Some of you may remember that I recently acquired a 1999 Boxster that belonged to my mom and sister. Well my mom suggested that it might make a good track car and offered it to me. Who am I to say No! Now the two of them are driving a 997 targa.

My 'new' Boxster has less than 10,000 miles on it! It is in pretty darn good shape. It hasn't been driven very much in the past few years and right now needs a jump start to get it going. I think either the battery is toast (and not taking a charge) and/or the alternator needs help. After running the car for over an hour, only a small amount of juice was in the battery. I also noticed that when driving if I flicked on the A/C that several dummy lights flickered and the car stuttered momentarily. No biggie,...I just need to get it sorted out.

I took the car out on some pseudo-country roads and the highway to wring it out. The car is really fun to drive. I got the tail out twice and had to remind myself that there is no PSM! On the highway I banged it up to 100 mph just for a short time and discovered that the Boxster is indeed a Porsche! - very stable.

I'm not sure of the options on the car other than the fact that it has a factory hard top and power everything seats. I tried the options decoder on Renntech with no success.

I'm not sure exactly what to do with this Boxster but I'm sure I will be asking for many opinions in the coming months.

I think the car would be lots of fun for AutoX. I never thought I would like AutoX but I really enjoyed running the cones down at PSDS. I would like to be able to use the car as a track car and an AutoX car. For now, I think I will keep it street legal as I'm not sure I'm ready to do the trailer thing (although my honey's Cayenne is calling to me to put on a tow ball).

Here are some things I'm kicking around (I got some of my ideas from the www.boxsterspecracing.org site):

-Brey-Krause roll bar extension (helps get by broomstick test)
-Race seats with harnesses
-Fire Ext
-Bilstein PSS9 adjustable suspension system
-GT3 sway bar
-wheels and rubber suited for track
-Stainless steel hydraulic lines, appropriate brake pads

My biggest worry in making this a track car is that I will miss the HP of my 997. The 99 Boxster has a 2.5l which makes 201 hp. I know that when I'm at the track I am going by these cars like they are standing still.

So,...do I keep the car's powerplant stock and learn to drive a more pure car or do I add some ponies so that I can keep up with the 911s out there? One option I am considering is Imagine Auto's supercharger which is a bolt on application which raises HP to about 270. In a 2800 pound car 270 hp would be respectable.

The other thing I've been considering is giving someone like Farnbacher-Loles a call - they do a lot of Cayman/Boxster engine swaps. I don't know how much this all costs and I certainly wouldn't want to invest more than 20 grand in a car that worth less than that!!!!

I'd love to hear your opinions on what I should do. If you think the Boxster could be a fun track/AutoX car let me know,....if you think it's a lemon, say it!

I really had fun driving around in my new weekend toy today. I just love these machines,....ALL OF THEM !!!!!

Here are some pics.
The last pic shows my Boxster, my 997 C4S, and my mom/sister's Targa.

 

If you really want some fun either go forced induction or do an engine swap, the latter of which will be more expensive for sure.

Your mom / sister's targa is gorgeous - i love green on Porsche's, preferably with natural brown.

 

The targa is Black,....but I see how it does look a little green in that pic. It's probably from all the interesting foliage colors reflecting off the black.

 

Ah - i'm very slightly color blind actually but i'll go with what you said...

 

Love the speed yellow.

Slight derail of this thread perhaps, but do you have any pics of your red Cayenne? I've been considering a red Pepper for the past 3 years . . .

 

I really love our Cayenne and it has treated us very well.
The day I bought it,....

 

I'm very interested in what you're going to do with this gift. I'd love to have a spare car to mod and track the s#it out of. And a Boxster is probably the best car to do it with.

 

Congrats on the Boxster I'm sure it'll serve you well on the track and btw that was very generous for your Mom to give you the car you must be a very good sun .... be safe and enjoy it in the best of health

 

Oh yeh, forgot about these pics....

 

Wowww!! Thanks for sharing, love the red! That's exactly how I want mine.