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NA 944's aren't all that quick in a straight line, it is only a 2.5 liter NA motor and they deliberately kept the power down to make it less competitive than the 911 3.2, just like how Porsche used the head they designed for VW(with deliberate poor port design) on the naturally aspirated 924 to keep the power down.
The 944 is not all that light either in stock form, although it's easy to strip a few hundred pounds out.
As for performance upgrades, the stock intake and exhaust are pretty well matched to the head flow, you really have to get into the cylinder head and increase compression if you want to make any substantial power gains. You can increase power with a header or a tuned intake manifold, but mostly in the upper end of the rpm range only, and at the expense of the lower and midrange tuning.
If you're looking for a car for straightline speed, here's the rundown. You can get a 944, upgrade the intake with a MAF conversion and cold air intake with cone filter, delete the cat and run a free flowing exhaust system, and a 75 shot of nitrous. This should get you around 225hp while on the juice. Strip a few hundred pounds of extra weight, rear seats(they're a joke anyways), sound deadening etc, and you'll be running 13s. That's cheap and easy, and a few suspension upgrades will get you a very competitive autoX and track car.
The handling is where these cars shine, and oh do they shine! The stock suspension is a definite comprimise for street driving and novice drivers not familiar with cars like the 944, which is why the factory offered optional sport suspension options. The aftermarket offers even more variety, from simple coilover and shock/strut packages to full race suspension replacements. Take a stock Fohfoh for a test drive, and then consider that the handling which has left you amazed and overly impressed is the soft, comprimising suspension setup.
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