I am taking the future Spec 944 car to Road Atlanta. I am doing HPDE a few times this year. I hope to work on the car over winter and have it prepared for 2012 competition school.

I have started the process of taking out a bit of weight here and there, but I want to keep it stock enough to enjoy the rest of this year in HPDE.

I see a handful of 944 cars entered in different classes, but I am curious about what happens if I get the car built and there are no spec 944s?

Do I run with other classes?

Anyone else going to be there? I would love to talk to someone in person.

This is a great forum - everyone seems very helpful - sort of wish I lived further west or north...

Hi Michael, welcome to the SE 944Spec forum. By the time your car is complete there should be other 944Spec cars to play with. Worse case scenario, you can run your car in another class or remain classed in 944Spec. We do race and score with single cars if need be.
While I wish I would be there this weekend to answer whatever questions you may have, I had to cancel my trip to Road Atlanta due to financial constraints.
I will however be at Charlotte Motor Speedway 4th of July weekend. As always, feel free to contact me at any time with any questions you may have about the car, the class or the SE region.

Michael-

See the "Build it and they will come" post.
If your within driving distance of Mid-Ohio, you'll see a lot of 944's there, or stop by Nationals there to hang out.

We'll help you get it started!

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to just have some fun this weekend and we'll see where this takes me!

What a great time! This was my first NASA event and it was great! It was organized and everyone was very friendly and helpful. Good news - I shaved a lot of time off my initial times. My best time was a 2:08, which was not bad for a mostly stock 944. The BFG R1s were great. Not so good news, there was only one 944Spec there. I am thinking of trying to prepare my car to a GTS1 car now. What are your thoughts on this? Can a car be competitive in both?

I am starting to strip unnecessary things from the car, but keeping it HPDE1 legal for a few more events. I have a question: Is there an easy way to remove the alarm system?

Thanks

Glad you had a great time, the SE region really has their shiznit together when it comes to having fun at the track. As far as the 1 car is concerned, the class is still growing and by the time you and your car are ready to compete, there should be others. Trying to build your car to be competitive in two classes is a very difficult proposition. If I were in your shoes, I would pick just one. 944-Spec is going to be the SUBSTANTIALLY more affordable option to build a competitive race car, but it is up to you. Keep in mind that many of the GTS 1 944's you saw this past weekend also race in another 944 class that sometimes race in other events outside of NASA. That being said, I would hate to see you build your car to GTS 1 specs expecting to see large car counts, only to be disappointed to find out they won't be at the event(s) you plan on running. Just my .02. As far as the factory alarm removal is concerned, maybe Eric can chime in as my car didn't have one when I built it.