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thstone · 02-09-2015, 09:50 PM

Whew, what a weekend!

First, you may notice the new graphics on my car. I am proud to announce that I will be a sponsored race car driver for House Automotive in Pasadena, CA for 2015. (Official press release coming in the near future).

House Automotive is an independent Porsche service center managed by a Porsche dealer trained team including certified Porsche mechanics using the proper factory equipment. Visit their website at HouseAutoGroup.com

Thanks for bearing with me for the commercial break, now let's get back to the racing; this week I raced with the POC at Willow Springs. Competition in the Boxster Spec Class was intense and I am going to have to up my game if I want to run up front with the leaders.

Results:
Race 1: Started 7th, finished 5th, 11 cars
Race 2: Started 8th, finished 6th, 9 cars
Race 3: Started 8th, finished 7th, 9 cars

Overall, the lap time differences between 1st and 8th was only 2 seconds so I'm not that far off the mark but I am going to have to work for every 1/10th of a second. With the field this close, it made for some very tight and competitive racing!

The field tended to split into two groups consisting of the top 4/5 and a second group of the other 4/5. I was battling it out in the latter group.

For example, in the 3rd race, all four of us in the second group literally stayed together for the entire race. Actually, that sounds like a Sunday canyon drive which this definitely was not. We were dicing it up continuously for for 14 laps with position changes on every lap. There was never more than 1.5 cars length between any of us. If fact, most of the time, I couldn't have read the license plate of the car in front of me - that is how close we were.

And the passing attacks came from everywhere. I was mostly 3rd of the 4 cars and I was continually attacking the 2nd car while he was trying to pass the front car. At the same time, I was busy defending the fourth car who was trying to get by me. All while going 60-130mph. Cars where sliding around, drivers were putting two wheels off into the dirt, no one was giving anyone any extra room. It was kinda insane.

Racing like this is exhausting, both mentally and physically. When people say that race car drivers aren't athletes, I have to disagree. I was actually panting inside my helmet the entire race and despite the 70F temps, I was soaked with sweat when I got out of the car!

A funny moment; I'm racing my arse off and thinking to myself "Damn, this is exhausting, we must be getting close to the end of the race". So I look down at my data display and it says "Lap 7"! Oh crap. This is only halfway???? What????? Ahhhhhh! I hope that I can keep driving at this level until the end.

While my position results were less than stellar, I had some of the most fun that I've ever had in a car on the track and dicing it up like that is really what wheel-to-wheel racing is all about. I'll take that experience over time-trialing all alone to a win any day. (Or so says the guy battling it out in the middle of the pack!

)

I want to thank Brad Roberts for all of the track support and advice. He made some last minute changes to the setup that really helped in the 3rd race.

I'll talk about my first experience of running with the square setup and get some video posted in the next few days.

02-09-2015, 09:50 PM	#260
thstone Certified Boxster Addict Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 7,669	Whew, what a weekend! First, you may notice the new graphics on my car. I am proud to announce that I will be a sponsored race car driver for House Automotive in Pasadena, CA for 2015. (Official press release coming in the near future). House Automotive is an independent Porsche service center managed by a Porsche dealer trained team including certified Porsche mechanics using the proper factory equipment. Visit their website at HouseAutoGroup.com Thanks for bearing with me for the commercial break, now let's get back to the racing; this week I raced with the POC at Willow Springs. Competition in the Boxster Spec Class was intense and I am going to have to up my game if I want to run up front with the leaders. Results: Race 1: Started 7th, finished 5th, 11 cars Race 2: Started 8th, finished 6th, 9 cars Race 3: Started 8th, finished 7th, 9 cars Overall, the lap time differences between 1st and 8th was only 2 seconds so I'm not that far off the mark but I am going to have to work for every 1/10th of a second. With the field this close, it made for some very tight and competitive racing! The field tended to split into two groups consisting of the top 4/5 and a second group of the other 4/5. I was battling it out in the latter group. For example, in the 3rd race, all four of us in the second group literally stayed together for the entire race. Actually, that sounds like a Sunday canyon drive which this definitely was not. We were dicing it up continuously for for 14 laps with position changes on every lap. There was never more than 1.5 cars length between any of us. If fact, most of the time, I couldn't have read the license plate of the car in front of me - that is how close we were. And the passing attacks came from everywhere. I was mostly 3rd of the 4 cars and I was continually attacking the 2nd car while he was trying to pass the front car. At the same time, I was busy defending the fourth car who was trying to get by me. All while going 60-130mph. Cars where sliding around, drivers were putting two wheels off into the dirt, no one was giving anyone any extra room. It was kinda insane. Racing like this is exhausting, both mentally and physically. When people say that race car drivers aren't athletes, I have to disagree. I was actually panting inside my helmet the entire race and despite the 70F temps, I was soaked with sweat when I got out of the car! A funny moment; I'm racing my arse off and thinking to myself "Damn, this is exhausting, we must be getting close to the end of the race". So I look down at my data display and it says "Lap 7"! Oh crap. This is only halfway???? What????? Ahhhhhh! I hope that I can keep driving at this level until the end. While my position results were less than stellar, I had some of the most fun that I've ever had in a car on the track and dicing it up like that is really what wheel-to-wheel racing is all about. I'll take that experience over time-trialing all alone to a win any day. (Or so says the guy battling it out in the middle of the pack! ) I want to thank Brad Roberts for all of the track support and advice. He made some last minute changes to the setup that really helped in the 3rd race. I'll talk about my first experience of running with the square setup and get some video posted in the next few days. __________________ 1999 996 C2 - sold - bought back - sold for more 1997 Spec Boxster BSR #254 1979 911 SC POC Licensed DE/TT Instructor Last edited by thstone; 02-09-2015 at 10:07 PM.