As of about noon today, I am without a Porsche for the first time since I bought a 1986 944 back in August of 1997.
On the afternoon of Sunday, July 5th of this year, I was driving the 996 at Road America, and having quite the fun time. Heading into turn 5 the motor blew
Dissection of the motor (by Roger at Autotherapy) reveals a failed freeze plug in the driver's side cylinder head and a failed #1 rod bearing. The current theory is that the freeze plug failed, that allowed rapid movement of coolant into places it shouldn't be, and the displacement of oil by coolant led to failure of the bearing. I got off the track pretty quick after I saw the smoke, but maybe it doesn't take too long for this sort of thing to happen.
Having recently put a ton of money into the motor, I decided I wasn't going down that road again. I sold the car as a roller.
My son is on schedule to get his bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 2022. Maybe at that time I will get back into the Porsche game. But it ain't happening any time soon. I did take money I got for the 996 and put it toward a 2017 GTI, so at least I will have a reasonably entertaining daily driver
F***ing cars!