You have to love these cars. On Sunday, September 28, I took the Boxster out to the AAA Raceway in Fontana CA and entered it in a BMW CCA autocross. This was the second time I autocrossed the Boxster it was great fun and always a learning experience. I managed to spin the car twice. Once with the PSM off and once with it on showed me that PSM can’t overcome physics. There were a couple other Porsches there including a 997.1 GT3. The M3 is a great car to watch and their engine sound is something else.
Fast forward two week to Sunday, October 12…. For the last 13 years I have cleaned, polished and waxed the Boxster regularly. It is often covered in the garage if I know it will not be driven in the near future. It is always covered when parked outside if it is going to set for ten minutes or more. Each time I wash it, I wax it. Last month I renewed my PCNA membership after letting it lapse for a couple years. One of the first events was a Concours d'Elegance. I have never participated in one, so, I figured what the heck. I did all my homework and figured for the first time I would enter the Wash & Shine category. (Spoiler alert… I didn’t win). This is a great entry level category where the judges will take their time with you and point out what you need to do to improve and move up to the next level.
On Saturday, October 12, I set out to clean the car up. Ten hours later I hit the wall and quit. The next morning, after getting to the event and parking the car in the show area, I spent another 3 ½ hours on it. For every smug inside or out you lose .1 points. For every piece of lint you lose .1. I lost a total of .7 points; .3 outside and .4 inside. The winner in my category lost only .4 points. In another category one car lost only .1 point. Amazing. The folks and the cars were amazing.
Here is a download of one of my runs at the autocross. Without the engine sound and the tire sound it is pretty benign. The highest speed on the 18 runs I did was 55 MPH. I never left second. If you have never done one, I would recommend it. It is a full day but a lot of fun.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/730v8kl40eyufob/20140928_153651_E.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8uq9og407xrf0qh/20140928_153746_E.mp4?dl=0
Here are some photos of the Concours d'Elegance. There were some great cars. You look at cars that are 50+ years old and look better than they did when bought new. Pure art.
