Racing a Boxster

[Andy97]

Interesting news from the Porsche Racing Drivers Association (they run the Porsche 924 one make championship that has been going for years)

"The (924) championship regulations are being amended to include an invitation class. Cars eligible for the invitation class will include (but not be limited to) 944 2.5litre, 924 S and Porsche Boxster. Cars competing in the invitation class will not be eligible to score championship points. Andy Davies"

Doesn't mention anything about engine size restrictions for the Boxster and its says that "eligible cars... will include (but not be limited to).......".

There is already a race series for lightly modified Boxsters in the USA:

http://www.boxsterspecracing.org/home/index.php?location=BSR%20Rules

Maybe cars to a similar spec would go well in the Invitation class of the 924 series?

 

[sailor]

Off-topic, I know, but am I addressing the Andy Davies who was my passenger during the "Ultimate Supercar Experience" day at Snetterton on 19th. July 2001?


JohnC
993turbo

 

[Mark_Bennett]

That's good news!

I'm guessing the 2.5 is the intended Boxster... will have to keep an eye on this []
[8D]

 

[Andy97]

ORIGINAL: sailor

Off-topic, I know, but am I addressing the Andy Davies who was my passenger during the "Ultimate Supercar Experience" day at Snetterton on 19th. July 2001?
JohnC
993turbo

Sorry, Andy97 is not Andy Davies. I didn't mean to imply that I was. I have just discovered this invitation class planned for the 924 series by accident really and I am interested to see how it develops. I thought I'd try to give the idea a wider airing to see if there was any interest. I think that a Spec Boxster class could be popular, particularly as early cars are pretty cheap now. I think something simple, with very little scope for expensive modifications (similar in philosophy to the 924 series and the MX5 series, obviously) could work very well. I really hope that the PDA can define a set of rules and put together a Boxster kit pretty quickly. It would be even more useful if cars to the same spec could be used in the PCGB Club series.

PH Sportscars is very near me....I wonder if they have any Cat D cars in stock ripe to be stripped out??!!

If there is any interest please let the Porsche Racing Drivers Association know, it would be good to get a head of steam behind the idea and then I can look to raid the piggy bank.

 

[ClubRacer]

I noticed this announcement too - interesting...

Couple of things - there was a Boxster competing in the PCGB Club Championship a couple of years ago - Marcus Holden I think? He had quite a few problems and haven't seen him recently. Overheating is quoted as a problem, as is weight.

Simon Butterwoth has been sprinting his Boxster successfully for some years; but of course sprinting isn't racing...

The idea of racing a Boxster definitely interests me though.

 

[Andy97]

ORIGINAL: ClubRacer

I noticed this announcement too - interesting...

Couple of things - there was a Boxster competing in the PCGB Club Championship a couple of years ago - Marcus Holden I think? He had quite a few problems and haven't seen him recently. Overheating is quoted as a problem, as is weight.

Simon Butterwoth has been sprinting his Boxster successfully for some years; but of course sprinting isn't racing...

The idea of racing a Boxster definitely interests me though.

Marcus Holden seems to have competed in a 2.7 in 3 or 4 races last year (2008). The weight allowed in the US 2.5 Boxster spec series is 1200Kg whilst PCGB regs allow a Class 1 2.7 to be 1195Kg (or 1160Kg for an earlier, slightly less powerful one) and a Class 2 2.5. Power to weight ratios are therefore similar to the 968 and 944 S2 respectively.

No idea how easy it is to get down to those weights, though.

Also, if the Porsche Racing Drivers Association want to run Boxsters as invitation cars within their 924 series, maybe they'd want the Boxsters to be comparable in performance to their 924s so, with a standard 200 Bhp, you probably wouldn't need to get much weight out of them! In fact a quick calculation shows that for the same power to weight they'd have to race at 1330 Kgs!

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

are you sure about those weight figures? Just how light can you get a boxster? 1195kg seems a tall order to me! I seem to recall my RS is about 1250kg and no fatty ! They do quote in the boxter owners manual 1250 empty and 1560kg gross .

 

[JCB..]

ORIGINAL: Laurence Gibbs

are you sure about those weight figures? Just how light can you get a boxster? 1195kg seems a tall order to me! I seem to recall my RS is about 1250kg and no fatty ! They do quote in the boxter owners manual 1250 empty and 1560kg gross .

Air Con
Seats
Carpets
Hood mechanicals and electrics
Dash, console and trim.

Cup Holders []

Plenty of scope I would have thought.

 

[Andy97]

I have asked around a bit more about Boxster engines for racing & it seems that they are prone to oil surge & starvation problem & there is a breather pipe in to the sump which also gets submerged when cornering hard & somehow sucks oil into the inlet. All resulting in engine problems. Sorry to be non technical (I'm not sure I understood the explanation myself!). The sump is difficult to baffle effectively, apparently. All second hand info, sorry, but Neil Harvey is the man to speak to apparently as he built & ran the car that Marcus Holden raced.

It would probably be worth talking to them. Does anyone know if they look in on here?

 

[Mark_Bennett]

I understood that to be a problem too - same with 996 (non-GT3-based engines).

There is a deeper baffled oil pan available from Brey - Kraus. The Boxster Spec Racing rules allow it to be run in their series.

Edit:


Found it ! http://www.bkauto.com/porsche/engine_lubrication_porsche.php

It's actually just a spacer - like a metal gasket - that allows an extra pint or so of oil to slosh around in the oil pan []

 

[Andy97]

It seems that the Porsche Racing Drivers Association are going to take the idea forward and introduce a Boxster championship in 2010. See here:
http://www.porscheracingdrivers.co.uk/