Targa Florio

Wow, the Boxster is huge compared to the 718 Spyder. 

Looks very wide and low to me, but that's the marketing dept. photographer. Just short of 3000#, but 350HP. It should scoot.

I test drove one several years back and I was impressed. Handling was very tight, and responsive.

Oh, yum . . . I'll take the 1960 version, thankyou.

I test drove a Boxster a while back, and was astonished to discover how much it weighed, as you say something like 3K lbs.  Goodness.  But here's the clincher: you put each of these cars into the wall, or someone puts their SUV into you, and you walk away from the Boxster, and in the 718, they call the coroner.  It's that simple.

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing that link, Art. In the beginning of the video I cringed a little when I saw the pit crew pushing the RS with their hands on the windshield frame.

It's great to see someone like Derek Bell - who is not as young as he or I used to be - hauling ass around Targa Floria in an original 718.  I go to a few vintage races in US and Canada, but I'd love to hit some events in England and Europe. 

All I need is the goggles.

MusbJim posted:

Very cool video! Thanks for sharing that link, Art. In the beginning of the video I cringed a little when I saw the pit crew pushing the RS with their hands on the windshield frame.

Looked to be a plexi-glass windshield. There was a spot in the video when he's headed into the sun and the reflection through the windshield led me to believe it was plexi. Probably very resilient and not as fragile as ours.

WOW!! Love the sound of the exhaust of the old 718. Was Derrick  saying that the 1600 motor was putting out 170bhp or 117bhp? If the guy spoke English?? lol.

Awesome post !

opie4146 posted:

WOW!! Love the sound of the exhaust of the old 718. Was Derrick  saying that the 1600 motor was putting out 170bhp or 117bhp? If the guy spoke English?? lol.

What I understood was that the original 4cam in the 550 Spyder started at 110hp and gradated to 170hp at the end of the run in the 718.

170 hp, and that engine needed to rev high, or it would destroy itself.

The Boxster or the classic? I think anyone with a Speedster must have asked himself that a few thousand times.

I was thinking about that a lot today after spending a few days on the road in the Speedster - to the Monterey coast and back.

It's about 450 miles round trip - two thirds back roads and one third freeway. Not that far, but the complicating factor is the weather. The high on the coast was 57 today, but it was 90 when I got back to Sacramento. If you leave early enough to beat the valley heat, you're driving through heavy mist (California speak for light rain) and cold for about 85 freeway miles near the coast.

This would be a no brainer in any modern car - even a modern convertible. Pop the top up in the rain (uh sorry, I mean mist), a little heat if needed, and bluetooth some tunes. Halfway home, stop for 15 seconds, drop the top (or just switch on the air), and party on, Garth.

If you've done any travel in the Speedster, you know all the little things that make life less predictable and less comfortable on the road. After dragging your sweetie through a few days of that, you start to wonder if maybe you're taking the whole vintage motoring thing a bit too far.

An hour or two in the Speedster - on the right road and on the right day - can't be equalled by any modern car. But if you have to choose only one play toy, which is it to be - the lady or the tiger?

I went through this back in  2010-2011.  I purchased a mint 2007 Boxster in between my   Widebody VS and my current IM.  Fantastic car for everything you mentioned in your post.  But for some of us it does not fullfill the dream that many of us yearn for.   My IM has many of the creature comforts that the Boxster had, and has the speed to boot.  But still it's no modern car.  I guess everyone goes through these thoughts from time to time

If you really think about it and your honest to yourself The replica is not a modern car and can never really be used like a modern car. It is like an old 50 year old car in many aspects. 

You need AAA, you do ! 

My wife often wonders why I am so long suffering with this car... hence we see a lot of people flip these cars early to late in their ownership when they get tired or frustrated at maintaining it or the concessions they are making to drive it. 

So I tried in my last build to remove old technology as much as I could. It was not without growing pains. 

I keep saying to myself this is a 50 y.o. car with concessions. 

The shape is intoxicatingly beautiful but the agony of ownership can be just as painful.  You guys are right on the perfect drive it is so much more fun than the modern car.  Ray 

opie4146 posted:

WOW!! Love the sound of the exhaust of the old 718. Was Derrick  saying that the 1600 motor was putting out 170bhp or 117bhp? If the guy spoke English?? lol.

Oh, he speaks English, alright; trouble is, you expect everyone to speak 'murekin...