Water Coolant

[emayer]

I noticed on the Rennlist forum increasing discussion of sudden coolant loss involving the 997, GT3, and cup cars due to press fitting failures.  Not any easy fix preemptively since this involves dropping the motor.

That said, has anyone taken the precaution of running water/ water wetter?  Any in the club experience this problem before?  It certainly has the potential for mass carnage which is why I thought it warrants consideration here.

[Brian Minkin]

I have seen this problem in several "04" GT3's.  It is a rather scary time when someone puts coolant down all over a track.  I personally have done a spin at Summit Point when someone dumped coolant and the car behind me started spinning as well.  How we both managed to come to a stop without touching is just luck.  We have had lots of discussions in tech about coolant.  Certainly water with water wetter is preferred.  But I do not think it is possible to make this a requirement when people are running street cars on the track.

[emayer]

Thanks Brian.  I agree that water coolant cannot be made mandatory for DE.  We do have to accept the fact that track surfaces change, however the degree to which this problem seems to be happening in the 996 and 997 variants would have me thinking of voluntarily switching fluids for a track car.

It's hard to gauge what the true incidence of this problem is, but based on the chatter online and members' experiences it does not appear to be unusual.  Given that the cost of fluid changes are relatively inexpensive, is there are compelling reason not to do this?

[betegh9]

Brian Minkin wrote:

I have seen this problem in several "04" GT3's. It is a rather scary time when someone puts coolant down all over a track. I personally have done a spin at Summit Point when someone dumped coolant and the car behind me started spinning as well. How we both managed to come to a stop without touching is just luck. We have had lots of discussions in tech about coolant. Certainly water with water wetter is preferred. But I do not think it is possible to make this a requirement when people are running street cars on the track.

If you do not drive your Porsche "street GT3 race car" in the winter anyways, get rid of the antifreeze and use the water/ water wetter stuff............. On the other hand, take a REAL PORSCHE to the track........ air cooled!

[emayer]

When the time comes, I'll switch fluids.  I'd hate to take out a string of lovely air-cooled Porsches located in the rear-view mirror!