Though Hoovie hasn’t enjoyed the best luck with his purchases, he’s a brave soul who never fails to see the potential in his Porsches. His latest acquisition, a 996 Turbo, had to see the circuit, and Hoovie took some additional precautionary measures to help avoid some of the trackday headaches he’s suffered in the last few years.
After the 3.4-liter M96 in his first Porsche 911 blew, he swapped a Chevrolet LS engine in its place to try for a unusual build that, with the American V8’s renowned reliability, promised him smoother sailing. Unfortunately, that engine promptly exploded during its first trackday.
The 996 Turbo is the first of Hoovies cars which was truly stout enough to handle trackday abuse.
Perhaps Hoovie is a glutton for punishment, perhaps he’s curious beyond reason, or maybe he’s just desperate for attention-grabbing footage of automotive explosions, but he decided to take the 996 Turbo to Heartland Motorsports Park. This time, he prepared for the event with a new set of brakes, and with the race-bred Mezger motor sitting betwixt those orange haunches, he stood a greater chance to leave another trackday with his wallet closed and his head held high.
Though the 996 Turbo is a workhorse, it has one or two flaws. One of which are the coolant lines, which have a habit of coming loose with age and hard acceleration. Those who track their cars regularly know that pinning these lines is a must lest they want to douse the surface of the circuit in sweet-smelling coolant. Unfortunately, Hoovie didn’t get the memo.
After a successful session, Hoovie’s enthusiasm was quickly deflated after he started spewing coolant all over the track. While this is a repairable fix and shouldn’t have him wringing his hands for too long, you can’t help but feel for him.
When will Hoovie find a track toy that can last more than a few sessions?
View Comments (4)
You have to feel for him a bit of bad luck.
I'm the one that started the NHTSA inquiry into coolant pipe failures.
Bob well done, you have to think which bright spark made the move to glue hot coolant pipes on a engine will be better in the long run compared to Tig welding them and at what extra cost to Porsche especially to reputation for engineering excellence.
pin , weld or reglue them????