Spec Boxster Build

[thstone]

I finished 2nd in today's race!

It was crazy and there will be lots of good video.

Fellow 986Forum member Mike Senigen (Senigen) was in Norcal on business over the weekend so be drove down to hang out and watch the racing. Mike is a great guy and fit in with the other drivers so well that you would have thought that he had been racing in Cali for years.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by thstone

I finished 2nd in today's race!

It was crazy and there will be lots of good video.

Fellow 986Forum member Mike Seningen (Seningen) was in Norcal on business over the weekend so be drove down to hang out and watch the racing. Mike is a great guy and fit in with the other drivers so well that you would have thought that he had been racing in Cali for years.

Tom, Nigel, Trigv, and Brad were gracious hosts. It was a pleasure to hang
with the SPB crew. Only thing that would have been better was if I had
brought my gear and could have snuck out on track :-)

While I'm building a SP-1(944) and race a 944, I do track a Boxster so it was fun to talk about the track and bench race with the guys.

I can't wait to see the video -- from a knowledgeable spectators view point,
it was a pretty crazy race and a lot of action. The stewards certainly had
their hands full.

Good luck tomorrow and hope to either race with you guys in Cali sometime,
or host you guys in Texas.

cheers,

Mike

[thstone]

This weekend I was given the Corner Worker's Choice award at the PCA Battle of the Bay at Laguna Seca Raceway for avoiding what could have been a pretty bad accident.

The highlights race video will be coming soon!

Be sure to watch the video in full screen HD!

[jaykay]

Ahhhh....you have my vote. Jeez when I saw the guy go down inside hot with no track left on the other side I expected an off but not not that. How many times did he cross the line??

Really good driving Tom!

[stephen wilson]

That's one of my pet peeves, drivers who don't "lock it down" when they've totally lost it. You have to know when to give up, and not become a moving target ! Even the "pro's " are guilty of this.

[Burg Boxster]

Originally Posted by thstone

This weekend I was given the Corner Worker's Choice award at the PCA Battle of the Bay at Laguna Seca Raceway for avoiding what could have been a pretty bad accident.

The highlights race video will be coming soon!

Be sure to watch the video in full screen HD!

Tom, great racing reflexes on your part to prevent an ugly scene... nicely done, sir and a well deserved award.

Race safe!

[thstone]

*** MILESTONE: 100 Track Days! ***

Racing last Sunday at Laguna Seca was officially my 100th track day since I bought a Boxster 4 1/2 years ago. Please allow me a few moments of reflection...

What have I achieved?

Track day competency. Time trial license. 12 time trial wins. DE and Time Trial instructor. POC and PCA race licenses. Two POC track records. One PCA race win. One POC second place. Paid racing sponsorship.

What have I learned?

One doesn't just wake up one morning and say, "I think that I'll commit a majority of my free time for the next 4.5 years to a single endeavor". It all started with one track day - it really is a slippery slope.

Along the way, I became a student of the sport of high performance driving and racing; wanting to learn and experience as many aspects of the sport as I possibly could.

But I have learned more about myself than about performance driving or racing. For me, the experience has been much more mentally and emotionally challenging than physical or financial.

The reality is that learning to race mimics your entire life. Its every emotion, every challenge, every battle, every joy, every burden, every fear, and every blessing. Its raw, its passionate, its painful, its humbling, its freeing, its dizzying, and its ecstasy.

Its all of your years of living wrapped into a 1 minute and 34 second lap. Its like taking a cup of life, pouring it over your head, and letting it wash through your mind and body.

I have never felt more alive than when I get out of the car after driving on a race track.

Maybe Steve McQueen said it best;

[Topless]

Well said and well done!

[Frodo]

Originally Posted by thstone

*** MILESTONE: 100 Track Days! ***

Maybe Steve McQueen said it best;

I always loved that scene. Hadn't seen/heard it for many years...and I could still recite it---nearly word for word---as he said it.

[thstone]

Sorry for the delay - here is video from two weeks ago at the PCA race at Laguna Seca. I started 3rd and finished 3rd but the 1st and 2nd place cars were both penalized so I ended up 1st.

I am not really counting this as my first "official" win due to the technicalities and I was quite happy to simply finish on the podium based on finishing order.

As usual, full screen HD is the way to watch!

[steved0x]

What's up with the Caymans, they rocket away on the straights, but yet they seem to be blocking you over and over and it is the same ones, Especially that green one, at 2:10 you catch him then he rockets away. 2:27 (cut ahead a few laps) you are right back on him.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by steved0x

What's up with the Caymans, they rocket away on the straights, but yet they seem to be blocking you over and over...

Originally Posted by RedTele58

Same question on the Caymans - that green car is a Cayman R - who's grandma is driving that?

If you spend much time on a track in your Boxster, you will find that a well driven Boxster is as fast or in many cases, faster, than many more powerful cars.

This results in the yo-yo effect that you see in the videos: bunched up in the corners but rocketing away on the straights. It just becomes part of the challenge.

But it is nice to keep up or better cars (in total lap times) with much higher horsepower!

And to be honest, I was pretty close to contact with the green car when he parked it in the middle of the corner so unexpectedly.

[RedTele58]

Same question on the Caymans - that green car is a Cayman R - who's grandma is driving that?

Congratulations on your podium finish and your 100 track days - two hard earned and well deserved milestones!

[BruceH]

Outstanding Tom! Congrats on the podium finish, fun to watch!

[Chuck W.]

Your videos are soooo cool. Keep 'em coming.

[stephen wilson]

Looks like fun. You have to watch that "red mist" though, you're pass/spin under a double-yellow (visible that whole straight) is frowned upon ! I've missed a flag myself, and got a talking-to for it. BTW, you're clue to the green flag start was when the last corner dropped the Yellow flags.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by stephen wilson

Looks like fun. You have to watch that "red mist" though, you're pass/spin under a double-yellow (visible that whole straight) is frowned upon ! I've missed a flag myself, and got a talking-to for it. BTW, you're clue to the green flag start was when the last corner dropped the Yellow flags.

Yes, I certainly made a mistake and was not "cautious enough" at the corner where I went off. I talked to Doug (in the green car stuck in the gravel) the next day and personally apologized to him (which he gracefully accepted). Lesson learned.

[thstone]

Hanging out this morning with Magnus Walker at the Pelican Parts Cars&Coffee in Rolling Hills, CA. Magnus caught up to me on the freeway, slowed, pulled up alongside, and we drove to the event together.

Great event. Very low key. Well over 400 cars from 60's muscle to E30 to R32 to a pair of Murcielago's - and a bit of everything else under the sun. Was hoping a 959 would make an appearance but none showed up.

Of course, a ton of Porsche's including my Spec Boxster and Magnus' 911SC hot rod.

[BruceH]

How cool is that Tom! Great picture! Your car looks really good sitting next to his

[RedTele58]

Way cool!