boxster and gravel roads

[JTP]

When I was living back home on Maui there was a guy who had a 914 with a Chevy 327 in it and it was set up like a rally car. He used to drive it on the beach all the time and never got stuck. A Boxster might be able to be setup like that too. You'll propably have to do alot of custom work though.

[Topless]

Anything can be done with enough $$ but do you really want to?? There are a lot of tender spots on the underside that will need protection, the engine bay cooling comes from underneath bringing up all the dust and dirt. You will want to raise the car 6" or so for better clearance. The air intake is behind the front wheels so it should be relocated for clean air. Take a look at some of the Targa Newfoundland builds to get ideas:
http://www.targanewfoundland.com/drivers/cars/

Before you break out the cutting torch and diamond plate:

Drive a Cayenne. Amazing car on and off road.
Drive a Toureg. Down market Cayenne with VW badge.
Drive a Subaru. A lot of car hidden in that vanilla sled exterior.

[JTP]

Now this looks like fun! Seems like there's more Boxster/Cayman rally cars than I originally thought. Quite a few GT3 rally cup cars too.

But Topless has a point, do you really want to do this to YOUR car? If I had disposable income I definitely would but I'm that fortunate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3U_NNnNAJ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8vX6VHKvxM&feature=related

Here's the guy's car, interestingly the car weights 986 kgs.:
http://homepage.virgin.net/shalco.com/boxster_rally_car.htm

[stephen wilson]

How rough is rough? Many "simple" things can be done: stregthened skid plates, large mud-flaps to protect the body, fine wire screens on all inlets, taller profile tires. Be carefull of gravel getting stuck in the brake clipers.If the roads aren't deeply rutted, you don't need to increase the ride height too much. I'm not sure about suspension durability. I'd seek a rally website to look for more information.

[ekam]

It's cheaper to get a subaru.

Boxster chassis is a bit much for gravel IMO.

[The Radium King]

thanks for the replies, folks. while the roads are not that rough where i'm going, the boxster doesn't leave a lot of room for error. i was basing my thinking on 911 rally development, where not a lot of extra height was required. the boxsters, however, have all those unprotected cooling and clutch lines under the car. i remember when some pals and i rented a vw 'city golf' in windhoek and put 5000 namibian kms on it in a week. while it was all gravel and pavement (ie, no offroad driving) by the time we were done we'd torn off a fuel line, the doors were packed full of dust and wouldn't operate, and the stereo had rattled itself into a complete state of panic.

sounds like more of a job than just stiffening the chassis (cage, strut braces) and tweaking the suspension for an additional 1" of clearance. i guess the wife is getting the xc70 after all (... but i've heard good things about the 928 suspension, and 928's got big guns and are cheap like borscht; mebbe there's room for a toy for me in this equation ...).

[JTP]

Originally Posted by The Radium King

i remember when some pals and i rented a vw 'city golf' in windhoek and put 5000 namibian kms on it in a week.

Reminds me of my trips to Namibia and the last time I was there I also rented a CitiGolf and seeing that most of the roads in the country are gravel the car got pretty dusty like you described your rental. Avis had the nerve to charge me to 'valet' clean the car!