today was track day with the X5 and 996 C4S!

[crosvs]

So my last final -- civ pro -- was Monday night from 6-9. I left San Diego at 940, and arrived in Santa Barbara at 1040 (!). Slept at 3, woke up at 6 (never stay with a girl if you need to get to sleep early and have to get up early lol), arrived in SF by 1130 or so, left for the track at 7 PM with Dad, arrived by 9, woke up at 530, tracked from 8 AM until about 4 PM.

So suffice to say I'm far too exhausted to go into detail right now.

(Recap: today's event was at the 3.0 mile Thunderhill Raceway course, www.thunderhill.com)

But now... would you like the good news or the bad news first?

Let's go with the bad news:

The X5 was absolutely BRILLIANT -- for the one lap I had her out there Simply put, the brakes were cooked after just *ONE* lap. Like, the brake fluid boiled to the point where the brakes were unusable for a few hours, and even now, I still need to get the system bled cuz the brakes are really squishy.

Now the good news:

So the fastest lap I ever got with my V6 track-prepped 2000 Mustang (3000 lb, track-tuned suspension, a few go-faster bits here and there) was a 2:21. That was set after nearly a day of practice, and with no passenger.

Today. On my first lap out with the X5. I clocked an *AMAZING* 2:24. Can we say HELLYEAH?! GO X5!!

Anyway, thought you guys would like hearing that I am confident that with the 4.8 brake kit, and a few more laps of practice, I could nudge that thing down to around 2:20 or so. Anyway, as for the actual handling of the car, it really was amazing: almost like a Sunday drive out there: totally drama free; the sports-auto mode worked AMAZINGLY, always making sure I was in exactly the gear I would have manually shifted into if I were driving, not only for accelerating, but also for holding gears around turns, and even for downshifting under braking ... and the suspension was just ... AMAZING! Granted, I could tell I was tossing around almost 5,000 lbs of car, but it didn't matter ... it was a blast and honestly, I'm pleased to say that if I *DID* have proper brakes for it, I'd have kept tossing it around all day long ... SO much fun to push to its limits!!

Ok now for some more bad news:

Due to the fact that the X5 ran only one lap, I only have one in-car lap shot -- obviously. And unfortunately, I wasn't able to set up the reverse chase-cam to get my Dad's 996 C4S.

HOWEVER: I *DID* buddy up with this guy who had a tricked out Subaru WRX Sti (unfortunately running on WINTER tires lol) how reversed HIS camera and I was able to keep up with him and so I've got 20 mins of reverse chase-cam footage of the Porsche in which we are both driving pretty flat out ... so if any of you are interested ....... check back soon

Speaking of "flat out" -- I actually managed to out-drive the Porsche: the tires finally overheated to the point of me finally nearly losing it, and then almost IMMEDIATELY thereafter, my front brakes finally just gave out.

COMPLETELY.

Oh, and another weird thing: the paint around the exhaust pipes ... the coloring has been totally disclored from the heat of the exhaust!!!!! How nuts is that?!

Ok ok I know this isn't a Porsche board, but I just figured that any of you pure driving purists would appreciate any such stories

Ok I'm about to pass out ...........I'll talk to you all later

[statdoc]

Cool! Makes me want to try it. I did do a Richard Petty Nascar Experience once, and loved it! Driving fast legally is a blast!

[fln8tive]

Did you bleed and change brake fluid before hitting the track or just go with what was in the X? I hope to hit Sebring on the 27th and it is being suggested that I have fresh brake fluid.

[Wagner]

Wow, that paint changing color is odd....

[crosvs]

no... never changed the fluid, just went out with what i had.

anyway, so yeah the car is definitey drivable, but i do have to almost floor the brake pedal to invoke abs. so it's kinda unnerving.

as for the changing color on the paint, yeah weird, huh?!

[crosvs]

btw... i'll be posting my one lap in the X5 shortly if anyone is interested i'll link you to the C4S reverse-chase shot footage as well if you'd like

[AutoXer]

That would be fun to see. Thanks for sharing!!! Never tracked my X, but glad that it did fine minus the brakes

[aus]

Better idea. Get GT2 brakes for the 996 and slap the 996 calipers on the X5 with some stainless lines and backing plates if they fit.

[crosvs]

Better idea. Get GT2 brakes for the 996 and slap the 996 calipers on the X5 with some stainless lines and backing plates if they fit.

now THERE'S an idea

[ArtZ8]

Here is an old picture of my former 4.6 at the track. I did 2 D.E's with no brake problems(probably not braking hard enough).

I was doing around 110 at this point.

After the first track day my Dinan exhaust had a yellowish tint to them.