996cats

Hi Carroll!

Nice to hear from you. I hope the new car is working well for you.

I watched our POC buds from the paddock. I got to talk with most of the gang. I'll be seeing Warren and Todd for a 3 day weekend at Laguna Seca starting tomorrow. I'm bringing tires and brake pads!

I'll be sure to say hello for you.

When will you be out here visiting again?

Bill P.

996cats

Hi 171mph,

My name is Bill Pickering and my wife Doris and I are the folks Dylan is referring to with a Spec Boxster here in Northern California. Ours was one of the first 10 built last year.

We currently run the car in PCA, NCRC, Trackmasters and Hooked on driving. We are actively running the Time Trial series for PCA-Golden Gate Region and also are Autocrossing the car. In fact, the current time trial chairman is looking at donor cars right now and I have been approached by another local person to build a clone of my car for him. It could be a busy winter of car builds.

The car itself is a wonderful car to track. Handles great and so far has been easy to maintain. I used to track a full blown GT class 914-6 and also a wide body 911 with a 3.6 in it and the Spec Boxster is just a great car to drive.

One thing that is great about a production spec series such as Spec Boxster is that you can do most of the racing prep on it yourself. Click on the link below to see how we built our Spec Boxster in 8 days in my home garage!

http://www.barrickpickeringracing.co...age_10733.html

You can also view an in-car video of my wife and I during a open track day with Trackmasters:

http://barrickpickeringracing.com/Thunderhillrev4.wmv

And one more clip from Buttonwillow Raceway when we were guests of the Viper Club for a charity event:

http://barrickpickeringracing.com/BWCW13A_031607.wmv

If you ever want to drive the car at an AX event in GGR or LPR, come on out and we'll let you take some runs in it.

Also, I'll be running 3 days at Laguna Seca Sept 7th - 9th with Coastal Driving School and the Cherrys Jubilee charity event. On Saturday / Sunday (8th and 9th) you can pay $30 and get to ride in Porsche track cars at speed. Our Spec Boxster will be one of those cars giving rides. Feel free to stop by and say hello!

Just look for our car...the "EPIQ SPEQ"....

Thanks,

Bill P.

http://www.barrickpickeringracing.
http://www.epiqautosport.com

171mph

Thanks Bill. I'll be at Thunderhill woth NCRC this month. Maybe see u there. Have fun at Laguna, I'm so jealous.

J-RAD

Very cool.

We don't have a Spec Boxster group in my region (at least not that I know of) but I've become increasingly interested in this setup - to the point it's something I'm starting to consider. Hopefully the interest spreads. In the region(s) where this is occuring are there any plans to open it up to later models (2000+ and 'S' models)?

Also a question, do any of you with Spec Boxsters utilize something like the B-K Deep Oil Pan kit? Is that allowed under your rules?

996cats

Hi J-RAD,

Yes, the Spec rules allow the use of the B-K deep pan. I have not personally put it on my car yet, but I may just do it for added protection. I'm not sure it it helps anything or not. It could be dependent upon the track your are running (banked with prolonged g-force).

Thanks,

Bill P.

996cats

It's my opinion that PCA will pick up Spec Boxster. I've already made a proposal to my local region (Golden Gate Region) to start the spec class next year in 2008. It looks like it will fly. Most of the adjoining regions piggy back their rules off of GGR, so I expect at least 3 to 4 regions in California to have the series in their classes next year.

Thanks,

Bill P.

PeanutinCA

So how was Laguna Bill P?

mooty

bill, i wish you success in convincing GGR or PRC to do spec box. i would do it.
but i seriously doubt you get more than 3-4 cars by 2008.

mooty

oh, man, jack, you ARE NOT doing spec boxster.
i want to have a remote chance of podium in the next 10 years...
you stay in your 911 please.

tchandler

Yeah,
Looks like a fun class, and I realy like my street boxster, but in that price point the spec911 class has really taken hold here in NorCal. Heck, we also have a bunch of cars that travel down from Oregon to race spec911 with us in PRC. Starting another at the same price point, I think, may be tough.

Also PCA doesn't really race here in NorCal...which is why the PRC was started. I would think you would be better off getting the series up and running through them.(I mean road racing...GGR still is active in autoX)

JackOlsen

I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks.

I've got no plans to put my butt in anything other than my old 911.

I drove out to Willow Springs this weekend, put the headlight buckets and goofy aero on, and this was the only guy who could catch me.

996cats

Hi Dylan,

The 3 days at Laguna was great! I ran with Coastal Driving School on Friday and then participated with Cherry's Jubilee on Saturday Sunday as a track driver giving 3 laps around Laguna at speed for $30. All money going to charity. I ended up putting on 347 miles on the track (~151 laps). Just a good time by all.

Due to my instructing 2 students on Friday sandwiched around my run group, I didn't get as much track time as I wanted to try and get my speed up. I ended up with 1:47 laps, so I was off your pace by 5 seconds. That's the same times I was posting when I first built the car and took it to Laguna, so I was off. I didn't use a new set of tires as I didn't have a chance to change them out during the day.

On Sat/Sun we were keeping it pretty mellow for the public rides, so nothing going there, but all the drivers were having a great time running with each other out on track and I got to practice lines and dice with cars all weekend.

I can't wait for next year's Cherry's!

Bill P.

996cats

Hi Mooty,

The propsal is in, so I think we'll have it for the 2008 season of Time Trials. I agree with you, we'll be lucky to get 3-4 cars. I'm hoping for 1-2 if possible. But it's a start and we will see where it leads us.

Bill P.

996cats

I totally agree with you on getting our feet wet with PRC (Porsche Racing Club). I've already talked with Rich about this and it will be fine once we have multiple cars built and out on track. The reason to put it front and center with GGR is that from a grass roots perspective, PRC is full of PCA members who have migrated to door to door. I'm writing an article for the local PCA magazine on the series, just to let people know about it.

As far as entry price point, the series (Spec911 and Spec Boxster) are similar. But there may be some differentiation with the air-cooled versus water-cooled crowd as well as other intangibles such as driving a modern car with modern suspension, power steering, power brakes with ABS and the such. And the brand is newer. So you never know. Will we see 30 Spec Boxsters lining up at an event in the next 2 years?...no, I don't. But I also know that the upper price point of some of the 911Spec cars is $50K to $60K. Much of that has to do with stripping the cars down and re-painting and re-wiring them due to age and wanting them to be clean and new. The Spec Boxster cars are still relatively new in age, and many clean donors can be found. I'm hoping that the series will stay true to keeping costs down.

Time will tell if the Spec Boxster class is an appealing alternative to the spec devotees.

Thanks,

Bill P.

kgorman

Bill any news if GGR picked up Spec Boxster for the TT series?