Porsche Cayman S vs. Boxster S? - Page 4

lol,

I'm going to cut him a little slack, but I've never heard anything bad about a GT2....except that if you're not careful, it'll kill you.

LOL Jon is busting this guy's balls on every thread!

Let him live in his little "I am a millionaire and own many many Ferrarri's etc," dream world!

It gives us po folk something entertaining to watch

Sorry guys. Generally I wouldn't but since everyone else was bragging about their vehicles I thought I might as-well, It's my first time on a forum, I just learn the ropes and read around a bit more.

Cam -

Don't sweat it,

as long as you got pics, you got nothing to worry about.

Here's a link to see our stangs, I'm currently trying to scan a picture of the Gold 68 and 456, which don't seem to be going very well... Just check out the photo bucket and let me know what you think. My son and I modded, well added the scoop and hood pins on the GT about four months ago, purely for show purposes, came first this year in the 05, and second in the Green '69, just American racing aftermarket rims, deep dish buggers. the cobra jet we've just brought, she's the same color as the '68 fastback (which I'm having trouble loading photos of) but will get them up ASAP, and the TR is , non NZ new, the guy who owned it before us (cobra) put an aftermarket air cleaner and edelbrock valve covers, changing those ASAP!

Cam -

link : http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/d...es_bond_album/
just for anyone who wants a look click there, adding more photos shortly, had to get the son around to help me put the italian and new cobra jet up!

Im also a member of the Bay of Plenty Mustang owners club and registered with the Ferrari owners club of New Zealand.

Huge difference between the occasional track day, and racing competitively.

The vast majority of people, even with some track experience, would still get easily passed by an instructor in a slower car, meaning that the advantage of the Cayman would be lost on them.

Besides, what percentage of miles on your car are from the track anyway? Idealistically, of course everyone wants the most performance possible. But in real life, there are far more chances to enjoy the pleasure of having the top down.

Ah.. I've never been a convertible guy. I get no enjoyment from having the top down on any car. Ideally, I like to be entirely enclosed in my car and on the track, not on a regular road with the top down. I live in a city and rely on public transportation, so my car sees a large percentage of its miles either on the track or in transit to the track.

To me, convertibles are loud, impractical, heavy, have poor visibility with the top up, inconvenient... bleh, I just really don't like them. I grew up with a Miata (learned to drive on it, actually) and am fairly active in motorsports regionally, so I spend a lot of time around different cars, and I can honestly say, in my opinion, convertibles suck.

I think a lot of people get convertibles because thats all they can think of when it comes to automotive enjoyment. To me, driving around in a convertible with the top down is still just driving around. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good drive, but really, doing the most exciting stuff on the street is considerably more boring than doing just about anything on the track. That's why typical convertibles spend most of their time in the garage.

I wouldn't go as far as saying convertibles suck, but they are definitely a different experience that some people appreciate and others don't. Open air motoring also isn't antithetical to performance driving: motorcycles, open-wheel cars, karts, and stuff like the Ariel Atom and Lotus Elise are lots of fun to drive.

My number 1 problem with convertibles is that they generally aren't very stiff compared to the hard top version. This not only has the usual problems like cowl shake, and a generally floppy feeling, but the suspension tuning is much stiffer to make up for the floppy chassis.

As for track driving, my daily driver has 4-5 percent of its total miles on the track. The car has about 106K miles on it. I admit this is not representative of the general population.

--Andre

The down side, is as stated, convertibles are generally less stiff, and they're also generally heavier. With that said, the experience you can have when driving fast in a convertible--i.e. sound, air, view--you can't have in a hard top car. In a proper convertible, or open air car, such as a Miata or Elise, you'd easily forgive the less stiff structure and lower power-to-weight ratio and just drive around with a Joker-size grin on your face.

Jeremy has some answers

Great pics Cam....you're a lucky man.

Having pondered a simmilar question recently. Mine was sell current car, get 996C4. Or keep current car as a dayly driver and get boxter as trackday car. I think im leaning towards the last, as that will be more low key But dang the 996 was SWEET, had the switch on the dash for the buttrflyvalve exhaust , mt6, 18"s, psm +++ Somhow I dont like the cayman much, and the Boxter can be made to handle just as good. Speed

Before you decide on a Boxster or most any other open-roof car, check to make sure your local track day organization allows open-roof cars. Many will not unless you have an SCCA-approved roll-cage installed. This is easier to do unobtrusively on some cars than others. A roll-cage also requires 5-point harnesses, which may also require seating changes.

For the Boxster or Cayman, you can get almost the same options as the Carreras: sport exhaust, 6-speed, 18- or 19-inch wheels, sport seats, PASM, etc.

Also track days will accelerate your maintenance schedule, so make sure you can afford the upkeep for your hobby. Big brake rotors, big rubber tires, etc. are all significantly more expensive than regular stuff.

--Andre

For those talking about taking one's car onto a track -- how does this actually work? Are there "public" tracks where you can pay to let loose with your personal vehicle, or are you actually racing, or what? I'm just curious, as I obviously know nothing about this.

In America, you usually join some sort of car club (BMW CCA, PCA, etc.) or you go with an organization that specializes in track events (Driving Concepts, Speedventures, etc.). The good ones provide an in-car instructor, full course corner workers, and emergency support (usually an ambulance and paramedic at the track all day), and are run with a lot of discipline. The bad ones don't.

You are required to wear a helmet while on the track as a passenger or driver, but other than that, any car in good running condition can run.

Tracks are sometimes public (eg. Laguna Seca) or private (most of them), but they need to be rented for the day. Rents run from $4K/day for the smaller, less prestigious tracks to well over $20K/day for the big-name tracks like Laguna Seca or Infineon/Sears Point. You often need to get some kind of liability insurance as well, which may also require you to have all the safety stuff mentioned before. Tracks are also often booked well in advance, with certain organizations given the same dates each year.

--Andre