Tom's new whip...not a Corvette

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:14 pm

A few of you know that I was about a whisper away from buying a C4 Corvette for HPDE duty. Alas, life changes and you must adjust for the curveballs that it throws you.

The car:
-'89 Porsche 944S2, 140K on the chassis, less than 500 miles on the motor. I'm still breaking it in.
-Bilsten coilovers on the back, Koni adjustables with 951 springs on the front (for the moment)
- Chipped ECU (forget the vendor at the moment) and K&N filter on a stick
- Bursch test pipe

I bought the car from a Porsche racer in Williamston, NC who used to use it for HPDE. The car is in outstanding shape for it's age, but of course is not perfect.

On to the pics:

Chris Brown · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:33 pm

very nice, very nice

Ryan Holton · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2007 7:57 pm

Saw it in person, this car is MINT.

You should enjoy it.

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:42 pm

A good friend of mine down in Charlotte had, for years, a 944S with similar modifications. Shocks, coilovers, all the track stuff. It was a tremendously competent track car. Great brakes (of course - it's a Porsche), great handling, and to my eye, the cars have aged *very* well. In fact, I almost bought the 944S that my friend Adam was selling, I just decided I needed something more "street car" and less "track car."

S2s are my favorite 944s Tom, and good ones are getting hard to find. You'll have a blast with this thing.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:31 am

Nice car Tom. I occasionally do the "what if" regarding me and a 944.

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:29 am

Richard Casto wrote:

Nice car Tom. I occasionally do the "what if" regarding me and a 944.

Methinks you'd be scraping your head on the headliner constantly with stock seats. It's an intimate cabin, for sure, but it seems to fit me well. In my 350mi drive home on I95, I got the mirrors adjusted to my liking, and the visibility is very good.

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:36 am

TomFreeman wrote:

Richard Casto wrote:

Nice car Tom. I occasionally do the "what if" regarding me and a 944.

Methinks you'd be scraping your head on the headliner constantly with stock seats.

That happens with me for most cars and nearly all that have a sunroof. I don't think I have sat in a 944. I will have to give it a try and see if I fit.

Matthew Fortner · **Joined:** Sun Mar 21, 2004 12:21 am **Posts:** 384

Why did you get out of the RX-8?

Patrice Bousquet · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:43 am

Porsche "There is no substitute"

Patrice
I'm just a little bit biased.

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Tue Mar 13, 2007 9:20 am

Matthew Fortner wrote:

Why did you get out of the RX-8?

Several reasons, none of them very good in my wife's opinion:
a- owed too much on the car
b- value hadn't dropped very much in the year that I had owned it
c- I really didn't have any emotional attachment to that car
d- I have a mild case of AADD (automotive attention deficit disorder)

Honestly, I can say very little bad about the RX-8. It's a pretty fantastic car straight from the factory. It lacks torque and it gets crummy gas mileage. That's it.

The Porsche is paid for, and that's something the RX-8 wouldn't have been for quite a while. It makes it a little easier to justify as a rarely-driven fun car.

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:34 pm

Williamston? Jeez, I didn't think anybody in Williamston knew Porshe from
porch much less tracked it. How did you find it?

Graham Jagger · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:53 am **Posts:** 1718

TomFreeman wrote:

A few of you know that I was about a whisper away from buying a C4 Corvette for HPDE duty. Alas, life changes and you must adjust for the curveballs that it throws you.

Oh that is such a poor excuse Tom :wink:

Nice car though, even if it is a Porsche. Now you'll have to sing the Porsche song and go t-shirtless at all PCA events to fit in :lol:

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:37 pm

I don't think Tom was at the event where we wrote the Porsche song. He might need some training.

TomFreeman · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 4:40 pm

clinehall wrote:

Williamston? Jeez, I didn't think anybody in Williamston knew Porshe from
porch much less tracked it. How did you find it?

Cline:
I found it through the wonders of the rennlist classifieds. It's been harder looking for a set of track wheels than it was to find the car.

When I called the owner, and he told me that he raced 944 cup, we figured out that we met each other at the last NASA event, as he was pitted beside my friend who also races 944 Cup. Small, small world.

Oh...and he's not originally from Williamston. He's from Pittsburgh.

Graham:
Sorry to let you down, man. I ended up spending 1/2 of what I was going to spend on the '96 LT4 that I had decided on. It's odd logic to buy a Porsche on a budget-based decision, but that's how if fell together.

clinehall · **Posted:** Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:03 pm

I actually thought of going this way too. I spoke to dentist from Danville that runs 944 cup and says it is a versitle car and can be run in several different series with out much change. He runs about 10 times a year at VIR.

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