Almost a decade ago now I bought my first Boxster - a 2001 S Tiptronic, Arctic Silver with metropole blue interior. I owned that car for about 3 years, but I started getting more serious about track driving and I quickly realised that the Boxster was above my skill level to drive quickly and above my pay grade to repair should anything go wrong on the track, so the Boxster was sold for a more affordable track car.
As proof that things go full circle, I sold that track car a few months ago and in looking for a replacement I found myself again drawn to the 986, and I'm now the proud owner of a 2002 Boxster S, again in Arctic Silver, but this time a manual with black interior.
It's a high miler (193,000kms, or 120k miles) and has a few cosmetic issues, but was owned at one point by the brother of a Porsche dealership mechanic so has had the IMS and RMS issues addressed, upgraded clutch, short shifter and a few other track-oriented mods already performed.
I had intended to completely strip the car 'BSR-style' and keep it as a dedicated, unregistered track car, but my local motorkhana (AX) club requires that vehicles are registered and driven to events, so instead I'll be going for a more restrained 'GT3' style build. The goal is to reduce weight and stiffen up the handling without exposing bare metal in the interior.
I've got quite a few bits & pieces already on order, so I'm looking forward to doing some tinkering over the next month or so and then getting the car out on the track for the first time.