Astroman

THAT'S what I'm talking about!!! Good choice!!!

Chulo

Dell - I went from an E46 M3 (kinda fast) and a street 3.2 Carrera (kinda slow, but I still love her), sold the M3, and bought a 964 racer. I did DE for a year with the car setup to get used to it, and started club racing it this year in G. Tons of fun. G is not a huge class, but we have 6-8 people per race locally, and we are all very close. An RSA will be a little faster, as it can run at a lower weight in either G or H prepared (like Larry's). Since you are comfortable with the 996 platform, H might be best for you, but don't discount the 964 platform. They rock!

multi21

Damn that looks like fun!!

Sorry, no intent to highjack Dell, but what does an F1000 cost and what does a season run?

mglobe

+1

https://rennlist.com/forums/racing-and-drivers-education-forum/442307-would-you-build-a-996-spec.html

Giacomo

You may wish to review the club racing race results section at www.pca.org to get an idea of how many cars are in each class at the tracks you intend on running. For example, at this past weekend's race at Mosport there were 12 cars in F and 10 in E, but I think only 1 in D (which is usually a much better represented class) and 2 in H. Although one would expect that as the 996 continues to age that more and more will start showing up in H.

DogInBlack

Still good intel, thanks all. This is one of the most informative threads I've found on Rennlist.

Dell, I think it comes down to competitive classes where we are planning to race.

The biggest issue for me is finding a competitive class in which I can build a car for the $40 range, race for $2k a weekend without being in a beating and banging group. If I have an incident like Sean then Ok, but that is a rare racing incident. Pcars are my favorite. E46 M3 H prepared number 2 on the list. NASA SCCA crossover? Radial SR 3 1500 Number 3 on the list- little more money obviously.

amondc

Dell,
We have moved from cups to boxsters and I do miss the power but it is such a blast having 5-6 guys will almost the same car tearing it up on the track. There are several here in dallas and more being built every day. I think they are great cars and will force you to become a better driver, I realized very quickly how slopy I had become driving the cup car.

You need to build one! Check oiut the boxster sites and if you have any question feel free to PM me. I built my car except for the cage work and it is really just bolt on stuff. I am getting ready to start another car and I will try and document this build better with pics as I have more time to do so.

Chris

flatsics

Racing and going fast are two seperate things. I don't care if you are in a spec Miata--stock class P-car--cup car--whatever. When you are 6 inches off the bumper of the care your chasing lap after lap speed becomes irrelevent. It's all in the racing. Pick a class and car that you like and go and have fun.

jrgordonsenior

Well first off, you've now heard that PCA has embrased the Spec Boxster class per POC standards. I have a 03' cup and still race it on the faster tracks out West. I've been running a Spec Boxster since March and it has evolved into a really competitive class with 12 cars at our next event in 2 weeks at Laguna Seca. The class was started as an inexpensive solution to Porsche racing in a modern (water cooled) platform. I think I speak for anyone who's driven one when I say it has exceeded all our expectations. To date in 1-1/2 years of Boxster racing there has been 1 transmission failures, and zero motor failures. The cost to run one of these cars per weekend is so incredibly cheap that I really don't want to think about it when I consider my cup car expenses. The thrill factor is less than a cup of course, but when you're in the heat of the race with multiple identical Boxsters around you the excitement is equal to any racing I've done. The spec series brings out the best in your driving abilities (or not), and it's in a mid-engined Porsche which handles better than most cars on the track.

I agree that the 3.4, 996 car has a lot of potential to offer but there's not many of them running and they are definitely more expensive. In addition to the Spec Boxster class, you should also check out the S Boxster's Rick DeMan has recently built and what class they run in. As others have said, it's all about the cars running in your neck of the woods and what class will be competitive.

I would never have even contemplated a Boxster (chick car) if the series hadn't hatched right under my nose and several competent P-car racers embrased the series from it's inception. I'm now so impressed that I just went and bought a Boxster S for a summer car to cruise around in on these warm So Cal nights.....

dmoffitt

It's not spec boxster, but as I got serious toward DEs I took twin GT25 turbos and a built short-block OUT of my 350Z and spent the cash gained from trading that + a stock motor toward more track days and a better suspension. Honestly? I don't miss the 200-some horsepower at ALL. I do like the torque of my 350Z vs even a Boxster but I never find those cars lacking at ALL, I love driving Cassandra's both on track and at autocrosses (even if she's faster than me at the cones, grr).

Carnerd

John, you make this class sound so inviting! Can't wait till i'm good enough to race one.

Pleasure meeting you today btw! Good luck at Laguna! I'm still trying to decide between the POC event and Indy at SP...

Sean F

Good point, I agree that you need to look at the fields at the tracks that you will run to find the competition, but remember that it's not the number of cars necessarily but who is driving them. It doesn't do any good if there are 10 cars and there are only two cars within a second of one another. E always has good car counts and great drivers - take a look at the Watkins Glen results. In D, I know that if Fred, Richter, Gary and one or two other guys show up I'll have great racing. Side benefit is that when you run D you're actually running against the E field as well (usually E is top of the race group).

mglobe

Uh actually a 3.4 996 donor car is pretty easy to find. They sell in the mid to low 20's. I come across new ones on the market every week. There is a Rennlister in the Houston area asking $22k right now for one. True they are more expensive than a Boxster, but at least the engine is in the right place.

jrgordonsenior

Mike I agree they're available and at $22k that's only $10k more than the average 2.5 Boxster donor. You have to change out the oil pan to remedy the starvation issue, but other than that I would imagine the build costs to be similar as long as the spec remains similar (PSS9's, etc).

I'm facinated by the differences between PCA based classes and the POC classes we run out here in So Cal. If a Spec 996 class is designed around the same spec as the Boxsters where would that fit in PCA and would they be competitive with other 3.4 996 cars already built for PCA racing?

jrgordonsenior

Craig are you now a R6 car? I noticed there's 14 of them signed up for Laguna in the same race group with the 12 Spec Boxsters.

So now I have to defend my Spec Boxster brethren against your erroneous claim that you beat 90% of us. We'll see who gets bragging rights at Laguna in 2 weeks, but in our last race at Willow, 4 Spec Boxsters (out of 6) finished ahead of you....