It's been a busy track year for Lucille..., Awesome reliability! Options

[nine14cats]

We've been tracking and AX'ing our Spec Boxster for 11 months now. This is a 2 driver and sometimes 3 driver car. Doris and I are the primary drivers and Randal Barrick is the 3rd driver on occasion.

If you are looking for a reliable platform to race with, look no further than a Spec Boxster. Check out these statistics:

Year to date 2007:

Total track and AX miles = 3216 miles!

Laguna Seca = 5 track days including 2 days with unlimited lapping

Sears Point = 1 track day

Buttonwillow = 5 track days

Thunderhill = 10 track days

Total track days = 21 days x 2 (remember....my wife drives too!) = 42 equivalent single driver days!

We have one more day scheduled at Laguna Seca in December.

We took the car to a Hillclimb event and Randal set an SCCA ITR class record up the hill.

What are the issues and consumables you ask?

1. 3 sets of brake pads in front, 2 sets in back.

2. We are on our second set of rotors in front. The drilled rotors we put on at the beginning of the season cracked very badly after I ran a 3 day event at Laguna Seca last month. I put on almost 400 miles on the car that weekend. I had a spare set of drilled rotors that I put on for now to finish the season. Next year I plan on trying the slotted rotors to see how they wear.

3. I developed a PS fluid leak at the steering rack end on the high pressure side. Changing the o-rings didn't help, so I switched out the line.

4. We had a left rear shock mount fail. During assembly of the car I had forgotten to put in the correct metal washer. My fault.

5. Replaced right rear wheel bearing.

6.. We ran Kumho's all year. 3 sets of Victoracers for the track and 1 set of V710's for AX. For time runs we always used our freshest set. We have 181 AX passes on the V710's. All I can say is that V710's are a great bang for the buck. Other than changing tires and AR settings from track to AX, we just show up and play, no hassles.

I just took delivery of the Hankook C51's, so I may put those on and play with them at Laguna.

Other than changing oil and brake fluid, pads and rotors that is all we did. No runs, drips or errors. The car fired up EVERY time. We never threw a code. No electrical problems. No overheating (we ran 2 drivers in 100+ degree temps). No shock failures. For the money, I cannot think of more grins per dollar!

Future issues will be how to keep the car together with Doris starting to get quick on track. We don't know if we should dial back the track schedule or say the hell with it and run full bore. Tire wise, I have plenty of data on the Victoracers. I plan on testing the Hankooks for our sticky needs (time trials, club races, etc.) and trying the Nitto NT-01's for DE and lapping. I believe they are the same compound as Toyo RA-1's, so maybe we can stretch out our practice tire "life". We are not cording the Vracers, only making them hard. I just bought some of that tire goop to try and see if I can get a few more sessions out of Kumho's.

Whew...that's alot of track time. No wonder I want to put the car down for the winter and start with the projects!

Bill P.