2:38 lap at COTA

[Mike in CA]

I'd recommend doing either a PCA track day or Porsche Driving School - at least once - you'll have a blast - and given your level of experience you'll find the g-forces are not that unbearable - it's super fun and with PCA or Porsche Driving school super safe. And you get to drive the vehicle with out worrying about speeding tickets or wreckless driving tickets.

• PCA HPDE track day in your local region
• Porsche Driving School in Alabama
• Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta or Los Angeles (sign up for 2 or 3 "experiences" - 90 min each)

If you don't have track experience I reccomend tracking a gas car - EV's are fun, but have additional "logistics" to deal with because most tracks lack the charging infrastructure to keep the battery topped off between sessions.

You will have sooooooooooo much fun!!! Doing it at least once should be on most "car-peoples" bucket list - you don't have to be stupid like me and make it a hobby - but if you're car person you owe it to yourself to have a high performance day on a track at least once. You will come away transformed.

Exactly. I'm not as committed to track days as you obviously are; most of my "track" driving has been as a long time autocrosser. But after a couple of DE's to satisfy my track craving and experiencing the costs you've outlined, I decided there had to be a another way.

Now when I get the itch, I sign up for a driving school. I've done most of the major ones over the years including 4 multi-day sessions at the Porsche Sport Driving School (now Porsche Track Experience) at Barber Motorsports Park. Highly recommended and, as you said, so much fun! For bucket list experiences it's pretty hard to beat a ride around track at speed in a GT3 with Hurley Haywood!

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[whan]

I swapped out the factory-installed Michelin Pilot Spot 4 summer tires for MPS4S in 255/40ZR-20 (F) and slightly-wider than stock rears 295/35ZR-20. They're much stickier and better suited for track driving than the factory tires.

Slightly off topic but would be interested to see how these tires look on your car with respect to sidewall/size. Have already ordered aftermarket 20s for my incoming Taycan and debating whether to reuse the factory 20 MPS4 or get aftermarket AS/4s in the 255/295 size

 

[Edward]

WOW! Those are really flyin' laps around Laguna Seca and COTA! You've got my dream setup -- a Taycan plus a GT3. I bought the Taycan to move up on Porsche Austin's 992 GT3 waitlist, but it's been such a marvelous "one car" solution that I'm wondering how much better the 992 GT3 could be?! Or, I might consider your suggestions of Porsche Track Experience plus Arrive & Drive cars as a way of turning my HPDE hobby into opex rather than a big capex outlay.

 

[Edward]

oh and here is an Ice Driving course I partcipated in this past Feb. 2022 w/Porsche where we flogged 911 GT3's and 911 Cupcars in finland for 3 days

Absolutely amazing. I had a coworker report on his experience with the Porsche Ice Driving course, and it sounds like a riot! This one is a little further down my prioritization list, though, behind one or more Porsche Track Experience courses at Barber and a European Delivery with laps on the Nordschleife!

 

[Edward]

Slightly off topic but would be interested to see how these tires look on your car with respect to sidewall/size. Have already ordered aftermarket 20s for my incoming Taycan and debating whether to reuse the factory 20 MPS4 or get aftermarket AS/4s in the 255/295 size

The 295s fit nicely. Taycan GTS comes standard with:

• Front: 9.0 J × 20 ET 54 wheels with 255/40 R20 tires
• Rear: 11.0 J × 20 ET 60 wheels with 295/35 R20 tires

Which is the same width wheels as the 20" options on other Taycans. I've attached a photo of the 295 width MPS4S tire on my 20" Taycan Turbo Aero Wheel. It looks nearly identical to the OE Michelin Pilot Sport 4.

I have started noticing that my speedometer is a few MPH optimistic, but I can't tell if it's always been this way or because of the 285-->295 fitment. For example, I'll be going an indicated 50 MPH past a "Your Speed" radar sign, and the sign will say 47. It was most noticeable on track when I thought I hit 152 MPH on the back straight at COTA, but the lap video shows a GPS-measured 147 MPH.

 

[whan]

The 295s fit nicely. Taycan GTS comes standard with:

• Front: 9.0 J × 20 ET 54 wheels with 255/40 R20 tires
• Rear: 11.0 J × 20 ET 60 wheels with 295/35 R20 tires

Which is the same width wheels as the 20" options on other Taycans. I've attached a photo of the 295 width MPS4S tire on my 20" Taycan Turbo Aero Wheel. It looks nearly identical to the OE Michelin Pilot Sport 4.

I have started noticing that my speedometer is a few MPH optimistic, but I can't tell if it's always been this way or because of the 285-->295 fitment. For example, I'll be going an indicated 50 MPH past a "Your Speed" radar sign, and the sign will say 47. It was most noticeable on track when I thought I hit 152 MPH on the back straight at COTA, but the lap video shows a GPS-measured 147 MPH.

Thank you! Re: the 285->295 fitment, the overall tire size did decrease by ~3% given aspect ratio reduction so that may be the reason why. I've heard in the Taycan you can change wheel settings in the PCM for different wheel sizes. The OEM 21" fitment in 305/30/21 is a lot closer in overall tire diameter to the 295/35/20 so perhaps may be something worth trying changing to that instead

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