Wow, what a great present! :dance: Any chance they'd let you slap a go-pro on the roll bar and record the fun for posterity? I'd love to live that experience vicariously.

When I was at PEC this year, they wouldn't let me record anything. Although my instructor did use my phone to record a short clip of me failing to catch a spin, but told me not to post to any social media lol

I did two sessions at PECLA last June for my bday. I had a blast. The restaurant was fantastic. The butter patties are shaped like little 911s...

You guys must get really good at gauging dust/sand and available traction.....I found myself clenching a little watching the side by side in turns, on sand.

Yes, its intense! No doubt about it. At this point, I have a pretty good idea of what's happening with the tires but thanks to karting, I am also pretty confident in handling the car though whatever track conditions that we might encounter.

For example, at 2:55 into the video as we head into Turn 1, I make a couple of pretty big steering corrections to keep the car heading in the right direction when I drive though the sand that's been thrown onto the track by other cars. That was all muscle memory. If you had asked me about it before I watched the video, I wouldn't have even remembered making those steering corrections. All of my attention was on the other cars and where I wanted to place the car in the turn. Karting can't be beat for drilling basic handling skills deep into your brain so they become second nature.

Thus, I'll be at the kart track tomorrow for practice and then I'm doing a 1 hr kart race on Saturday morning. No easier or cheaper way to get seat time. It's not a perfect replacement for the car, but it's a great way to work on certain key driving skills that do translate into the car.

From my very limited past experience, yes; karts are the cheapest racing seat time there is! I find that the intensity is much higher than your average door slammer experience.

From my limited seat time, two things really stand out. On the car control side: reaction to oversteer becomes instantaneous and instinctive; your hands get fast. Granted your but is right down there on the frame but still. I didn't normally lift either as three guys would pass you if you did.

On the mental processing side: racing experience is very fast paced and intense by comparison so you will be more than ready to keep up climbing back into sports cars

I was supposed to be racing at Willow Springs this weekend but decided to sit this one out. It was raining hard this morning and I would have had a 90 min drive in pouring rain with no windows and no windshield wipers and then raced most of the day in the rain.

I've raced in light rain, fog, and even light snow flurries before but us SoCal drivers don't get a lot of wet driving practice and it looked like a good way to hit someone or go off and damage the car without a lot of benefit.

So, I'll edit a video from December that been waiting for me to have some time to get to it...

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02/Rain1549151472.jpg

Yeah that looks like the edge of the polar vortex we are in up here......

Oddly enough, we've been unseasonably warm here in utah for the last week. Typically this time of year we have snow cover and single digits. But today felt like 70f. I've had the A/C on in my office!
Been out in my shorts and sleeves all day.

Alas.... this comes to an end tomorrow. Cold coming- back in with a vengeance.

At least I got a couple days with the top down.


Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

All seriousness aside....

Tom they have a new invention known as a trailer.

Just messin with you my friend. :cheers:

Don't blame you at all for taking a pass in that weather

Lol! Maybe someday!

Since racing in January was rained out (for me), I did a one-hour karting race last Saturday and then got sick again (3rd illness since Jan 1st!) I had planned to race tomorrow with the Alfa Romeo Club at Willow Springs but its going to be a weekend at home resting up so I can make it to Buttonwillow in two weeks.

In lieu of racing video from tomorrow, here is a race video from December's Willow Spring event with the POC.

In this race, the officials throw a yellow at the start but two cars behind me still go at the flag (even though its yellow) and come up fast through the field. We re-group and try again.

We get the green on the second try, but at Turn 1 another car passes me on the outside and I'm the filling in the middle resulting in minor contact with the car on the outside. We race on and everything was ok.

After the race, the officials reviewed the video and determined that the contact was a "racing incident" with too many cars trying to occupy the same space and neither of us was penalized for the contact. However, the same car was black flagged for being out of line at the start and had to go into the pits for a stop and go penalty.

This video also features the start of the entire field taken from the grandstands at Turn 1 to give you an idea of what it looks like as a spectator. Thanks to Andy Wong for capturing and sharing the video.

As usual, full screen HD with sound is the best experience!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/86cfiLOgG1Y" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Great video.

Does your series have a "13/13" rule?

Do you own or rent your go-cart?

Get well. Drink lots of orange juice and get plenty of rest.

Yes, both the PCA and POC have 13/13 rules for contact. That is why it was important for the officials to review the video to determine root cause, fault, and penalty.

In this case, the officials decided that the minor contact was unavoidable with that many cars side-by-side in Turn 1. Thus, no penalties were levied.

The "damage" was pretty minor - I spent 5 mins buffing the rubber marks out of the right front wheel and spent $200 to have the alignment checked.


I rent a 270cc sport kart (Sodi RX250 with Honda 9hp engine). They are a lot of fun to drive and are great at teaching/reinforcing many of the fundamentals that transfer into a car on a track.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1550945444.jpg


Thanks, I appreciate the good advice!

Looking good Tom! It's a pain but recommend a rib brace / protector if you don't already have one under your suit. The edge of the seat does cut and slam hard into the ribs if you get stuck in a first corner pile up.....which can happen a fair bit if you routinely qualify midfield :D.

Is it my imagination or are your racing speeds ( and competitors) getting incrementally faster with every video. The outside guys move appears to be a little too aggressive for the tarmac available ......on video anyway. It looks like you were holding a constant line.

Yes, the level of competition in Boxster Spec is continually increasing. Track records continue to be broken running the same equipment spec. Lap times that used to put a driver in the Top 5 are barely middle of the pack now. When I first started racing, Boxster Spec was kind of a "starter" class, now its the class with biggest fields and the most competitive driving. Often GT class drivers will rent a SPB to race with us and they end up 4th-6th. The level of competition is really challenging.

Thanks, I was doing my best! And I assume that all of my competitors are doing the same. Starts are a great opportunity to make up a few positions and sometimes what looks like the perfect opportunity ultimately isn't so perfect. To grow as a driver, you have to try something new. We're all trying to improve our racecraft so I try to cut everyone a lot of slack and hope that they will cut me the same slack when the time comes. Racing is an incredibly humbling experience.

Thanks for the advice! I have seen other drivers wearing those but do not yet have one. I will have to look into one.

After seeing a few other Boxster's with the new 718-style LED tail lights, I decided to go that route. I think they give the car a bit of an updated look and they go with the black paint pretty well.

The new units appear to be very good quality. Installation was literally plug & play and I was done in less than 15 mins.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1551234792.jpg


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1551234822.jpg


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1551234892.jpg

That is looking really sharp! I had no idea those existed.

For anyone interested, lots of info in this thread in the General section: http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/74334-718-style-tail-lights-interest.html

Regularly $640, but $563 with group buy. Yikes. That seems like a lot for a race car that might end up getting crunched on any given weekend.

What do the stock ones cost?

If you're selling your old stock ones, I'll buy the right-side one.

Greg

@thstone - they look spot on - nicely done!

@GH - Funny, I inquired w/ thstone last week regarding same. Told me $640 but suspect he'll let go to you now though for $565. ;)

LOL - Nice job insulting the guy then asking for a favor... :rolleyes:

Yeah to me it looks like 318 came down on you and touched while you were constant with your direction, and at 3:30 when you went for the inside pass and got fully beside him? it looked like he came down and chopped you and you had to back out of the pass. Or did you have to slow due to holding the inside tighter line and not getting the full radius?

That looks intense!

Let me start by saying that competitive racing is pretty aggressive and none of us are professional so most of our moves have good intent but might not be perfectly executed.

With that being said, I don't think that I got quite alongside/door-to-door with the 318; I was still a bit behind him at turn in. Not a lot behind, but enough to matter. It would have been better if I had been able to get truly alongside or just a bit ahead of him at turn in. Regardless, I had a good run on him so I kind of stuffed my nose in there anyway (its aggressive) to see what he would do.

And he did exactly what he should do and that is drive his line and not just give me the inside line. So I don't think that he chopped me at all. He was ahead at turn in and his expected line was to come down aggressively towards the apex. I knew that and he knew that. So, rather than force the issue, after his initial move towards the apex, I backed out to avoid him and he actually opened up his line to avoid me.

Since I was on the inside and momentarily lifted, that killed my momentum whereas he was able to roll through the corner faster on the outside and was a few car lengths ahead of me after corner exit.

Aggression AND cooperation on the part of both drivers goes a long way to create a great racing experience. Without much aggression (or intensity or whatever you want to call it), all you have left is cooperation and that is more like time trialing. Conversely, aggression without cooperation will result in chaos and damaged cars. Put both together and it can be an amazing experience.

Also, I have raced side by side with Branimir in the 318 on many occasions and we both know and trust each other.


The level of intensity is almost impossible to explain.

It's also one of the most rewarding feelings in the world. On most days, I can't believe that I actually get to do this.

Yeah, they were a little pricy but I really liked them!

Plus the right hand unit had stopped working so I was either going to have to repair it or replace it anyway.

There is a 12% group buy discount for everyone here on the forum. I assume that is why the price is lower. Just type in "986forum" into the discount code box at checkout.

RedTele58, thanks for the nomination!

This thread was started to tell the story of how anyone could go from Boxster owner to Boxster racer. It's been an incredible journey and I really do appreciate all of the support from everyone here at the 986Forum.

I'm writing this from a hotel since I'll be racing at Buttonwillow this weekend!

http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-general-discussions/74725-post-your-diy-build-forum-contest.html

Racing at Buttonwillow last weekend was great! I ran mid-pack in all three races but there were 20-some Boxsters so lots of competition all over the track. I had some epic battles and posted my best times ever (I still have a lot of work to do on that track but I'm seeing improvement every time I race there).

Here is a short video clip from the good folks at CaliPhotography to give you an idea of what it all looks like as we head into Turn 1...


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BZPebnYlVmk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thanks for sharing Tom. Quick question - I see an early 911 and a 924 or 944 in that otherwise Spec Boxster race. I could see them being allowed to go out on the track but not part of the competition, but couldn't they also disrupt the competition if they are being lapped or multiple cars are trying to pass them? Asking as an ignorant non-racer!

yessir, as taught in race school - person ahead at turn-in gets to maintain the racing line and other guy has to get out of the way. not sure about where you run, but 'dive bombing' is frowned upon up here (ie, late braking at turn-in to gain position).

Gotcha, hard to see in the video (it is much different in real life isn't it :cheers: )

Mixed class fields are very common (in fact I have never raced only SPB, even at COTA with 36 SPBs, we had a 65 car field) -- technically you are only racing within your class.

You are gridded based on lap times, which will typically congregate like cars together.

But it is not unusual for the classes to be mixed even at grid. Faster drivers of a slower class are often rear to mid pack of the next class up. This can create some interesting dynamics where
"slower cars" are side by side racing with their class, with faster cars who are also racing. Usually after a few laps, this sorts itself out.

During sprints, lapping typically only occurs with the fastest cars in a run group -- and that can have issues is folks don't play nicely, but you learn how to be lapped (or lap) and without significantly affecting either lap times. However, using traffic to your advantage is just part of the racing tool chest.

(novice PCA racer, joe average endurance chump)

Mike

In fact in my NOLA Sprint 2 race, it was gridded by the Sprint 1 race times. I had some fuel relay issues, so my car would cut in/out at times -- so my gridding was behind some 944s. Somehow, probably same mechanical issues, a GT3 was gridded behind me. He passed me on the start but I tucked behind him through some slower sections knowing that he'd "push" open a path that I could slip stream behind him -- which is what happened -- unfortunately, the point where he broke through, I couldn't accelerate to keep on his bumper, and the door closed before I could get through. So much for good plans...

Mike

Turn 1 of a Club Race at COTA is a sight to behold. Cars go 4 or 5 wide and a couple of rows deep into the turn but rarely everyone survives.

Thank you. I assumed that the Spec Boxster class was so popular it would always only be a single class race.

Good question!

Mike provided a great response but I'll expand on that further because the POC and PCA do things differently.

As Mike said, the PCA grids the race start based on lap time and not class. Thus, all of the classes are mixed together.

In this format, you "race" who ever is around you regardless of class. This makes for some interesting racing because your car might be faster in certain sections of the track and another car that posts similar overall lap times can be faster in other parts of the track.

I have often been "stuck" behind a higher horsepower car that corners slower so I catch up and get held up in the corners but then lose ground on the straights. Again, as Mike said, learning to deal with this is part of racing and eventually it all kind of works out.

The POC places SCR (Spec Carrera Racer which is like Spec 911), Spec Boxster, and the slower GT5, GT-6, and GT-7 cars into our own race and grids by lap time within each class. This means that the SCR's are all gridded together first, then comes all of the Spec Boxster's, and then GT-5, GT-6, and GT-7 brings up the rear of the field.

But more importantly, the POC does a SPLIT START with the SCR's typically starting first with the Spec Boxster's starting about 1/3 of a lap behind the SCR's. This means that the Starter throws two green flags; one to start the SCR race and a second green flag to start the Spec Boxster/GT5,6,7 race.

Eventually, the fastest SCR's will lap most of the Spec Boxster field but it allows for tight racing within your class for about 3/4 of a race. This makes for very exciting wheel to wheel racing within a class.

Now, in this specific race where the video was shot, the SCR's started at the back of the Spec Boxster field (sort of like inverting the field). That is why you see 911's and 944's behind 986's at the start.

If Spec Boxster continues to grow, I can envision a time when Spec Boxster will have their own dedicated race without any other classes on the track.

Hope this helps.

It was a great help Tom, thanks for the explanation. (Especially for a guy like me who has to keep giving others passing signals in HPDE!)

That is a skill that never goes away! I often give cars that are substantially faster (like the SCR cars), a point by so they know to go ahead and take a corner. This helps them get by quickly and helps me to maintain my momentum so I don't lose ground on the other Spec Boxster's. Then I'll get on the SCR's bumper and try to let them drag me along to a couple of fast corners before they pull away.

Here is another external video from Buttonwillow! It gives you another perspective of what the racing really looks like...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y5VjL4cgPAM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>