Thanks Chuck! If you're ever interested in trying a track day, let me know. There is something about nearly two hours of seat time per day that is quite enticing.

Here is the video for Race #2 at the California Festival of Speed. In this race, I start last (7th) and work my way up to battle for 3rd but eventually I spin and finish in 4th.

Be sure to watch where a 911 that spun ahead of me tries to re-enter the racing line and almost hits me at 2:20 into the video!

The move that I enjoyed making the most was passing below another car on the NASCAR banking at 6:40 into the video. My car just loves that lower line and sticks like glue!

Again, be sure that the player is set to HD for the best quality. Enjoy!

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Keep the videos coming! Wow 3, 4 abreast maybe one day I will be able to do that!!

Thanks! I have to say that racing is as fun as it looks! :D

Keep at it and you'll be amazed at how quickly your skill level improves. And before you know it, you'll be ready to get out there and mix it up!

And while I have the floor, I'd like to point out that racing doesn't have to be a wreck-fest. If you look at both of the most recent videos, there is a lot of damn close door-to-door racing and I have never had any contact (and it only happens rarely). I think that racing without contact is actually harder than being lazy and nudging or rubbing into someone.

Even more so, this speaks volumes to the QUALITY of the performance driver's training that the POC and PCA provide to their members at no cost! All it takes is a commitment and a willingness to listen and learn.

California Festival of Speed press release from my sponsor, House Automotive;

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Very nice write -up!

Another busy racing weekend with the POC at Willow Springs.

Competition in the Boxster Spec Class was incredible with two former BSR Champions returning to run with us and a semi-pro.

I was slow in the first practice but adjusted the tire pressures for Qualifying and ran a 1:34.7 which was within 0.3 sec of my fastest time ever at this track (1:34.4).

Then I saw that I qualified 6th! WTF? The top 5 were between 1:32.2 - 1:33.4! Those are all near track record times... in Qualifying! This means that if you're not capable of running at near track record times, you'll be running mid-pack..........Oh crap.

To cut to the chase, I started 6th, finished 4th, out of 11 cars. I thought this to be a pretty good result considering the competition.

One note of interest is that my starts are getting much better so I wasn't dropped right at the flag. :)

Another note is that as the group split into two, I was able to stay with the front/fast pack for several laps before being dropped and then driving mostly alone between the two groups for the remainder of the race. This is also quite an improvement as I used to be dropped pretty quickly by the leaders and then had to battle it out mid-pack.

Video is on the way - I have a great shot of me saving a spin in Turn 9 while the car in front of me spins out. With the dust cloud completely obscuring my view, there were a few very worried moments but when I come out of the dust the other car can be seen spinning off to the side.

Later in the day, I also ran as part of a three-car enduro team in the 3-hour Tribute to Le Mans race. Info on that race coming up.

Last note - this is so much freaking fun that some days I can't hardly believe that I get to do this!

Willow Springs
 

Tom--

I heard that Nathan Johnson, driving a new car, set a new track record of 1:32.6 in qualifying (previous record was 1:32.9), putting him on the pole. And then he won the race.

It looks like the temperature was only 74F today, so I'm curious what made the cars so fast.

Any thoughts?

Greg

Hey Greg, it was Anders Hainer who qualified at 1:32.2 and who won the race. Nathan qualified at 1:33.4 and was next to me on the grid in 5th. Link to the qualifying times are below, you have to manually sort by BSR class.

The cool temps partially contributed to the fast times but there was simply a lot of friggin' driving talent in this race: Hainer is a past class Champion, Johnson won BSR two years in a row, Kemper previously held the BSR track record and is now full-time racing MX-5 Cup, and Bermudez is the current class points leader and was the current track record holder.

Put all of that talent together in one place, at one time, and they all rise to their best.

Also, from a competitive point of view, BSR is being taken to the next level. Its not a "beginners class" like some may think; certainly not if you want to run at the front and win. These are guys who have a lot of experience and who are dedicating a lot of time and money to have the best training, equipment, and support. For example, winning cars are passing post-race weight in the single digits! Single digits - that is roughly within 1 gallon of fuel. Me? I finished with 3/8's of a tank on a car that is already 40lbs over. That is how close the details are being managed on some of the cars.

At least, that's my take on it.

I will be up your way for the PCA race at Laguna Seca in early June. :)

2015 POC Tribute Race Qualifying

Last Saturday I Raced Against Porsche Factory Driver Patrick Long

For real, on a track, in real race cars, no joke, no asterisks.

Here is the story...

Late Saturday afternoon following the Sprint race, the POC held their annual Tribute to Le Mans 3-hr enduro. I was on a relay team with two other Boxster's where we each drove our own cars for about 1 hour and then come in and the next person goes out.

There are time handicaps to equalize the difference in cars and between teams so in theory, a Spec Boxster team could beat a team of Cup cars.

Porsche factory race driver Patrick Long was in Los Angeles and one of the teams invited him to the event to drive in a 911 Cup car. He drove during the first stint so we were in the race together for about an hour.

Of course, his car was much faster than my Boxster (about 10 sec's per lap faster) so I never really raced him side by side, but he did pass me twice during the hour. And I am very proud to say that I didn't do anything stupid while he was passing me. You have to relish the small victories friends! :)

All in all, it was very cool to even be in the same race as someone like Patrick Long.

In regards to endurance racing - its hard. An hour was quite a long time to need to focus and maintain my performance level. My goal was consistency in lap times and I had set a goal a few seconds slower than my typical qualifying time. My thinking was that this would be achievable and allow me to settle into a rhythm.

The start was chaotic, but after the first few laps things calmed down and I was basically time trialling while watching the rear view mirror for much faster traffic coming up! It is amazing how much ground a Cup car can gain in just a few seconds against a 2.5L Boxster. And they often blew by about a foot away just to make sure that I was awake!

After an hour, I was physically beat with particular aching in my neck muscles from over-straining them against the g-forces for an hour. Now I know firsthand why NASCAR and Indy drivers use a big head rest on the outside of their seats. Ok, its for safety too but the neck rest must come in handy.

Overall, a great experience despite our team finishing about 2/3's of the way down the entrants list.

Here are a few pic's from last weekend's race...

In the paddock with Tyson Schmidt and Brad Keegan of Pro Motorsports in Burbank...
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Ready to go!
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After the races...
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Here is the highlights video for Race #1 at the POC race last weekend. In this race, I start 6th and finish in 4th.

Be sure to watch me sawing the wheel and another Spec Boxster going off the track and spinning as we both enter a corner too fast at 5:20 into the video!

The move that I enjoyed making the most was passing below the Red 911 in Turn 2 at 6:15 into the video. My car loves those lower lines and sticks like glue!

As always, be sure that the player is set to HD full screen for the best quality. Enjoy!

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Well done for holding on to that tank slapper! Brilliant

Thanks. The interesting thing is that it isn't really a tank slapper; what happens is that as I start to turn in while going way too fast, the tires start to slide so I intentionally unwind the wheel which let's the tires gain grip again; then I re-initiate turn in, and the tires start to slide (again), so I unwind the wheel (again); then I repeat this a third time just as I am coming to the apex.

The reason that I made it though the turn was sliding the tires 2-3 times, even for a moment each time, scrubbed off enough speed to allow me to make the turn exit. Otherwise, had I maintained my original teering input, I would have spun the car on turn entry; or if I opened up the steering such that the car didn't spin, then I would have run off the track at turn exit (as the car in front of me did).

And, you did that all of that in tenths of a second. There is a lot of mental preparation there.

Keep those videos coming. :)

Tom, I really enjoy these videos. Thank you.

I almost bought that black Boxster in front of you, #176, from Dan Aspersi at the Speed Gallery. However, since I wanted to register it with the DMV so I could drive it to the track for DE days, we decided to build a new one.

Well, as you can see, the #176 was pretty fast - especially with two time POC Boxster champion Nathan Johnson at the wheel. Speed Gallery builds fast cars and has a good reputation.

And I completely understand wanting to drive it to/from the track! :) Good luck with your build and let us know how it goes.

Here is a short 2 min video showing out of class traffic. You see this on TV when watching multi-class sports car racing where the insanely fast prototype cars are on the track at the same time as the nearly-insanely fast GT cars.

The same happens in Club racing and being good at negotiating traffic, both faster and slower, without hurting your own pace is a skill all unto itself and one that I am still working on.

If I had it to do over again, I'd have taken the opportunity to pass the red 911 on the inside after he moved up the track. Lesson learned.

As always, full screen HD is the way to go! Enjoy.

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Eeeesh! Watching that guy go off in front of you exiting 9 gave me the cold sweats. You just never know if they will stay clear or hook back into your car going 110 mph. :eek:

Glad you are having fun out there.

Tom - thanks for posting your videos - I replay them numerous times - they work as good training aids for me as I'm getting deeper into track events.

Case in point... back in April you posted a short clip of you spinning the car 180' and then making a smooth recovery back onto the track. I probably watched it half a dozen times making mental notes on how you recovered the car and got back on track in the right direction.

Fast forward a few weeks after you posted the video. It was the second day of a 2 day DE event. My car drove well the first day, but day 2 it was very twitchy and unstable - this after replacing sway bar links and an alignment a few days prior.

I had been forcing myself to drive deeper into a right-hand turn to position the car better going into a short left, right, left S. The car got loose on me as I was deep in the turn and I hesitated a split-second to correct and swapped ends 180'. I quickly corrected and kept the car straight, just facing the wrong way near the edge of the track.

Even as I was recovering the car, it was amazing how quickly I recalled the video of you doing the exact thing and how you recovered. I looked down track - no traffic - so I dropped into first, kicked the car around, and off I went.

When I got back to the pit area several of the guys I was parked with commented on how smooth I recovered the car and got pointed back down track. Chalk one up to you and your video! :cheers:

This weekend I'm back with a fresh re-alignment on the car (the right rear had got out of spec - it drives like it should now). There's a good chance we'll see rain and a wet track this weekend - my first time on a wet track. I'm already "chair flying" the track, focusing on keeping the car as balanced as I can and being as smooth as I can be on the inputs. It should be a fun weekend with some new learning experiences.

Thanks again for all your on and off-line inputs - it's like having my own driving coach. I greatly appreciate your help!

Rick

Well done!

I have had many instructors and drivers who helped me to learn the craft of performance driving and racing. More than happy to pass on whatever others might find of value.

One quick thing to mention about spinning is to be thoughtful about avoiding rolling the car backwards while in gear. Generally, this isn't good for an engine so its worth keeping in the back of your mind because it can happen fairly easy.

When I feel that I'm not going to be able to save the slide and she's coming around, I try to get the clutch in to keep the motor running and to prevent the aforementioned backwards roll. Then its easy to take off quickly when the coast is clear!

First of three days at Laguna Seca!

Today was practice. I was about 1.5-2 seconds behind the leader in Boxster Spec in the first session. My car has been tending towards feeling loose so we softened up the rear sway bar for the second session to get the rear to stick better. The car was definitely tighter in the next session but it wasn't faster, so maybe there is some truth to the old saying that "loose is fast!". I'm going back to the earlier sway bar setting for tomorrow's qualifying and race.

Oh, and I was having so much fun out there that I actually yelled in my helmet during the first session. :)


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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. :)

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

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!

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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!

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.

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

Race safe!

*** 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;

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:cheers:

Well said and well done!

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. :)

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!

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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.

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! :cheers:

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

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.

Your videos are soooo cool. Keep 'em coming.

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.