I do have the aluminum knob as well, started the car again, and things felt more normal also zero smoke. I guess the smoke was the random boxster smoke that happenes occasionally (I wish these cars did not do that!
) I inspected around and the e break felt normal. I also checked the trunk and rear bumper, both fairly cool. The only warm area of the car was the engine vents and the gear knob as well as part of the tunnel.
To help zero in, the ash tray was the center of heat on the tunnel, possibly air is escaping through there.