Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 14

Yes, the front wheel styling is different from the rear  - a bit like our Drakan!

 The Braid wheels have arrived and they look amazing.  Of course we had to weigh them.  Our wheels are 102.2lbs (all 4 wheels) vs 108lbs for the stock 18" rims.  Our front wheels are considerably lighter but the rears are heavier.  

We chose two different wheel styles as discussed in a previously post. Our Drakan Spyder was the first car that I've used different wheels - front to rear.  We chose the light weight option that adds some additional machining to the face of the wheels to shave off more weight.  

Frankly I am happy that the fronts are so light as that will help with feel.  Braid are known to produce strong wheels - which is more important to me for a car that must negotiate broken road surfaces.

Since we went with the 'inch-down' on these wheels, we are looking at tire options that will work.  I've decided not to go with bigger diameter wheels as the additional tire sidewall height provided by the smaller wheels should be enough to meet our compliance needs.  I expect the turn-in to be a bit slower but thanks to the GT3 swaybars, we should have improved turn-in response anyhow.

Project 996 Road Rallye: Part 13

 The 996RR received a few new upgrades including a new front tube bumper, fabric tow straps, mud flaps and a front fascia - with a special coating.  

We had the 'new' front fascia coated with bed liner used on trucks.  The front of most sportscars get hammered - especially when following other cars in the canyons or tracks.  Instead using clearbra, we thought we would try this textured coating.

The front tube bumper was refabbed and extended a bit from the original.  It will get powder coated black onced we finalize the mounts for the Baja Designs DOT legal lights arrive.  I'm excited about improving the lighting on the car as the stock headlights are now 26years old.  These older cars really benefit from updated LED lighting.  

The mudflaps we installed are pretty low.  They are scraping on even the slightest incline.  The noise is pretty annoying!  We will cut them back and then extend them with rubber sheet. 

 

The rear tube bumper is still a work in progress...

We also have Braid wheels on order:

• Front: Fullrace A = 17x8 ET40
• Rear : Winrace S = 17x10 ET40
• Lightweight machining on all wheels
• Lighter Gold

The offsets are 10mm pushed out from stock.  I plan to run stock diameter tires so these specs should work for our needs.  Note the different spoke count?  Influenced by the Drakan Spyder.  Yes, we like to be different!

front: Model Fullrace A

rear: Model Winrace S