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Weight
Minimum weight requirements must be met immediately following all timed sessions. The choice of which systems/accessories to remove, in order to lighten the chassis, is free. Batteries may be swapped for a lighter type, but must be securely mounted in the stock location. Minimum weight includes driver. Spare tire may be removed. Ballast to meet minimum weight must not exceed 25lbs. Ballast must be bolted to the floor of the passenger footwell.
I see where you are coming from, but BSX isn't spec boxster, it was (is) an intermediate series intended for road legal cars, but I don't know anyone that actually runs it. Spec boxster weight is 2650lbs.
There is a Spec Boxster forum on this site... go to Racing section and you find it in there at the top. SPB is 2650# with driver gas etc at finish of a race. Weight removal and suspension improvement will be huge in a 2.5L car.
I am in the process of turning my 85k mile 2.7 into a DE friendly vehicle. It's got 10-15 track hours on it and numerous autocrosses at this point and has been dead reliable. So far I have the Brey Krause rollbar extension ($700 new, less if you can find a used one), something you definitely want unless you are pretty short, and an upgraded oil baffle (~$250). The baffle upgrade isn't completely necessary unless you are running r-compound tires, but better safe than sorry. You definitely will need to keep up with maintenance more rigorously and replacing the aforementioned items on a car with an unknown history is not a bad idea.
Then I started doing DE/track days and did 20 track days before upgrading anything on the car other than better street tires and better brake pads. Unless you are a natural born racing driver, a stock Boxster has 10x more capability than you will know how to use as a track novice.
In regards to driving a convertible on the track, you can add the Brey-Krause roll bar extension ($400 used and it fits under the soft top) and almost all track day organizers will allow the car on the track.
A 2.5L Boxster is more than fast enough to scare the crap out of yourself and to help you learn to drive well on a track. IMHO it will teach you more than a faster car would because you will have to learn to maintain momentum rather than simply rely on a big throttle to get decent lap times.
Next I installed a seat and 5-pt harness and drove this for the next 10 track days. This will keep you in place much better than the stock seats and 3-pt belt. You can also keep the stock seat belts for the street so you only have to use the harnesses on the track.
At this point, (30 track days), I could finally out drive my mostly stock car and had lap times near the top of the Boxster stock class so I installed the Boxster Spec Boxster suspension package (PSS9 coil overs, GT-3 front sway, Tarrett rear sway, Tarrett drop links, adj lower control arms, new upper mounts, rear toe adjuster) and I went to R-compound tires (started with Nitto NT-01's). This is what is called the BSX setup.
Then I drove in the BSX class Time Trials for 25 more track days.
After winning some time trials and matching lap records for a BSX car, I finally was ready to go wheel-to-wheel racing and had a Spec Boxster custom built and got my club racing licenses (POC/PCA).
Thanks, this is great information for me. I am a track guy and I just bought a cherry '04 Boxster S with plans on tracking the car with my friends in the Porsche Train and this has helped me a lot.
11-25-2014, 11:13 PM
