Porsche Track Car – Going Back to Street Legal

There’s nothing to remarkable about this picture. Except for the fact that my full on track car now has a NC license plate!

One very frustrating thing about a full track car that is not street legal is that there are very few ways to evaluate and test the car between track events. I have tried to think of ways to do so. Take it out on a deserted road or parking lot. Take it to the local stock car circle track. None of the plans really appealed to me, for practical and legal reasons. If something were to happen, an unregistered car with no insurance on the public roads could land me in a heap of trouble.

I have been considering “Megasquirting” my engine, which among other things, requires a significant amount of driving around to let the Megasquirt unit “learn” and develop a fuel and ignition map. Even simple things like breaking in brake pads can be a problem. So I decided to bite the bullet and get a license plate for the car. And insurance, through Hagerty.

In NC, cars more than 35 years old don’t require any inspections. Unfortunately, my car is only 33 years old. No tailpipe inspection is required but a safety inspection is required. After discussing with the local guys that do all my inspections, we agreed that as long as all the items on their list were satisfied, the roll cage, fixed doors, bare interior, etc, etc were not a problem for them.

So the main items on the list that I had to add back to the car were headlights (hi and lo), parking/running lights, turn signals, brake lights, horn. This was all accomplished with the little console that I fabricated and wired up.

Console to control lights, turn signals, and horn.

Although there is no tailpipe sniff or OBD check, all the original emission equipment still has to be on the car. I sucked it up and bought a cat from Rock Auto. It actually appeared to be 944 specific. And it was cheap. So in went the new cat. The O2 sensor is required, which was already there. They are also required to look in the engine compartment to ensure the various hoses are in place. Let’s just say I re-installed enough of the fuel vapor recovery stuff to make it look legitimate.

I mounted a set of headlights, fixed into the open position. These came right back off after I passed inspection and I put my aluminum blanking plates back on. I’ll have to put the headlights back in a year from now for my next inspection. In about 2 years, I’ll be done with all this when the car turns 35 years old.

So I got my inspection, paid my fees, and got a plate. Super deal! I’ve been taking test drives every day since, mainly to break in my new engine. Pretty cool to be out on the streets in this car. I get some strange looks 🙂