Lee Sibley

Poole, UK

@lee_sibs

That Nine Eleven Guy Road to Redline

Model 996.1 CARRERA Year 1998 Acquired JAN 2019

In a recent Youtube video on my channel, ‘That Nine Eleven Guy’, I went through all the modifications on my 996 and gave a long-term assessment of each of them. It made for a nice exercise, giving me confidence in the decisions I’ve made with the car in my two years of ownership. There’s only one modification I regret, per se, and that’s the (very quiet) Dansk Sport silencers. From the absolute rotter of a car I’d bought in January 2019, my 996 is now a respectable example of the marque, though there has been a significant outlay in cost to get to this point.

People often ask me if, in hindsight,

I’d have rather just taken the total sum

of my 996, plus subsequent modified parts and labour, and bought a superior model instead from the off. The answer is no, for several reasons: I didn’t have the money to do that at the time, so it wasn’t an option; plus I’d just have another 911 that looks the same as many others. Also, it’d take a reasonable step up for me to be truly satisfied that I had a properly superior 911 (996 or 997.1 GT3, for example), and I’m certainly not there yet in the ‘money owed’ bracket!

My front boot struts were knackered, causing the ‘frunk’ to often slam down not long after I open it. To be honest, it’s been like that for the past year: the problem is I’d only remember they needed replacing when I was trying to get into the 996’s front boot. By the time I had left the car, the problem was completely out of my mind, until the next time when I’d have to balance the boot lid on my head while fishing around in the front.

I have at last changed these. It’s a simple, five-minute job to do, which makes a mockery of the fact I was balancing that bloody boot lid on my head for the past year! This year the plan is to change the Fuchs wheels’ colour, once the lashings of winter have passed. I also need to look at addressing the 996’s interior: I’m a huge fan of the 996-generation’s interior styling, it’s just the quality of materials used which lets it down. I’m particularly keen to swap out the front seats and gear shifter for something that’s a little more comfortable and aesthetically pleasing.

We’ll see how it all goes, and of course I’ll keep you updated on progress both in this magazine column and via my aforementioned Youtube channel.