Know any Spec Boxsters racing near here?

[George3]

 

[ninjabones]

[STEVEMCMORN]

ninjabones wrote:

WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE DELETED POSTS???

[Phokaioglaukos]

Steve, Glen had a momentary lapse of good judgment, George noted it, and Glen corrected it. The photos are off the web site and the honor of your wife is unsullied by this brief epidsode.

Back on topic: I spent an hour on the phone yesterday afternoon with Brad Roberts (http://mindovermotorsports.zoovy.com/category/boxsterspec/ and http://www.boxsterspec.com/index.php?). He has 20 years in Porsches and helped create the Spec Boxster standard. He has talked with Dell (LVDell on Rennlist) and knows the origin of the spreadsheet he sent me, and noted that the toe links on the spreadsheet are not yet legal. He knows of Mitch Piper's shop (near Dulles airport--does vritually all the Miata cages in the area and did Glen's 993 cage) as the place people tell him to get fabrication done in our area. He works with Farnbacher-Loles and Werkstatt (http://www.werkstattcville.com/index.htm), the guys who brought the Spec Boxsters to NJMP last week. As soon as that race was over he got a call from Peter Dawe (http://www.dawesmotorsports.com/) who had three guys who wanted to build Spec Boxsters. While I was on the phone with Brad Chris Kellet (Synch Speed race radios and an SSM racer) e-mailed that he wants to sell his SSM to get a Spec Boxster. I think we are at a tipping point in the Mid-Atlantic states to see this class take off.

Here are some of the specifics I learned from Brad. Donor cars with about 60,000 miles can are readily available in CA for $8,000-$10,000. He can get a TIG-welded mild steel cage done for $2,500, MIG welding is cheaper but not as pretty. He gets about $1,500 for the take-off parts. Farnbacher-Loles is building ten cars to be kept at Monticello (the private track newar NY) for arrive-and-drive (and Brad came out for a couple of days to get them going). If you swap a 2.7 liter engine in a SPBOX car you can race it just like that in GrandAm Pro. You want a Fiberglas top and Lexan rear window for about $1,000. He sells a turn-key car all set up for $35,000-$45,000, with the top price including paint, pretty cage, all updates on the engines and the like.

There are a lot of cup car racers on Rennlist moving to SPBOX, mostly in CA and TX, but it's spreading here too. Brad noted that the guys at the Thunderbolt club race put on a good show with close racing. He complained that the CA POC racers just will not come East to show us what the class is about, and that when one gets a large lead he keeps it rather than fall back a bit to provide a show for the spectators. Bottom line, Brad is a super enthusiastic promoter and this is one of his businesses. That said, the class needs a promoter to expand. It could grow as Spec Miata has, but I do like the cars better.
 
In addition to PCA these cars can run with SCCA and NASA. The San Francisco SCCA region added a class for SPBOX. Of course they run with other classes, like ITA, but if the cars are close as they are with the 944s and 951s in PCA classing, it can be fun to run with those classes too as well as within class. Brad would like to see these cars in SCCA E Production. That's not a very popular class in the area SCCA races so it may be ripe for a number of new cars to join.
 
Lots to think about here.

[ninjabones]

Phokaioglaukos wrote:

That said, the class needs a promoter to expand.

Chris, I dub thee the Artie Kornfeld of SPBOX.

[Benz]

I'm obviously starting from scratch in my search for a replacement vehicle and this debate is at the heart of it all. I've always planned on racing at some point, just didn't know what I'd be racing, when, in what class, and with which car. My 993, may it RIP, would have needed another $30k at least to be a competitive G or H class car. I didn't know if I wanted to turn her into a track whore, so I stalled and did nothing.

Now that I am bound by nothing and have the insurance settlement to help me get back on the horse, I'm contemplating everything. Like many in the club, it would be hard for me to justify a full-blown, class-competitive, yet affordable racecar AND a fast-yet-fun DE car, therefore I'm looking for both in one car. If I had $75k laying around, about 200 more track hours of experience, and bigger balls, I'd just jump into a cup car, but my recent wreck removed any ounce of ego I had left and now I'm looking for the right balance for me. That is the key, FOR ME, because in the end there is no such thing as a "bad car" or the "perfect car" because you'll always want something bigger, badder, faster, safer, etc... The point is that you're out there doing it, not talking about it. Right now I'm talking about it and I want to be doing it.

This is a long way of saying I am very intrigued by the SPBOX possibility. It is a Porsche thing. It is a DE thing. It is a new class with growing momentum thing. It is affordable relative to cup cars and arguably affordable relative to 993/996/997. It offers the possibility of having a racecar AND a DE car, both of which would be fun and competitive.

I would definitely be part of a group build if we ever got to that point, because like I said, I'm not looking to sell anything to make this work, I'm starting from scratch. Thanks for starting the thread (again). It's making me think seriously about this.

Nick...

Nick Benz

[JeffConklin]

Thats the big question for me.  Can the Spec Boxster be fun in both venues.  No doubt in my mind the racing in spec racing would be great, but what about DE.  I know, I know DE is not a race, but giving point by's all day isn't fun either.  I guess I should look at the lap times these cars are putting up.

Nick - No way your 993 needed $30K to compete.  A cage, more spring rate, and misc safety stuff like window net and cut off switch and your car was there. 

[michael lang]

I'm hopeful that the Potomac Club race will have some Boxsters racing next month. I'd like to see those cars going at it.

[Mitch Reading]

Chris,

    Good due diligence.  I plan to rent one of these cars for a race or two next year.  I need to see more stable rules if I'd actually buy one... loopholes galore in that rule set!  

Mitch

[syncspeedinc]

Mitch Reading wrote:

Chris,

Good due diligence. I plan to rent one of these cars for a race or two next year. I need to see more stable rules if I'd actually buy one... loopholes galore in that rule set!

Mitch

Hi Mitch,

I agree that the rules need a little bit of work to close a few loopholes, running in SSM as made us hyper aware of the slippery slope that these issues can head down in a hurry . I am close to pulling the trigger on building one of these locally, is anyone else here on the fence about one of these or anyone started one? I need a few measurements ( floor pan to the lower edge of the main hoop rollbar) and I would love to sit in one before I move forward.