me to really explore limits in a safe manner because a screw up means you hit a cone, not a barrier or trees.

Ask those in the know about the proper care and feeding of #2 bearing!

Real good points here. I didn't think about the gradual progression vs jumping in.

I just see the cost of fixing up my currently stock 944, adding track safety and then seeing other cars that have engine refreshes, safety, plus reliability upgrades for just a little more.