Non stop cost and tweaks on the track, feel ya :/

Looks like plenty of fun you are having there, we are all jealous if you didn't know. Nice thread also! (thx)

In my continuing quest to become a better driver, I have decided to start a karting program and spent yesterday at the kart track.

Yes, that means that I was at the race track Friday and kart track Saturday. All I can say is: My name is Tom Stone and yes, I have an addiction problem. :)

The karts are gas-powered Honda 270cc sport karts with about 9hp. I'll be honest and say that I used to joke about karting being "all of the racing you want at 37 mph!". And yes, I was being sarcastic.

So, why will I be spending time in a kart?

1. Car control
Its a relatively safe way to learn to find the cornering limit and drive there consistently without going over the limit. I believe that I will need to be able to keep the car at the friction limit continuously to get faster.

2. Momentum
Karts are relatively low powered to teach momentum driving which seems like it could translate well to Boxster Spec racing. Less brake, more throttle, maintain maximum momentum.

3. Racecraft
Passing is an art and karting provides nearly continuous opportunities to practice the skill of planning ahead and setting up a competitor for a pass along with defending your own position. This is an area where I definitely need more skill.

As you might have figured out by now, I am pressing hard to improve my racing performance and will do whatever it takes to get there.

Even karting. ;)

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psam6ck316.jpg

Agree with Karting as it hones your race craft. My brother and I did that for several years but haven't been lately. Even Louis Hamilton can be found on a kart track in the off season keeping his reflexes sharp.

Nice save in turn 2. I have been backwards once in that one and it can be hairy. Tires and track get a little greasy mid day, maybe a slight lift just after turn in with tires side loaded and... See ya!

Turn one looked awesome so you carried a lot of speed into 2. Good driving Tom! :cheers:

Thanks Dave. Come on out and join me at at the kart track sometime. It'll be fun.

Great post and video Tom; thanks (again) for posting.

New tires at House Automotive this morning before heading up to Laguna Seca for a weekend of racing!

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8p8hepiq.jpg

Best of luck! Finally getting mine aligned tomorrow so I can get back on track.

Hey Tom, it was good to meet you in person Saturday. I did get a couple of action photos with my cellphone, the first 2 during the session right after we talked, when I was up by the corkscrew, the next 3 are during the qualifier.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1470630296.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1470630320.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1470630341.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1470630361.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1470630374.jpg

Sorry for the twist on the photos from the corkscrew, they aren't sideways on my PC, only on my iPad.

It's always great to meet and talk with another passionate Boxster owner! Thanks for the great photos, I really appreciate them!

Back from a long racing weekend at Laguna Seca - what a rollercoaster!

Details of my weekend coming in the next day or so, but first, a reminder of what can happen - this Boxster had contact with another car and went into the guardrail. The engine cover popped open from the side impact and the engine caught fire. With the engine cover off, the fire came inside the car. Driver was able to get out and was ok. Car is a total loss.

POC met with all of the Spec Boxster drivers and recommended three changes;

1. Get a full containment seat for additional protection in side impacts.
2. Remove the quick disconnect fasteners on the engine cover and replace with bolts to ensure that the engine cover remains in place during an accident.
3. Replace engine cover with metal version if your car has the composite engine cover to provide better fire protection.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9rxdf6fq.jpg

Ugly. BUT on a lighter note - a couple of my SoCal Audi Club friends were out there this weekend in their Boxsters. Bill Vogel was in the tan one that's in one of the pics up top. Karen Robinson has just got a Boxster and not sure in what class she was running. Told her to come say hi to you.

Yes, I know Bill well! We went through POC racing school together and he has been getting progressively faster in his cream Boxster (a color that I love). He out qualified me yesterday but I was able to get past him at the start. He did a great job of keeping close the rest f the race. Bill is a good racer and very consistent driver.

I didn't get to meet Karen, but I will keep an eye out for her in the future.

Small world huh? All the Vogels are great people. Have you seen his R8 GT3 racecar that he picked up?

Bills car is called the MOCHA VENTI color

I have not seen this car - I'll have to get him to show it to me!

Thanks, I was sure that it was named something more sophisticated than "cream"! I really do like that color a lot.

By the way, your new Spec Boxster was looking pretty spiffy too! Post up some pics in the racing section.

Glad that was not you and your car in that accident. For a second, I thought you were talking about your car.

Are you going to be at the POC event at Fontana in Sept?

2014 R8 LMS Ultra GT3

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0...35&oe=581E8E72

Wow! That is nice. Damn nice.

** Laguna Seca Results **

Sorry for the late update on last weekend, but I had a busy week at work. Here are the formal results;

Saturday Race 1:
Qualified 7th of 11
Highest Place: 4th
Finish: DQ (black flagged for excessive sound at 2/3's into the race)

Sunday Race #2:
Qualified 4th of 9
Highest Place: 2nd
Finish: 4th

Overall, I drove and raced well but struggled all weekend with meeting the 92dB sound limit.

I was black flagged repeatedly thru the weekend cutting my practice time to almost nil (2 laps for the entire weekend) and forcing me to qualify while short shifting or staying in the next highest gear to keep the rpm's (and sound) down to an acceptable level.

More on sound to come (and some crazy pictures of what we did to try to mitigate the issue). And of course, racing video!

But when all is said, racing at Laguna Seca is always a great experience since its such a unique track.

Here are a few pic's from the garage...

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps81ivgurx.jpg

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psphgujk7c.jpg

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

This 92dB sound limit adopted by Laguna Seca basically means they are not able to host many pro racing events - such a shame! All they need is a few more law suits from nearby millionaires and it could be the end - one day!

I hear you (haha!) and I understand that it is what it is; but 92dB???

The chart below applies to a person within 40 ft of the source. Google maps says that the closest house to the race track is about 3,000 ft away (6/10ths of a mile).

This means that the goal of 92dB is to meant to set the noise level to be the same as a lawnmower from more than a half-mile.

All I'm saying is that it seems a bit low for a racetrack.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psm1zudxsa.jpg

Actually they have several - I think up to 7 unlimited sound events per year. The rest are either 90dB or 92dB.

The track is owned by Monterey County. Therefore it's limits are set by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. The limits were put into place and more aggressively enforced due to actually one guy who inherited his home in Carmel Valley - a group called the Highway 68 Coalition out of Salinas.

I can pass sound by lifting and running supertrapps on the exhaust. Kills power above 4k but at least it allows me to run there. I've been black flagged once while running the trapps at 94dB. Car is normally around 98dB. I only run there one weekend a year with the Audi Club - the rest of the time I run elsewhere where the sound limits are reasonable.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0...4b&oe=5855CFE5

That's good to know. I love Laguna Seca - We have been going to events there for 20 years. When they had the Ferrari historics it was amazing to hear the F1 cars on the track - the noise was echoing off the surrounding hills! You could hear them all the way around the track.

That track was built in 1957 when there was nothing around there. Then they build homes there and complain about the noise. It is like buying a home under an airport runway approach and then complaining about the noise.

So, here is the story of what we did to reduce the sound over the weekend...

Fix #1/Saturday evening

Weld on a pair of SuperTrapp diffuser's to my existing TopSpeed Pro 1 exhaust. This failed sound on Sunday morning and did really reduce the sound level to any appreciable degree. The red goop is thread locker to keep the diffuser bolts from coming loose.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psrpl8kpga.jpg

Fix #2/Sunday morning

Cut off the SuperTrapp's, weld on an 8" bullet muffler, and weld the SuperTrapp's onto that.

This solution did the trick! Looked like crap, but met the sound requirement without completely restricting the exhaust flow and killing the power. Good enough to get me up to 2nd place in the race and finish 4th. I'll take it. :)

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pscw2xynam.jpg

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

And now, since I Frankenstein'd my TopSpeed, I bought a new TopSpeed and will swap it in next weekend to get back to the original racing setup.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psoayfv8sc.jpg

In the future, all of this could have been avoided by simply buying a used OEM stock Porsche muffler from eBay and bolting it on before the event. The stock exhaust is very quiet without losing much power.

Thanks to Brad Roberts and Vali Motorsports for all of the support! They saved the weekend for me. :cheers:

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6b5f97c4.jpg

It's not the only race course that has these crazy restrictions. Lime rock has the same restriction so I can't run there (90db).

Here are a few pic's from last weekend at Laguna...

On the grid, thumbs up, ready to rock!
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pszwdmni0f.jpg

Leading Paul Young's #17 Dead Pets Racing 911 hard into Turn 5...
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pszbqi9jrh.jpg

Darin Kajoika's #265 chasing me up the hill to Turn 6...
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psczqc3hzr.jpg

Looking tidy coming out of the turn...
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psymnmi4vo.jpg

Using all of the track past the bridge on the uphill to Turn 6...
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psgxqmufsj.jpg

that suit is just getting bigger and bigger

Haha! Thanks, I'll talk that as a compliment! :cheers:

Hey Jay, yes, I will be at the POC event at AutoClub Speedway in Sept - hope to see you there! I'll also be there Friday for practice and coaching.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k522/thstone/Fix2a_zpscw2xynam.jpg
That pic with the exhaust extensions reminds me of the stinger exhaust people would use on the old air cooled VW's. Part of me gets nostalgic for that look and I start to think about adding one to my boxster

Wow, I hadn't thought of those in a long time, but yes, you are exactly right!

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

cool

I'll be there just on Sat with my Son for his first track day.
He will be running the PDS on the infield and I'll be in TA on the roval

Great! I look forward to meeting your son and the infield course is a ton of fun!

Is it known where the microphones for testing are located?? We used to run some VERY loud bikes and adding a 90 degree turn would point the sounds away from the mics. They were always placed in a similar spot on the outside of the track, worked for us at the time.

Yes - in the small building at the exit of Turn 5 as you accelerate up the hill. If they are anticipating a very loud group - they will have a roving sound guy who moves to different point along the track.

As Joe said, just after the exit from Turn 5 as you go up the hill...

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4brk0dvg.jpg

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psnsxliue5.jpg

** Weight Update #5 **

Spec Boxster minimum weight with driver and fuel is 2,650 lbs. My goal is to be able to manage the weight of the car by adjusting the fuel load at the start of a race so I am near the min weight at the end of a race (with some margin for error).

Last weekend, total weight was 2,683 lbs with a 1/4 tank of gas. Subtracting 24 lbs for fuel (6 lbs/gallon x 4 gallons), says that the car/driver weighs 2,658 lbs.

If you remember, weight update #4 had the car/driver at 2,654 lbs with no fuel. Then I removed another 16 lbs (11 lbs for the lexan windshield and 5 lbs from my own weight, so I was predicting the car/driver total to be 2,638 lbs - but got 2,658 (or a difference of 22 lbs).

This means that I am experiencing something like 0.83% variability in weights (8 tenths of one percent). My thinking is that this error is primarily driven by different scale accuracy and fuel gauge accuracy but the error budgets don't add up.

Most scales used for weighing cars say that they are accurate to 0.001% which would be around 3 lbs and the fuel gauge might be off by a gallon, so another 6 lbs of error for a total of 9 lbs, But I am seeing a difference of 22 lbs.

So, I plan to reduce weight by another 13 lbs (22-9) to try and account for the variability on the high side and then get another weight check at the next event to see where I stand. At that point, I should be within the measurement error bounds and if I end up being too light, it is easy to add more fuel to be sure that I am at min weight at the end of a race.