Boxster S as Track/Daily

[thstone]

A Boxster is a great daily/track day car and generally they can take quite a bit of pushing but remember that the early S models are now 15 yrs old and that means that you'll either want to buy a car that has been very well maintained or you'll have to catch up on any maintenance or repairs that were deferred by the previous owner. Parts and labor can be expensive so its worth it to DIY as much as you can to keep the costs down. Beyond that, tires and brakes will be your biggest replacement costs if you track the car much.

Required upgrades depend primarily on experience. If you're a track novice, you can easily get by with a completely stock car for quite awhile. A stock Boxster has an amazing amount of capability. If you're an intermediate or advanced driver, then you may want to think about larger brake cooling ducts from the 996 GT-3, the aforementioned under drive pulley, high temp brake fluid, street/track brake pads, and sticky street tires like the Hankook RS-3 or similar model tires.

One track constraint is that the stock suspension is limited in the amount of negative camber that can be set. Again, depending on how experienced you are, there may not be enough adjustability to avoid rapid wear of the outer portion of the tires on the track. If this is the case, the are several ways to increase the adjustability but suspension changes can get expensive.

Last, the word "expensive" is all relative. If you're a billionaire, then tracking a Boxster will seem incredibly cheap. If you can barely afford ramen noodles, then you might find it horribly expensive. In relative terms, tracking a Boxster will definitely be much more expensive than a Miata, but quite a bit less than a classic air-cooled 911.