Curious to see if the Halo seat affects being able to get in and out of the car. I know I have a hard enough time getting in and out as it is now. Having to move my head farther forward might be a problem.

I sat in a 996 cup one time with a halo seat and if the steering wheel hadn't been removed I never could have gotten in or out...

Sliders and a removable steering wheel, should have no problem at all..

Possibly - on my Boxster - the seat can't move back maybe more than 1/4 inch and it's bolted to the floor.

As I said - interested to see how it works.

Finished up the weight reduction in the front fenders/trunk today with a loss of 2.5lbs. That's a total of 12.5lbs or 31% of the 40lb goal!

Tomorrow, some more weight loss and get the car packed and ready to race next weekend. Looks like the new halo seat might have to wait until the following weekend.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psy712hvqb.jpg

Let the 2016 racing season begin!

Of course, here in SoCal, we track the racing "season" by the calendar and not the four seasons, so I kicked off 2016 yesterday at Willow Springs International Raceway with the Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Southern California (AROSC).

One of the most interesting aspects of this race is that the cars are not all Porsche (as they are in POC and PCA racing). Thus, the race field had Spec Miata, Super Spec Miata, BMW E30 Spec, BMW E36 M3, several Alfa's, along with four other Spec Boxster's for a total of 21 cars in the field.

The cars were ranked into three classes based on hp/weight along with overall finishing places.

I also asked Brad Roberts to come out to provide coaching and data analysis to help me find some more speed around the track with the goal of lowering my lap times.

Summary:
Practice Race: Started 4th, finished 2nd of 21 cars
Main Race: Started 2nd, finished 2nd of 21 cars
Standing Start Race: Started 2nd, in 1st place when pulled off due to low fuel

During Practice 1 and 2, Brad and I were working on adjusting my braking, throttle, and line thru Corner 1 so I wasn't really focused on turing the fastest laps so my best time put me in Fourth for the Practice race. During the Practice race, I was able to move up two spots and finish 2nd behind a very fast E36 M3.

Starting 2nd in the Main, I had a great start and was able to get out front and actually lead the race for a lap or two, then the E36 caught and passed me. For the remainder of the race, I battled lap after lap with a Super Spec Miata to get 2nd. The SSM and I must have changed places 8 times. I finally figured out how to keep him behind me on the last two laps to hold onto 2nd.

In regards to the standing start race, I had never done this before. After the Main race checkered flag, whomever wanted to participate in the standing start race came down the front straight where the starters lined us up in view of the starters tower.

Brad and I talked about the best way to launch a Boxster and we decided on having the engine RPM up in the power band (around 4500 rpm) and then drop the clutch and let the rear tires do all of the work.

I'll admit, I was a little hesitant about doing this as it seemed that it would be very hard on the car. We all know that the Boxster isn't a drag racer and I didn't want to fry the clutch, break a CV joint, or damage the transmission. Remember, I need to drive home in this car! Brad laughed and said that this was a once in a lifetime chance and I had to do it! He was right, who would pass up a chance to do a drag start for a race? Not me.

Starting on the front row, I did exactly as planned and revved the engine to 4500rpm and dropped the clutch at the first move of the flag. The already hot and sticky rear R-compound tires grabbed and I got a half-car length jump on the Super Spec Miata next to me right out of the hole! Then the rear tires started to spin and the engine jumped to redline so I grabbed second gear as fast as I could. The rears hooked back up in 2nd gear and as they say; I Was Gone Baby! I hit 3rd and 4th flat out as I entered Turn 1 in 1st place.

Experiencing a standing start was the goal of the last race so I pulled off while still in 1st place after two laps when my low fuel light came on.

We will talk about my awesome spin at 90mph in Turn 1 when I post the video!

The House Automotive Spec Boxster at trackside;
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psegi73wxt.jpg

AROSC medallion is really nice!
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psosjnjnlz.jpg

First place in my class; second place overall
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pskinnzuge.jpg

Great start to the 2016 season!
Congrats

Excellent job, congratulations! Did you think to ask Brad about those wiring harnesses? :D

I did! And I will get back to you by Monday on that...

Hey Tom and other contributors, just wanted to let you know how much us readers love reading your reports, video etc. We appreciate the time you take to write and video your experiences.

I went back to the end of 2014 and did some catching up and its an awesome read to see how you are progressing, sharing things learned along the way, some trials and tribulations and awesome wheel to wheel video.

You could write a book, documentary or do a reality show about all this...very cool.

Thanks, much appreciated.

The moral to the story is that ANYONE can do this if they want. I was a typical 50-yr old first time Porsche and Boxster owner at the start of this journey and had absolutely no plans to build a race car and go racing.

My original track aspirations were to go to the track 2-3 times per year in my stock Boxster just to have some fun driving fast without endangering myself or anyone else.

Sometimes I look back myself and wonder if this is really me? :D

As I have said before, this has been an incredible journey and learning to drive fast and race is the least important thing that I have learned.

So, get out there and drive 'em like the Dr. intended!

Well, you didn't say which Monday did you.. :D

I asked him to respond to the thread directly. I send him a reminder this evening.

Here is the first of several videos from last weekend - the launch of the standing start race! Brad Roberts took the video standing in the starters tower (not sure how he got them to agree to that!).

This was the first time that I seriously tried to drag race in a Boxster - and it was a LOT of fun!

The red car next to me on the front row is a Super Spec Miata. They have a higher weight-to-power ratio (16-ish) vs Spec Boxster (14-ish), but the Super Spec Miata's are allowed more suspension mods along with more aero and other mods that substantially reduce the center of gravity. Thus, I beat him with a good launch and a bit more power but be makes up a lot of ground in the corner. This was the basis of our 10-lap battle in the race before this one.

This is how Brad described the start on Facebook;
This was so friggin COOL!! First time I've had a SPB involved with a standing start! I told the customer to launch the car around 3500rpm, that the tires would still be warm! He opted for 4500 and left a 50ft long black mark lol I'll post his in car video shortly, you see the car fish tailing slightly at launch...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BiBbBbydZx8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Got Camber?

Here is a pic of one of my front tires (Toyo Proxes RR 255/40/17). This tire had 8 heat cycles (sessions) as the right front and then another 4 cycles (sessions) as the left front for a total of 12. The tire was not swapped on the wheel so the outside has been the outside regardless of which side of the car it was installed on.

The car has -3.4 camber already but it looks like I need even more since the outside is worn to the cord and the inside of the tire still shows the wear indicator dimple.

Looks like I'll be visiting Pro Motorsports in Burbank, CA for an alignment this week!

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5j15edoj.jpg

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psm4opx3qm.jpg

Did you run any temperatures across the tread after a run?

No, I didn't.

That just doesn't look right for a car with -3.4 camber.. wondering if toe adj. would contribute.

Sweet, nicely earned I say

+1

Something got knocked out of alignment and toe may be off a bunch.

Toe could contribute, but the car was set at 0 toe.

Talking to the setup pro's today to see what they think.

How's the other tire look?

Similar. Well worn on the outside edge with less wear on the inside, but not to the cord like this one.

Spoke to Tyson Schmidt at Pro Motorsports (who built the majority of my car when he was at Hergesheimer) and he suggests adding a little more neg camber and checking the toe to make sure that it didn't change. Brad also mentioned that some BSR's are now running -3.6 or so to keep the tire flat. Plan to drop it off next Monday so its ready in time for the POC season opener at Willow Springs on Feb 6/7.

More videos coming this weekend.

I had the alignment done this week and went with -3.8 front and -2.9 rear camber. Zero toe front and +5' in rear. Threw on a new set of Toyo RR's and I am off to Willow Springs for a weekend of racing!

Tom, where do you get your alignment done?
I replaced my control arms and need some one closer than Steve A. in Torrance.
Thanks!

I have Pro Motorsports in Burbank do the alignments. But that would appear to be in the wrong direction if you live in OC.

You might want to Vision Motorsports in Laguna Hills. Dwain Dement is the owner and is very, very knowledgeable.

Saturday racing update:

The new alignment felt great - the car was stable and had a lot more grip so I was able to go out in the first practice session and do a lap within 0.5 sec of my personal best.

I messed up twice during qualifying and spoiled what could have been very good qualifying laps. Both times I got the car sliding, caught it, and drove it away but the slide cost me about a second each time. I ended up qualifying 6th of 10 or 11. Drifting might look cool but its definitely not the fast way around a road course!

In race #1, I started 6th and got a good start but got hung up behind a couple of cars and lost a few places. Got one of those back and finished 7th. After the first few laps, not much passing - there were four of us and no one could get a very good run at the others so we looked like a freight train going around and around.

In race #2, I started 7th and got another great start and moved up to 5th. Then I got around another car for 4th and hooked up with the Top 3 and I was able to stay with the front group for 3-4 laps. This was a HUGE improvement for me because usually I get dropped from the front group and end up further back.

Then I spun at about 100 mph coming out of Turn 9 and had a huge off road drive through the desert! Its amazing how far you go when spinning around in the sand and dirt. Seemed like an eternity. I remember actually thinking: wow, this is a long spin. Dust, sand, dirt, everywhere.

The car started and I drove it slowly back into the pits. We did a good inspection and found that both driver's side tires had gotten gravel in the tire bead while I was off roading. We pulled the wheels and had the tire service at the track break the bead, clean out the gravel, re-mount the tires and re-balance. Otherwise, the car was fine (except for the 5 lbs of dust and dirt on and inside the car.

Tomorrow, we have practice in the morning and one race in the afternoon. Should be home in time for the Super Bowl!

Sunday update: Qualified 5th of 7 this morning. Had another good start but lost a few places in the mayhem. Got a few back along the way and finished 4th. Lots of close bumper to bumper and door to door racing - every lap was 100%.

I had more car video problems yesterday and spent an hour today trouble-shooting the system. I am still not sure what is going wrong but I do know how to make sure that I get video every time now.

Tom - notice any difference with the new alignment?

Some more details on the results of the alignment here:

http://986forum.com/forums/482947-post467.html

Edit: I didn't realize I was linking to the same thread :) Look up a couple of posts :)

Ugh.... I am willing to start a GoFundMe account and make a donation to get the video system up and running. I need the race videos.... I need the race videos.... I need....

I have video from last weekend! Will be posted this weekend!

Here is video from Saturday's Race #1!

Don't forget to watch it in full screen 1080p.


<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NfgWnl22wS8?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tom,
Thanks for posting

Ahhhhhhhhh.... nice.

Another race video from two weeks ago! Started 7th, moved up to 4th, ran with the front group for a lap, then spun off and DNF.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7yakj7BH6xY?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I don't know. :confused: This reminds me of the 18 1/2 minutes of the missing Nixon tapes. :eek: What are you hiding here? :confused: I know there is more. Come clean. ;)

Love your race videos. Keep 'em coming. :cheers:

Yep, the old "my video died" trick!! :D

Nixon tapes? Oh man, you had me almost falling out of my chair laughing!

If I had the spin on video, I would have posted it because it was epic!

Preview from the next video...

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psa0mgvll8.jpg