Spec Boxster Buildup

Larry Oka swaps the Bilstein Springs for slightly shorter aftermarket Hypercoils

one swaybar adjustment and bled the brakes." That's pretty low maintenance in racing. "The other upside to the Boxster Spec car is when you open your garage, you feel a little more justified in the expense of a track ready racer, after all it's a Porsche."
  Oka would like to build more, and based on the car's first outing, he predicts he'll have several up and running soon.

Spec Boxster components: Adjustable anti - swaybars, Bilstein coilover shocks, GT3 lower control arms, Toyo DOT legal race tires, auxiliary radiator and ducting. Installation of the suspension pieces was fairly straightforward.

Spec racing classes try to equalize performance and cost in an attempt to make racing more a battle of driver skill and less a competition of wallet size. Spec Miata racing has defined the genre, but recently a Spec-Boxster series has been gaining momentum here on the West Coast. Larry Oka prepares a variety of racing cars including Spec Miatas, and with a little help from Tony Heyer, he's just completed the transformation of a street going Boxster to a Boxster Spec racecar.
  The rules are straightforward: 1997-1999 Boxsters are eligible and all cars utilize similar suspension, safety equipment and tires in an attempt to create a competitive class with reliable cars while keeping the performance as even as possible.
  Oka took a street car, stripped the interior, installed a Recaro racing seat, a lightweight fiberglass hardtop, a removable MOMO steering wheel, and a Safety Devices roll cage he modified with a cross member and extra door bars allowing him to legally (for the racing series) remove the side windows and their winding mechanisms. He fabricated an exhaust, and fit the spec-required Toyo Proxes R888 tires along with Pagid orange racing brake pads. Then he took the

Boxster to Tony's shop and had him help with an additional front radiator and the Spec Boxster suspension kit. The rules allow GT3 lower suspension arms, Bilstein coilover shocks, and larger Tarett Engineering swaybars that measure 25mm up front and 19mm in the rear. Oka decided to run 450lb front and 500lb rear springs from Hypercoil.
  The most difficult part of installation was figuring out the orientation of the radiator hoses that go along with the additional radiator. "The suspension pieces went on as expected, and the whole job was pretty painless. Of course it didn't hurt having Tony there to explain how several pieces went together either." Oka said.
  Larry Oka ran the car briefly on track before the suspension mods, and afterwards it was transformed. "After the suspension, it felt like a race car, without a lot of body roll, and once you committed to the corner, the handling and feel was very predictable. Comparing the Spec Boxster to a Spec Miata, sure it's 300lbs heavier but it has 180hp to the Miata's 110, so there's more power at hand and more of a racecar sound."
  A week later, out at Laguna for the first time on the new setup with experienced Spec Miata and Porsche racer Bob Murillo behind the wheel, it set an SCCA record for the new Boxster Spec class. They actually ran in a faster Super Production class, as the Boxter class won't officially appear in SCCA until next year - the new car finished ahead of a Supercup 911 and a bunch of 911 spec-racers. It was a great result, and Larry Oka was pleased with the Boxster's reliability. "It ran flawlessly, and we only made