Interesting thread - I haven't been following until today.

I've raced 944's in PCA, NASA 944CUP, and SCCA for 7 years in the southeast. It's a battle to keep a car legal for all three venues and still be competitive. Bottom line is this:

PCA is full of PCA-legal cars and is a ball. The racing is clean, the fields are large (up to 20 944's), and the competition for 1st place has always been heated. Sometimes it's ruined by a visitor from outside the SE who comes in with a well developed car (I'll refrain from using the "cheater" word). the problem with PCA is they treat us like kids sometimes. They can be overbearing with the 13/13 rule. However, they try to keep the competitioon fair and all in all it's a good time.

SCCA is fun but totally uncompetitive in a 44. However, I have done well in some enduros and for the last year have done enduros only. The longer the race, the better you do, but it all comes down to attrition. The 944 is very reliable, and as long as you have good air flow to the rad you should not have reliability problems.

NASA is fun in the SE, but I have heard that in the NE and Florida, there are a lot of questionable cars. They say that you can run either a PCA car or an SCCA car. I have seen many cars that fit neither definition, and are flat out illegal for either series. There is no enforcement (at least in the south), so you run what you bring. It's fun however - NASA is very laid back. This year a bunch of us are going to run the series for points.

My car has a bone stock engine with 183,000 miles. I just replaced the rod bearings for the first time (ever). I have the Stahl exhaust (worth every penny for the reliability) and a 2.5" exhaust, and use a factory air box with K&N. The chip is stock. I get 139.7hp at the wheels, according to Balanced performance's dyno. We played with the air flow meter spring and the computer switch to get this far. Personally, I woudl not build a 944S. The reason is that it woudl cost too much to convert, and I'm not convinced that it is a better solution.

The biggest problem is weight. At 2715 with driver in SCCA, and 2844 without driver in PCA , there is a huge spread. I am down to 2620lbs without the driver, so I can stand to lose another 100lb. To switch from SCCA to PCA, I bolt the add-on weight to the floor behind the driver so I don;t have to jack the weights around too much when I corner balance. This has worked really well.

I think that the investment $$$ to get the add'l HP are too high. Just collect junk motors, rebuild them and keep them ready in your garage (I have two!). I use only '88 pistons, and have a spare trans as well. Since the 944 will never have an ITS winning motor, there is no point in trying (until the rules change!).

If you're serious about ITS, you can build a car to the limit. You will do better in NASA and will run GT4S in PCA (if you care about NASA or PCA).

PCA is considering a rules change for 2007 that would make the 944 more competitive in GT class. If this becomes reality, I would gut the interior to SCCA specs and build the engine to ITS specs (i.e. ship to Jon Milledge).

It's a shame that there aren't more 944's racing in ITS. That may change this year as more 944S's come on to the track. I don;t see how a weight reduction will help that much - there are not many good (safe) ways to lose weight. We've proven in NASA that a difference of 200 lb. in a 944 does nto help that much with the lap times.

I've asked many of my buddies in PCA and NASA about ITS but they don;t seem interested. Oh well, their loss.

Tim Betteridge