My Boxster racing car story
 

Just realised that it is over a year since I last posted an update on my racing fun, over here - http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/31844-hello-new-member.html

Thought I would give an update and continue in the correct location :cool:

So, my last post was early in in the 2012 season after the crash at Ahvenisto. To shorten the story and get us closer and up-to-date. I and the CoolCava Racing team had a great season. As a team we took 1st, 2nd and 3rd overall in the Sports Cup and 2nd overall in the GT3 Cup Trophy. Personally I took 1st in class and 2nd overall which I think is not to bad for my 2nd year racing :)

The not so bad part was that during the season I had two accidents. The first one I noted in the other thread when I took a corner wrong and ended up in the tire wall. The second time was another driver that failed to take a corner and drove straight into the side of my car. So by the end of the season I had damage to both sides of my car :( This is how my car looked by the end of the 2012 season...

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367314422.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367314435.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367314451.jpg

But as someone who does try to always look on the bright side, I decided to see this as an opportunity for improvements, and generated a nice long project list for the winter and to get ready for the 2013 season - which starts at the end of next week :)

During the winter I did the following with the help from some great friends:
.- reprogrammed the DME with a race focused tune - will dyno next Monday.
.- Removed the factory 6 speed transmission and installed a 5 speed for better gearing.
.- Installed custom KW racing suspension

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/KW1367314749.jpg


.- Installed a load of nice suspension upgrades from Tarett and ER

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/ER1367314846.jpg


.- Got new (wider) wheels

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367314893.jpg

And a long list with smaller upgrades, and repairs including several alterations to the bodywork - I did after all have crash damage to fix.

If we now move to current status, the car is all ready for first race excluding getting the livery installed which is still getting cut... Here is some current pictures.


http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/car11367315092.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/car21367315105.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/car31367315119.jpg

More to come after first race end of next week.

As always, please feel free to follow the fun here:
.- Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/CoolCavaRacing
.- Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/coolcavaracing
.- Google+ @ http://www.plus.google.com/b/114073920827359140780

Nicely done Kroggers, you should really enjoy the new suspension.
I had the KWv3 on another car and just loved it, there's so much tuning latitude.
Hope you have a great season.

What size of wheels and tires did you select? Did you drive on Cup tires last year or are they also a new upgrade?

Car looks great!

Looks great - that front splitter looks awsome.

Good luck with your season.

Looks great! Is that car right hand drive?

Wow that looks mean!

Thank you all for the nice feedback, hope she drives as good as she looks :D

These are a custom set made in partnership between KW and SVP in the UK to fit the Boxster - they are not a direct fit as they use the Cayman housing, so you need to widen the uprights a bit to make them fit. Not sure if they will also do a direct bolt on version? But they have the KW racing internals, sorry do not know much more about them...

The wheels were custom made for me by Image wheels in UK. I am running with 265/35x18 and 295/30x18. This will be my second season on MPSC. The first year I was running with R888 and did not like them - I was much faster with the MPSC. The R888 is good, I have them on my 911 but I did not get a confident feel from them on the Boxster for some reason.

Thank you, that is splitter prototype version 1 :) It is made from plywood covered in racers tape. The vertical section to cover the gap between the splitter and the bottom of the front bumper is just a plastic strip attached to some metal angle brackets and then again covered in tape to make air tight. If this one turns out to be the correct shape and design (and survives the season) then I might consider making a new version in composite during next winter.

Is that not the correct configuration for a racing car ;)
I grew up in the UK and that is where I learned to drive. I can drive (and do every day) a LHD car here in Finland, but for racing I still feel more comfortable on the right.


I had a fun time with the front fenders from AIR - there was a misunderstanding on what model Boxster they would fit and it turned out to be the wrong version for my car and headlights, so I altered the front bumper to fit.

With the wider wheels, the front radiators were also in the way, so they had to be relocated and moved further forward.

Also made some small upgrades in the driver compartment, such as a new shiffter and a RaceLogic Video V-Box light.

Here are some more in progress pictures from the winter for you all...

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382113.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382167.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382291.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382359.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382748.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382837.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1367382950.jpg

Holy Jeebus! This is my favorite type of post: Racing setups.
We appreciate the sharing of the coolness!
- Is the 5sp transmission as robust as the 6sp?
- What is the shifter in the pic? Numeric racing?
- Does the car feel balanced? (Big wing / front splitter)

Spent all day yesterday testing the car at Ahvenisto before first race of the season on Saturday. The car is running really good. Here is a video from the afternoon - Testing the CoolCava Racing Boxster S before 2013 season start - YouTube

hmmm, air is doing flared front fenders for the 911 - they work on the boxster with a headlight and bumper change (perhaps an opportunity for the 997 headlight upgrade).

I wonder what a boxster ST would look like; ie, stock rear quarters with front flares? imagine slapping-on their 2" flared front fenders - you could run a 10.5" square setup!

Wow, I love that track. Way more elevation change than most places I have seen in Finland. It does not look like Suomi.

Very nice driving.

Yes, it is my favorite circuit to race on. All the other circuits here in Finland are relatively flat.

So the weekend just gone was the start of the 2013 season in Finland with race 1 and 2 at Botniaring.

The weather was really good with sun and +15 in temp.

I discovered a problem during practice and had to stop early to get things fixed - the car was not behaving properly and did not feel correct. Took us quite some time to find the issue, but in the end we discovered that the right rear Elephant Racing control arm had come lose and had worked its way out to extreme camber and with it had given me some stupid amount of tow out on that wheel :(

One issue was that we could not find correct size spanners to sort it properly (they were all at home in the garage :rolleyes:), so we did the best we could to get it all back and tight and I ventured out again. We could not wind it in properly, so I ended up running the weekend with one rear wheel with way to much tow out!!!

Here we are trying to get things sorted out

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1368468272.jpg

But even with the problems on the rear wheel, the results were good :) At the end of the day, I took 1st in class and 4th overall in race 1, and 1st in class and 1st overall in race 2 :cool:

A good start to the 2013 season!!!

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1368468456.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1368468498.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1368468526.jpg

In car video from race 1 can be found on the CoolCava Racing YouTube - CoolCava Racing Boxster - Porsche PRCF Sports Cup Race 1 - 2013 at Botniaring - YouTube

Wicked car!!

I am surprised you could drive the car at speed with the arm out like that!!

Great driving. Looks like a fun track, except for the Armco and trees!

Good stuff! :D

Nice to see people driving these things like they were meant to be driven.

Go Kimi! :)

TO

Around the 10:00 mark, one can spot the weaknesses of the rear engine 911 vs. the mid-engine Boxster.

TO

And again at the 12:15 mark. But in all fairness to the driver of the 911, he had his hands full.

Probably soiled himself, too.

Just sayin'..........

TO

The white 911 is driven by my team mate Toni. He normally drives with a 996 GT3 Cup, but the car was not ready in time for the 2013 season start so he decided to enter with his old racing car...