Curious to see if the Halo seat affects being able to get in and out of the car. I know I have a hard enough time getting in and out as it is now. Having to move my head farther forward might be a problem.

I sat in a 996 cup one time with a halo seat and if the steering wheel hadn't been removed I never could have gotten in or out...

Sliders and a removable steering wheel, should have no problem at all..

Possibly - on my Boxster - the seat can't move back maybe more than 1/4 inch and it's bolted to the floor.

As I said - interested to see how it works.

Finished up the weight reduction in the front fenders/trunk today with a loss of 2.5lbs. That's a total of 12.5lbs or 31% of the 40lb goal!

Tomorrow, some more weight loss and get the car packed and ready to race next weekend. Looks like the new halo seat might have to wait until the following weekend.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psy712hvqb.jpg

Let the 2016 racing season begin!

Of course, here in SoCal, we track the racing "season" by the calendar and not the four seasons, so I kicked off 2016 yesterday at Willow Springs International Raceway with the Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Southern California (AROSC).

One of the most interesting aspects of this race is that the cars are not all Porsche (as they are in POC and PCA racing). Thus, the race field had Spec Miata, Super Spec Miata, BMW E30 Spec, BMW E36 M3, several Alfa's, along with four other Spec Boxster's for a total of 21 cars in the field.

The cars were ranked into three classes based on hp/weight along with overall finishing places.

I also asked Brad Roberts to come out to provide coaching and data analysis to help me find some more speed around the track with the goal of lowering my lap times.

Summary:
Practice Race: Started 4th, finished 2nd of 21 cars
Main Race: Started 2nd, finished 2nd of 21 cars
Standing Start Race: Started 2nd, in 1st place when pulled off due to low fuel

During Practice 1 and 2, Brad and I were working on adjusting my braking, throttle, and line thru Corner 1 so I wasn't really focused on turing the fastest laps so my best time put me in Fourth for the Practice race. During the Practice race, I was able to move up two spots and finish 2nd behind a very fast E36 M3.

Starting 2nd in the Main, I had a great start and was able to get out front and actually lead the race for a lap or two, then the E36 caught and passed me. For the remainder of the race, I battled lap after lap with a Super Spec Miata to get 2nd. The SSM and I must have changed places 8 times. I finally figured out how to keep him behind me on the last two laps to hold onto 2nd.

In regards to the standing start race, I had never done this before. After the Main race checkered flag, whomever wanted to participate in the standing start race came down the front straight where the starters lined us up in view of the starters tower.

Brad and I talked about the best way to launch a Boxster and we decided on having the engine RPM up in the power band (around 4500 rpm) and then drop the clutch and let the rear tires do all of the work.

I'll admit, I was a little hesitant about doing this as it seemed that it would be very hard on the car. We all know that the Boxster isn't a drag racer and I didn't want to fry the clutch, break a CV joint, or damage the transmission. Remember, I need to drive home in this car! Brad laughed and said that this was a once in a lifetime chance and I had to do it! He was right, who would pass up a chance to do a drag start for a race? Not me.

Starting on the front row, I did exactly as planned and revved the engine to 4500rpm and dropped the clutch at the first move of the flag. The already hot and sticky rear R-compound tires grabbed and I got a half-car length jump on the Super Spec Miata next to me right out of the hole! Then the rear tires started to spin and the engine jumped to redline so I grabbed second gear as fast as I could. The rears hooked back up in 2nd gear and as they say; I Was Gone Baby! I hit 3rd and 4th flat out as I entered Turn 1 in 1st place.

Experiencing a standing start was the goal of the last race so I pulled off while still in 1st place after two laps when my low fuel light came on.

We will talk about my awesome spin at 90mph in Turn 1 when I post the video!

The House Automotive Spec Boxster at trackside;
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psegi73wxt.jpg

AROSC medallion is really nice!
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psosjnjnlz.jpg

First place in my class; second place overall
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pskinnzuge.jpg

Great start to the 2016 season!
Congrats

Excellent job, congratulations! Did you think to ask Brad about those wiring harnesses? :D

I did! And I will get back to you by Monday on that...

Hey Tom and other contributors, just wanted to let you know how much us readers love reading your reports, video etc. We appreciate the time you take to write and video your experiences.

I went back to the end of 2014 and did some catching up and its an awesome read to see how you are progressing, sharing things learned along the way, some trials and tribulations and awesome wheel to wheel video.

You could write a book, documentary or do a reality show about all this...very cool.

Thanks, much appreciated.

The moral to the story is that ANYONE can do this if they want. I was a typical 50-yr old first time Porsche and Boxster owner at the start of this journey and had absolutely no plans to build a race car and go racing.

My original track aspirations were to go to the track 2-3 times per year in my stock Boxster just to have some fun driving fast without endangering myself or anyone else.

Sometimes I look back myself and wonder if this is really me? :D

As I have said before, this has been an incredible journey and learning to drive fast and race is the least important thing that I have learned.

So, get out there and drive 'em like the Dr. intended!

Well, you didn't say which Monday did you.. :D

I asked him to respond to the thread directly. I send him a reminder this evening.

Here is the first of several videos from last weekend - the launch of the standing start race! Brad Roberts took the video standing in the starters tower (not sure how he got them to agree to that!).

This was the first time that I seriously tried to drag race in a Boxster - and it was a LOT of fun!

The red car next to me on the front row is a Super Spec Miata. They have a higher weight-to-power ratio (16-ish) vs Spec Boxster (14-ish), but the Super Spec Miata's are allowed more suspension mods along with more aero and other mods that substantially reduce the center of gravity. Thus, I beat him with a good launch and a bit more power but be makes up a lot of ground in the corner. This was the basis of our 10-lap battle in the race before this one.

This is how Brad described the start on Facebook;
This was so friggin COOL!! First time I've had a SPB involved with a standing start! I told the customer to launch the car around 3500rpm, that the tires would still be warm! He opted for 4500 and left a 50ft long black mark lol I'll post his in car video shortly, you see the car fish tailing slightly at launch...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BiBbBbydZx8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Got Camber?

Here is a pic of one of my front tires (Toyo Proxes RR 255/40/17). This tire had 8 heat cycles (sessions) as the right front and then another 4 cycles (sessions) as the left front for a total of 12. The tire was not swapped on the wheel so the outside has been the outside regardless of which side of the car it was installed on.

The car has -3.4 camber already but it looks like I need even more since the outside is worn to the cord and the inside of the tire still shows the wear indicator dimple.

Looks like I'll be visiting Pro Motorsports in Burbank, CA for an alignment this week!

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5j15edoj.jpg

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psm4opx3qm.jpg

Did you run any temperatures across the tread after a run?

No, I didn't.

That just doesn't look right for a car with -3.4 camber.. wondering if toe adj. would contribute.

Sweet, nicely earned I say

+1

Something got knocked out of alignment and toe may be off a bunch.