Towards the latter half of last season, I noticed in the San Francisco Region’s Board of Directors meeting minutes that there was a lot of conversation about adding a Spec Boxster class to race group 3 (often called “big bore”) which has had dwindling participation over the last couple of years.
I couldn’t imagine why the region would want to invent a Spec Boxster class, especially when Boxsters are already classed in ITR! But I understand now. This wasn’t an invention of our region’s board. The Spec Boxster concept was invented by some Porsche GT3 racers who wanted a more affordable way to race. They created this Spec Boxster class and got two of the big Porsche racing sanctioning bodies (PCA and POC) to accept it. They have also lobbied the San Francisco Region SCCA, because the there are relatively few Porsche club races in the area, and this class will now be joining us in 2009. The region’s version of the rules are here.
It turns out that there are a decent number of these cars being built locally … we could see 5 or more of them this season alone in SFR, I’m told, primarily from people who want a cheaper way to race Porsches. I just wish that the organizers had made the rules more like ITR, so that these cars could cross over and race with us more easily. The Spec Boxsters are a lot lighter than an ITR Boxster (2650 vs. 2830, w/driver), but otherwise pretty close. They have a spec suspension (vs. the relatively open IT rules), have to run an even more stock engine than IT, and have to use heavy stock-sized wheels. But they are allowed some alternate suspension components from the 911 that wouldn’t be legal in IT, they get to run a lightweight fiberglass hardtop vs. the factory hardtop that would be required in IT, and have relatively loose weight-removal rules. Otherwise, they are basically IT cars.
At 2650 lbs they should be a good bit faster than ITR, but if they add ballast and don’t do a lot of IT-illegal mods, these could be really good IT cars and I really hope that some of the local guys see fit to try some group 5 races (where they can run at or near the front instead of at the back of group 3). It’s more fun to race with different cars than ones that are all identical (but the Spec Boxster people might disagree, otherwise, why would they create a spec class?) Anyway, I’m really looking forward to watching to see how this experiment pans out in 2009.
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Hi Josh,
I worked with the group who founded the rules for the boxsterspec class within POC. My prior involvement with SCCA HEAVILY influenced the current rule set. My original goals were to have the car fit in ITR
It has since morphed away from it, but only because we have learned what we can and cannot do with the cars. The lighter car is easier on the tires/brakes.. everything… I brought the class up with Larry Oka a year or so back, and he helped us PUSH SF Region into looking at it on a regional level. Too many times people are pigeon holed into building a car that only fits one race org.. this blows from a shop standpoint or an owners standpoint. The only org not willing to look at us is NASA.. and it because of their GTS fiasco, they want to own all the rules.
If anyone wants ANY information on the class, please visit us at http://www.boxsterspec.com. This is where all the racers from across the USA hangout and discuss the racing and cars. On your comment about “GT3 drivers” yes, we have a few, but they are less than 25% of the current group racing. We about 60 cars nationwide right now.. and still growing
Hi Brad,
Thanks for commenting here! Looking forward to meeting you guys at Laguna. It does seem like you’re doing a great job of building the class. Still, I can’t help but feel that it could have ended up better aligned with ITR.