Haha! Yes, hate to leave a trail of misplaced tools behind me! :D

Here is a pic of the damaged power steering return line (left) next to the new line (right) - the old line was pulled nearly completely straight during my off road adventure.

When I got the new line installed, I noticed that the fittings were different! The old line female connector is on the right and the new line press fit connector is on the left. Oh crap. So I pulled the new line out and then realized that the female connector on the old line comes off and the smooth end simply "clips" into the press fitting on the new line; so I installed it again and filled the reservoir and no leaks!

Finished up everything else on the list and took the car for a 30 min drive to make sure that everything was good. Ran it up to redline on a couple of freeway on-ramps and it drove perfectly.

The only thing remaining is to have the Lexan windshield installed next weekend.

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9218savt.jpg

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psxrlpd77s.jpg

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

I had the lexan windshield installed today by a local window shop. Took about an hour and they charged me $90.

This is the 1/4" model from Five Star. I also plan to use two layers of protective film. The cut, fit, and finish was top notch - it was curved exactly like a factory glass windshield and fit into the frame perfectly.

Lexan weight is 15lbs. I weighed the stock windshield after it was removed and it came in at 24lbs. Net weight savings is 9lbs.

Visibility is incredibly clear and non-distorted.

Windshield removed;
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pshf8stbjm.jpg

Lexan windshield installed;
http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pspzhiag21.jpg

** Weight Update #4 **

Spec Boxster minimum weight with driver and fuel is 2,650 lbs. My goal is to be able to manage the weight of the car by adjusting the fuel load at the start of a race so I am near the min weight at the end of a race (with some margin for error).

Most recently, total weight was 2,705 lbs with a 1/2 tank of gas. Subtracting 51 lbs for fuel (6 lbs/gallon x 8.5 gallons), says that the car/driver weighs 2,654 lbs.

In a perfect world, I'd like the car/driver total weight to be 2650 lbs with 1/8 tank of fuel, which means an un-fueled car/driver weight of 2650 - 13 = 2637 lbs.

Thus, I still needed to reduce weight by 17 lbs.

Since the last update I have lost another 10lbs for a total of 30lbs! People ask how I feel after losing so much weight - I say, HUNGRY. Seriously, I've been slowly starving for 5 months but I've stuck to the plan. Still plan to lose 5 more for a total of 35 and will be down to a trim 180lbs!

With the lexan windshield weight loss of 9lbs and me losing another 10lbs; that's a total of 19lbs since the last update. This should put the total weight right at 2635lbs.

Weight goal achieved! No excuses about being "overweight" - in fact, I will have to be sure to keep a couple of gallons of fuel in the car or I could be underweight.

Nice Tom
When will the maiden voyage be?

Two coaching/practice sessions planned for July and then back to racing at Laguna Seca with the POC on Aug 6-7. :D

An early morning quick run up Hwy 2/Angeles Crest Hwy this morning before the tourists/campers/hikers get there.

Bedded-in the new brakes and just wanted to be sure that everything was running fine.

That is LA under a blanket of early morning clouds in the background. It was a nice morning and the road was empty!

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pskuro1fgg.jpg

Looks good!

I lost one of the retainers for the hard top when I had the roof off last weekend. Got a replacement today.

Sometimes beauty can be found in the smallest components...

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psuye93nor.jpg

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Jealous that you live close to Angeles Crest Hwy. That's the one thing I do miss about my home town of Pasadena. Yes the traffic stinks in LA but there are so many awesome mountain roads close by with little traffic. Looks like you had fun.

Angeles Crest Hwy is pretty much in my backyard but I don't go there very often - too many yahoo's driving like its a race track. But it is a really nice place to got for a leisurely drive on a early weekend morning!

The lexan windshield manufacturer says not to use the stock rear view mirror because the adhesive could damage the lexan so I had to come up with another rear view mirror solution.

I looked at several aftermarket rear view mirrors and they generally mount to the roll bar but the top tube on my cage is stitched right up against the windshield frame so I can't get a hard mount around the cage tube.

After consulting with my friend Evan Fullerton, I cut a five panel Wink-style rear view mirror down to three panels for a better fit. Then used the 90deg brackets to mount to the top tube where there is just enough clearance to get zip ties thru between the top tube of the cage and the windshield frame.

Pretty sturdy. Perfect placement. More rear view angle than I've ever had before.



http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...psd7dljpst.jpg

As long as I am looking to improve performance! This sticker should help...

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...pswm942p2j.jpg

Practice Day!

Drove up to Willow Springs this morning for an open practice/test day. This means that only race prepped cars/drivers are allowed on the track in an open format - meaning that you can drive whenever you want and as much as you want thru the day. I did four 20-min sessions in the morning and headed back home just as the temp was cresting 100F.

The goals - get back on the horse that spit me off into the dirt in May; work on a few corners where I'm giving up a lot of time; and test the car to make sure that everything is running well before I head up to race at Laguna Seca in two weeks.

Everything went great and the car ran beautifully in the heat - no problems whatsoever.

In the first two sessions, I slowly built up to qualifying times. Then in the 3rd session, I underestimated how slick the tires would get once the weather heated up and found myself in a big power slide on entry into Turn 2 at a bit over 100mph.

The video shows how easy it is to slide a Boxster - they rotate very quickly because of the mid-engine layout and so your hands need to be fast but smooth to catch the car. If your hands are slow, it will come all the way around. Just remember, quick-smooth, not lazy-smooth.

Ready for Laguna Seca. :)

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

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Nice recovery!!

Thanks. They don't all turn out that way, but its nice when they do!

You can see that I tend to shuffle steer by sliding my hands along the steering wheel rather than keeping my hands in one location and crossing my hands/arms over each other (although they do cross over when I have to move really fast). Shuffle steering isn't the preferred driving technique for a long list of reasons but it is what I was taught when I started performance driving and it seems to work for me so I haven't focused on changing it. This might be a case of don't necessarily do what I do; but I will also say that you need to find your own driving style that works best for you and not just blindly follow what the "experts" say.

But it was all instinct - I never "thought" about what to do, just did it automatically. For me, I don't think its necessarily talent - just lots of seat time. And while I'm no where near the 10,000 hours of practice that is supposedly required to become expert at something, concentrated practice of a skill definitely helps one to improve.

So maybe all I need is another 9,800 hours of track time and I'll be racing at Le Mans. ;)

Nice driving Tom.

Are you sure you were in your Boxster and not your 911 and lifted before the corner?

Good thought Jay!

I wish that I had a throttle position sensor to say one way or the other because its really hard to know for sure exactly what I may have done or may not have done to induce the rear to come loose.

Things that I know for sure;

1. I got a great run out of Turn 1 so I came into Turn 2 about 4-5 mph faster than on a typical lap.
2. I know this because I was working specifically on carrying more speed thru Turn 1 and was using Turn 2 entry speed as the gauge as to how well I was getting through Turn 1.
3. The rear broke loose as soon as I started turn in at Turn 2.

However, it is very possible that I lifted off the throttle for a moment before turn in once I saw the high corner entry speed and that may have either caused or helped cause the rear end to get loose.

I'll have to repeat it and see what happens next time at Willow!

Bit over 100mph power slide?! Said easy lollll holly clap, scary stuff on-vid!

3rd session, slick tires, warm weather..... ruled out sand accumulation? wind pushing sand all over between a session or something?

old car now (chassis, etc), careful man

Thanks mate!

I don't think that there was any sand or debris on the track as there was only a light breeze that day.

In regards to the "old car", I've decided to refresh all of the suspension bushings this winter as some of those parts probably have 160,000 miles on them by now.

And yeah, learning high speed car control is what its all about!