Spec Boxster Build

[itsnotanova]

You could always join WRL. Most of the boxsters in that series started off as 2.5 spec boxsters. Pretty much all of them have switched motors to the 2.7 or 3.2 with six speeds and S brakes. WRL has a LOT more seat time and no 13's. Even without the 13, I don't see them getting wrecked anymore than spb. Don't quote me on this but I think the track fees are cheaper too(per seat time). I love WRL and that would be the series I would race in if I were to start racing. I guess the only downside for you is that they don't really race on the west coast. You don't really need to use your car though as most of the teams rent out spaces for races. You have to sign up early as spots are usually filled within a month of the race. I think each team has 3-5 drivers per 8 hour race. They just finished a 24 race and might have more per car for that race. If you or anyone else is interested, PM me and I can get you in contact with a few teams. They would love to have someone who knows their way around a boxster. Even more if you have a winning history

[bkovac]

Thanks for the compliment Tom, we all passed Nigel a long time ago

[NigelT]

Originally Posted by bkovac

Thanks for the compliment Tom, we all passed Nigel a long time ago

I hooked out my copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but could find no mention of the alternative universe to which you refer, Branimir.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by thstone

Ok, this thread has been a little slow this summer while I've been looking into a couple of racing opportunities that came my way and trying to decide what to do (I know, 1%'er problems for sure!)

The first opportunity that came along was to go endurance racing with a team that fields a Spec E46. I met the owner of the car earlier this year when I hired him to coach me and as we continued to keep in touch, he asked if I wanted to sell my Boxster and buy a Spec E46 or join him and share his car at endurance races.

This took me down the Spec E46 path pretty deeply and since one of my goals has always been to go racing around the country at some of the great tracks like Lime Rock, VIR, Daytona, COTA, Road America, etc., this looked like one way to make that happen. Plus, I have a great affinity to the BMW E46 after having previously owned two E46's. Great cars and fun to drive.




The second opportunity was to join my friend and previous POC Spec Boxster champion Alex Bermudez racing Spec Racer Ford (SRF) with the SCCA. A really nice SRF had become available where I could sell the Boxster, buy the SRF, and probably pocket some cash. If you're not familiar with SRF, here is an info link (Spec Racer Ford ) and a pic of Alex in his car;




After much thought and consideration, I ultimately decided to stay in Boxster Spec for the same reasons that I didn't move to an air-cooled 911 race car last year - I'm still not at the top of the Boxster Spec class so that means that I 'm still not ready to move up or out.

So, its back to Spec Boxster racing starting on Sept 9/10 at AutoClub Speedway in Fontana!

Tom,

You can still race all the cool tracks...

That's my plan for 2019. 2018 I'll start SPB, primarily after my daughter heads
off to school.

I will also race Chump/WRL endurance with my buddy in whatever he prepares as a semi-arrive and drive. Lots of seat time, team unity, good times.

I'm hoping over time there will be a group of SPB folks who "travel" so that there will be a camaraderie of road course warriors.

When you come to CoTA -- let me know!

Mike

[seningen]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

You could always join WRL. Most of the boxsters in that series started off as 2.5 spec boxsters. Pretty much all of them have switched motors to the 2.7 or 3.2 with six speeds and S brakes. WRL has a LOT more seat time and no 13's. Even without the 13, I don't see them getting wrecked anymore than spb. Don't quote me on this but I think the track fees are cheaper too(per seat time). I love WRL and that would be the series I would race in if I were to start racing. I guess the only downside for you is that they don't really race on the west coast. You don't really need to use your car though as most of the teams rent out spaces for races. You have to sign up early as spots are usually filled within a month of the race. I think each team has 3-5 drivers per 8 hour race. They just finished a 24 race and might have more per car for that race. If you or anyone else is interested, PM me and I can get you in contact with a few teams. They would love to have someone who knows their way around a boxster. Even more if you have a winning history

I know several teams were short on drivers at the 24@5280.

IMHO, the best way to do this is find a group you like and a car you like and "join the team".

I got lucky -- my primary team is fantastic, it's practically extended family.
I also have a secondary team that fields a well prepared, competitive car (E46).

Mike

[thstone]

Originally Posted by seningen

I know several teams were short on drivers at the 24@5280.

IMHO, the best way to do this is find a group you like and a car you like and "join the team".

I got lucky -- my primary team is fantastic, it's practically extended family.
I also have a secondary team that fields a well prepared, competitive car (E46).

Mike

Woody and Mike - Thanks, and yes the BMW opportunity was with a team who just ran the 24 at High Plains and finished pretty well. I am still hoping to join them at one or two races before the end of the year.

[thstone]

Final clean-up and prep of the House Automotive Spec Boxster this morning for racing at AutoClub Speedway this weekend!

Also, recent new motor mount and transmission mounts. I finally swapped over to the Wevo semi-solid mounts for both the engine and transmission to stiffen up any movement of the drivetrain. There is more NVH than with the OEM mounts but I am willing to live with it on the commute to/front the track in exchange for better handling.

Note: I wouldn't recommend the installation of semi-solid mounts on a street car; the increase in NVH is pretty significant.

[Greg Holmberg]

I've heard that the semi-solid transmission mounts (but not the semi-solid engine mount) can trigger the knock sensors leading to reduced power. Is there any truth to this?

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Greg Holmberg

I've heard that the semi-solid transmission mounts (but not the semi-solid engine mount) can trigger the knock sensors leading to reduced power. Is there any truth to this?

I have heard that the semi-solid motor mount can trigger the knock sensors.

I have heard that the semi-solid transmission mounts can trigger the knock sensors.

I have heard that the semi-solid motor mount will do it but not the semi-solid transmission mounts.

And now, you've heard that the semi-solid trans mounts will do it but not the semi-solid motor mount.

Not sure who to believe since all of this info came from what I would consider to be reputable sources.

Only one way to find out....

[bkovac]

lets get Nigel to try it out

[thstone]

There was some great racing over the weekend at AutoClub Speedway with the POC!

Details and video to come. Here is what T3 looked like on the first lap of yesterday's race... (we're coming off the T2 banking to make a hard left into the infield portion of the track).

I made it through unscathed and moved up from 10th to 4th. Unfortunately, I had a mechanical issue that slowed me and ultimately caused to the pull off before the end of the race.

[bkovac]

was Nigel involved or the cause of that??

[thstone]

Here is the video from the first lap of Sunday's race where the second car (West) rear-ends the car in front (Siegal) which turns him into traffic (Weiderholt) on the left thereby creating a melee at the entrance to Turn 3 (which is a hard left into the infield).

I slowed and then followed a couple of other cars through the middle of the mess. After starting 10th, I came thru in 4th!

Unfortunately, I had a problem where I couldn't turn off traction control and so TC would engage in every corner and substantially slow me so I dropped back a few more places before pulling off early after putting my left rear tire off the track at the exit of Turn 4 into a huge pot hole and possibly damaging my suspension.

As always, best viewed full screen in 1080p with sound!

[PaulE]

Thanks Tom, living vicariously through your videos and looking forward to my next HPDE at VIR as a greenie!

[steved0x]

I've heard the combo of ss trans and ss engine mounts combined cause the knock sensors to trigger. I personally have the wevo ss trans mounts, and apart from a vibration at idke, almost like a back massage, I find there is minimal increase in nvh. I also know some folks like Woody that installed the wevo ss engine mount and got tons of nvh and swapped back to OEM...

[thstone]

In regards to the semi-solid engine and trans mounts, as you can see in the video I clearly kept pace with all of the other cars during the full throttle run down the front straight and through the banking (Spec Boxsters never brake for the banked turns - its WOT all the way), so I don't think that there was any issue with ignition timing being retarded due to NVH with the knock sensors at this or any other time through the weekend.

But with that being said, I just bought an OEM engine mount and will install it just to make sure that I don't have the issue crop up in some future race.

[thstone]

I wanted to mention more detail on the "mechanical" issue that I had all weekend - it wasn't really mechanical but electrical where strange things kept cropping up;

First, the engine wouldn't reliably start when I turned the key. Sometimes I'd turn the key and get ... nothing. Then cycle the key off and back to start and it would start. I never had to do this more than twice but it still created anxiety each time that i need to go out to grid and especially before each of the races. More worry, stress, and tension isn't what you want just before a race!

Next, my fuel gauge was displaying erroneous (and somewhat random) fuel levels which resulted in putting in way too much fuel and carrying a lot of extra weight. My goal was to start each race at just under 1/2 tank so I'd finish with fuel at 1/8 - 1/4 of a tank. Instead, I wound up finishing races with 1/2 tank which meant that I was carrying an extra 50 lbs. Looking on the bright side of things, I suppose that putting in too much fuel was better than not having enough and running out during a race!

Last, I have a dash switch that turns off traction control (TC) that I hit every time before I go onto the track. The early TC was fairly simplistic in its implementation (as compared to today's PSM) and as such, it doesn't allow much sliding of the car which in turn, slows the car noticeably in corners and kills lap times. The problem was that despite using the switch at least 30 times, the TC wouldn't turn off.

The only option left would have been to turn off the engine, re-start, and then try turning off TC to see if power cycling the ECU would have helped. However, i felt that this wasn't a safe operation in the middle of a race (plus remember that I was already having starting issues so the last thing that I wanted to do during a race was to turn off the car!).

So I raced with TC on until I put the left rear wheel off into the dirt at the Turn 4 exit where there is a huge pothole. This bent the wheel which caused me to come off the track before the end of the race. For what its worth, I drove it home on the bent wheel.

I am not sure what caused all of these electrical issues at the same time, but I figure that replacing the ignition switch can't hurt so I'll be doing that over the next few days to see if that might be the cause.

[Greg Holmberg]

Originally Posted by thstone

In regards to the semi-solid engine and trans mounts, as you can see in the video I clearly kept pace with all of the other cars during the full throttle run down the front straight and through the banking (Spec Boxsters never brake for the banked turns - its WOT all the way), so I don't think that there was any issue with ignition timing being retarded due to NVH with the knock sensors at this or any other time through the weekend.

But with that being said, I just bought an OEM engine mount and will install it just to make sure that I don't have the issue crop up in some future race.

So, remind me--you currently have semi-solid mounts on both the engine and trans, right?

So you've concluded it there's no downside to them (no loss of engine power), but did you find a benefit? Better throttle response? Better handling?

Would you recommend using semi-solid mounts or not? What are your reasons?

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Greg Holmberg

So, remind me--you currently have semi-solid mounts on both the engine and trans, right?

Correct, both engine and transmission are semi-solid mounts.

Originally Posted by Greg Holmberg

So you've concluded it there's no downside to them (no loss of engine power), but did you find a benefit? Better throttle response? Better handling?

No loss of power that I could discern in wheel to wheel racing. The increase in NVH was substantial and readily noticeable but not so uncomfortable that this would cause me to switch back to the OEM mounts based on increased NVH alone. Please note that this is for a race car this is only driven to/from the track. I'd never want this in a street car.

I did not notice any benefit either. The car felt the same in terms of handling/throttle response and my lap times were consistent with the lap times that I posted in April at this same track (within the range of my ability to achieve consistent lap times, differences in tire wear, track temps, air temps, phase of moon, etc).

Originally Posted by Greg Holmberg

Would you recommend using semi-solid mounts or not? What are your reasons?

At this point, I'd have to say that it may not matter for someone at my level of driving skill since I couldn't notice a difference. Theoretically, the semi-solid mounts should help handling but maybe its differences of one-tenth here and two-tenths there while I am still chasing 1.0+ second differences.

I plan to keep the semi-solid mounts in for my next planned race with PCA at Willow Springs in two weeks so I'll have another data point from that race.

But after that race I am going back to the OEM engine mount while leaving in the semi-solid transmission mounts with the goal of eliminating ANY chance of loss of power yet get whatever benefit in handling that might be gained from the semi-solid transmission mounts. This is the more traditional Spec Boxster configuration.

[thstone]

I have been busy repairing my car from September's race. As I was exiting Turn 4 at AutoClub Speedway in Sunday's race, I put two wheels off into the dirt. Usually, this isn't a big deal - just ease up on the throttle, keep the wheel straight, and ease the car back onto the track.

However, there is now a HUGE pothole right where the gaiter ends from so many drivers doing this same thing. I hit the pothole with both left side wheels and could feel it through the whole car. Right away I could hear a strange rumbling sound so I slowed and then exited the track (ending my race).

Back in the pits, I took a look at the suspension but didn't see anything obviously damaged or bent so I drove the car home in the slow lane (still rumbling all the way).

The next day I put it on the lift and still didn't see any obvious damage, so I took it for a short drive and sure enough, still a pretty bad rumble that was speed related.

The car went back onto the lift and I pulled the left side wheels and sure enough, they both were bent!

I put two of my spare wheels on and took it for a drive and it drove and sounded fine. So I parked the car and went about other things.

A few days later, I noticed a puddle of oil under the engine. Uh oh. That can't be good. Back onto the lift and found that the oil pan had a big scrape where the oil pan hit the ground when the car bottomed out over the pothole and the oil pan was cracked around the center rear bolt flange. That pan must have really flexed upward when the car bottomed out!

Did I mention that I bought that I had previously bought a skid plate from Steve (steved0x) to protect the deep sump from exactly this type of incident but that I never got around to installing it? Uh yeah, its true (walking away with head hung low....) And Steve, being the gentleman that he is, didn't even make fun of me on Facebook when I posted these pic's (and I probably deserved some ribbing).

New oil pan and skid plate are ready to install this weekend.



Front wheel and rear wheel photos along with crack in oil pan...