Actually, since Cary is recounting direct personal experience, I'm glad he is letting the word out.

Unfortunately, many people and boards tend to hype certain vendors or people who sometimes aren't very competent.

So recently I've decided to limit my engagement in some of these discussions. I just do my own thing unless asked, and just sit back and laugh.... 996 Turbo owners are very stubborn about mods sometimes.

Cary, I value your insight on this topic and hope you keep it coming. I just hope you finally acknowledge that my car whooped *** at the Shootout!

 

Hamann….you crack me up I love your car and love the fact that it is pure hardcore. You don’t need me to say it whooped ***… you’ve got the proof! When I was at the shootout it was like being a 15 year old kid walking into Crazy Horse Too for the first time and asked which of the 150 naked girls was the hottest one ….

Racer63… Actually I thought I was being easy on Messly, if you want to hear what I really think send me a PM and I’ll explain further. If you use Eric, I don’t mean to challenge your loyalty to him I just feel he is an extremely unethical business person. I try never to be unfair and if you’d like to forward this thread to him please feel free to do so and I certainly would never hold that against you.

He may be a good driver, I don’t really know but I do know for a fact when I was testing in a GT3 RS with 911 Design about a year ago at Willow he was in a Viper at the same time. We were testing a few different things and NOT trying to get the car totally up to speed but, the Viper was still basically in the way. To prevent any unwanted problems our crew naturally was timing them to get an idea where they were going to be on the track and to see how consistent they were running. They use this info for bring me in for changes and send me back out to maximize our “clean” time at track. Well, later that day, one of my Viper buddy’s showed up and was talking to Eric. Walking around the pits he ran into me one thing lead to another and he knows I think Eric is full of himself so he said “what did you think of Eric’s 1:19 today.” I thought hmmm, I know he never caught me or passed me and I could see myself catching that car on the track at times so, it got me thinking.. We went over and looked at all of times on that car for the day and the fastest time it ever turned was in the 1:26’s, I guess we must have missed that 1:19. Everything I know about him ends up the same way and he always has excuses. My opinion for this thread on setup is still the same, as far as Erik goes …. I wouldn’t. I’m really sorry but, he’s just one of the few out there that I have absolutely no respect for. Please remember I didn’t introduce his name to this thread but feel strongly that comparing him to the Jeff Gamroth’s or Loren Begg’s and the others, he’s no where close. On the other hand this can be quite political … like …. should we discuss Bush … Yikes!! Hey, if I’m out of hand, I apologize but, you found a nerve on this one

 

Cary/Hamman -

At the risk of having more bad stuff said about a guy who's not here and can't defend himself, I respectfully bow out. All I will say is that I agree with you that if someone is fraudulent, misleading, cheating, that sort of thing... then by all means post it. But, when it comes to subjective issues like "who's the best at suspension setup" I think it is best to keep your comments as objective as possible. It's tough though. Sometimes you get fired up about something and let it fly - as I did the other day with errors made by Discount Tire. I didn't name any specific people, but I probably should have shown more restraint... but I guess $hit happens...

For the record, I don't have any loyalty to Erik, nor any suspension or engine guy for that matter. When it comes to racing, I've always preferred to look to whoever is currently fast in roughly the same car and figure out what they are doing well. If they help me directly, great. If they don't, I'll figure it out from observing. I then choose the parts myself and do the setup myself... although I can't wrench for $hit so I always need help there. I think I have 10 thumbs. (There was a time when I was racing Z cars and Erik was the fastest on the West Coast in Z cars. He was very helpful to me during that period... He's since moved on to Vipers, I'm on to Bimmers...)

Back to my original post. Who's best is always a moving target. There was a point where I was fastest in Spec RX7. If you put me in the series now, I'd have a good shot at the podium. But, assuming the current front runners show up, I'm not going to win unless a few guys take themselves out. Just too much development has gone on since I left the series. The same can be said of all series. Moreover, even if you are the top of your series now, if stay in the same series for a long time, it is nearly 100% certain that you will no longer be at the top (not that you couldn't come back again later, of course, if you happen on to the right combination again...)

So, that was my point to Chad. Even if you find the right guy now, chances are he's the wrong guy a year from now. So, you really need to take matters in your own hands if your goal is to have the 996TT with the best setup. And if you can't do the on track setup yourself, you'll have to find someone who can do it for you. I'll leave the name blank this time. You pick the guy. But, even if you find the right suspension bits now and a guy to help tune it (or you tune it yourself) be prepared to continue to research who's fast and why or you will be slow in a matter of time.

 

Talked to Cary via PM. Heard more of his concerns. Overlaid them with my recent experiences (i.e., being ripped off twice in two months). Here's my conclusion...

Owning a high end sports car like a 996TT basically makes you (me) a dung magnet. It sounds kind of jaded, but we attract ****ty people because they perceive that we have money that they might be able to get to. So I think that the best approach is to get several recommendations from a potential supplier before buying product from them. Better yet, get them from an independent source. For example, post a question to 6speed asking for confidential recommendations via PM. I bet you get the feedback that you need to make an informed decision and can likely avoid getting taken by someone who's either misrepresented their skills, or is just downright dishonest.

That's my $0.02.

P.S. Cary, it was nice to talk to you offline about this. While my experiences with Erik were positive, I think that your experiences need to be weighed in (perhaps with feedback from others too). I'd definitely ask more questions this time knowing your experiences.