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10 years ago today, on July 25, 1998, I took delivery of my 1999 Porsche Boxster. During that time, I’ve experienced 43,000 miles of top-down convertible bliss. My rule-of-thumb is that it should be driven only with the top down. I don’t want to be one of those top-up-on-a-beautiful-day people. Early each year, I look forward to first clear day above 40 degrees so that I can put the top down, the collar on my jacket up, the heated seats on, and enjoy the brisk prelude to spring. I’ve been determined to keep the car throughout the changes in life that typically cause owners toRead More →

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The one performance technology that has been lacking from Porsche vehicles is a dual clutch, electronically controlled manual transmission. The wait is now over. Porsche was the first to develop this technology (about 25 years ago) but one of the last performance brands to implement it. Below is an excellent video explaining how it operates, but the benefit is instantaneous upshifts and downshifts with perfect engine speed matching. It will be available in the Model Year 2009 911 and 2010 Boxster/Cayman. Some additional details: This is a 7-speed transmission. 7th gear being is an overdrive gear for fuel economy.  Max speed is obtained in 6thRead More →

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After a disastrous experience with Mintex Red Box brake pads I decided it was necessary to upgrade something with much higher performance capabilities. I’ve gotten several recommendations, including Hawk HPS street pads, the Hawk track-only pads, and a couple of different Padgid track pads. However, my final decision was BHP XPS pads because they are essentially track pads that also can be used on the street. I really don’t see myself swapping pads before and after every track weekend. Track pads don’t perform well cold and street pads don’t perform well when extremely hot, but apparently the BHP pads overcame this problem and give closeRead More →

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For the third time this year, I visited Putnam Park for Porsche Driver Education weekend. This event was hosted by the Central Indiana Region, and thought they did a better job than the Kentucky Region and Mid-Ohio Region (but all were great). I was surprised how long it took me to get back to the performance level I obtained during my previous weekend. I feel like I was slower the entire first day this session, but reached and maybe exceeded my previous levels on the second day. I don’t have a lap timer (yet) so I’m not really sure how I was doing, but it’sRead More →

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I would have missed out on this great car show if it hadn’t been for my friend Kurt (whom I met at my first Porsche DE weekend) asking me if I wanted to go. So Nicole and I followed Kurt and his wife Becky to the small town of Oxford, OH. The entire downtown area was blocked-off for Porsches and there were a lot of great cars to see. Had I known my car was going to be part of the show, I would have washed it. It was still dirty from the track and still had the numbers on the windshield, Oh well. MyRead More →

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After my first Drivers Education weekend, I was hooked.  I loved the opportunity to take my car to a road course and push my own limits (if not those of the car), all while having an instructor in the car with me and not worrying about being faster than anyone else.  I felt safe and had fun, so I was back for a second time. I was not surprised that I remembered the road course completely.  I didn't lose much from my previous time on the track, but it took me until the end of the first day before I was back to where IRead More →

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I completed my first Porsche Drivers Education event at the Putnam Park road course this past weekend.  I'd been wanting to do something like this for quite some time, but just never made it happen.  I'm very pleased that I finally did.  The people I met were awesome and the time on the track was probably the most fun I've had in my Boxster in the 8 years I've owned it. At first, I was concerned that I'd feel this strong urge to upgrade my 2.5L Boxster to something more powerful.  I was surprised that the weekend had the exact opposite effect — I wasRead More →

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I own a Porsche Boxster and I’m a huge fan of all things Porsche (well, except for their outrageous pricing schemes). I’m not sure that I’m going to buy a Cayman. After all, it’s the only coupe that costs more than its convertible counterpart; it is identical to the Boxster convertible version. On the other hand, the Cayman is one of the most beautiful cars I’ve seen and it delivers more power than any Boxster that Porsche has ever sold. The Cayman, like most Porsches, causes a visceral reaction, which leads to loyal owners returning the dealership despite irrationally high pricing. The only thing IRead More →