Boxster GTS track day report
Discussion
So, yesterday I took the BGTS to Bedford for a day on their 4.2 mile GT circuit. Also took the GT3 along for a few laps as I'll probably be saying goodbye to it soon, and 2 of my mates brought their Caterhams: an R500 and R400 (latter on slicks). Was a loooovely day for it and absolutely scorching! Good job there's free sunscreen in the gents loos now 
My BGTS has PDK, PASM, PTV with diff and steel brakes and in a nutshell, was brilliant.
Engine:
Wonderful and a work of art. Absolutely loves to rev, creamy smooth with enough power to make it quick, but not so much that if you cock up a corner and lose speed you can just gas it back to the grip limit like in the GT3. Sounds fabulous, not quite as mechanical and deafening in the cabin as the GT3's Mezger, but not far off. I'm reliably informed that from the outside as the car goes by, it's even better. When in traffic with other cars, we were getting black flagged for breaking drive-by limits which has never happened to me in the GT3 which nearly always fails the static noise test at Bedford. Basically, the 3.4 litre unit with PSE is an absolute screamer above 6K rpm. With my half decent corner exit speed, we saw an indicated 131mph on the main straight, but I think another 5mph would have achievable with a bit more bravery in terms of braking for the chicane and probably another 5 on top of that if we'd had the roof up (need to remember to try that next time!). In comparison we saw an indicated 145mph in the GT3, but again I reckon I could add 5mph to that with a bigger pair of stones! So in reality I think there's probably only 10mph in it between the 330PS BGTS and 415PS GT3 which was rather a surprise!
Steering:
I'm pleased to report that the much maligned electric steering works fine on track. You don't know as much of what's going on at the front as in the GT3, but you know enough and given that there's less directness to the feel of the handling in the BGTS anyway, it's not something to worry about. Would it be better with HPAS? Yes. Did it bug me in on track? No
Brakes:
Probably the weakest part of the package on track. That said, in performance terms the standard steel items are more than up to the job of 5 laps / 20 miles even at Bedford where you're inclined to take more liberties - unless you're a professional driver or amateur racer, you're not gonna have a problem IMO. But where the fact that they're softer than before is no problem on the road, on track I'd want them firmer as when they heat up and the pedal goes longer, there was always a slight worry in the back of my mind that I'm going to miss the point of no return and not realise I've cooked them before it's too late. That may just be me not being used to the car though. But to reiterate, for track, firmer would be no bad thing.
Handling:
I've not had a mid-engined car on track for about 3 years and I can say it's lovely to be back! The biggest complement I can give it is that it feels a lot lighter than it looks! Boxster dimensions are mahussive now, but on track, the way it changes direction through chicanes etc is amazing, and more importantly, gives you the confidence as an amateur to push it and explore. It's also less scary trail braking. I've no doubt that the GT3 would ultimately do direction changes better, but you do have to take a big dose of MTFU to do it at high speed (frankly I have to have an instructor in the car with me to egg me on) especially with no PSM to save you - I had a massive tank slapper in the GT3 but managed to reign it in, dented my confidence for a lap or 2 though! Whereas the Boxster feels like it has less inertia to it. A negative is that there is quite a lot of body roll on track. I would hope that the X71 cars would improve on this (stiffer springs? thicker ARBs?) but equally I would not swap my PASM for it as it's not enough to bother me on track and it's not an issue during road driving - PASM's dual personality still wins for me. PTV seemed to work well in the tight corners and the car seemed very stable on the limit on higher speed corners which I'm guessing the diff had something to do with (it seemed to hold these lovely almost imperceptible drift angles) although I couldn't say exactly how much without driving another Boxster without it back to back.
PDK:
Just brilliant on track. Okay so you can't heel and toe, but you can spend a lot more brain power thinking about braking and lines which I really enjoyed. I even stuck it in auto for a few laps so I could concentrate fully while trying out different lines with the instructor to see what worked best. Then when I was happy, into manual mode it went again. Would I trade a PDK car for a manual car on track if I could only have one for evermore? Probably not. But trust me, if you're worried you won't have fun on track with a PDK, you don't have to be!
Anyway, so overall an excellent day
If you have a 981, get your track day booked asap, you won't regret it!
My BGTS has PDK, PASM, PTV with diff and steel brakes and in a nutshell, was brilliant.
Engine:
Wonderful and a work of art. Absolutely loves to rev, creamy smooth with enough power to make it quick, but not so much that if you cock up a corner and lose speed you can just gas it back to the grip limit like in the GT3. Sounds fabulous, not quite as mechanical and deafening in the cabin as the GT3's Mezger, but not far off. I'm reliably informed that from the outside as the car goes by, it's even better. When in traffic with other cars, we were getting black flagged for breaking drive-by limits which has never happened to me in the GT3 which nearly always fails the static noise test at Bedford. Basically, the 3.4 litre unit with PSE is an absolute screamer above 6K rpm. With my half decent corner exit speed, we saw an indicated 131mph on the main straight, but I think another 5mph would have achievable with a bit more bravery in terms of braking for the chicane and probably another 5 on top of that if we'd had the roof up (need to remember to try that next time!). In comparison we saw an indicated 145mph in the GT3, but again I reckon I could add 5mph to that with a bigger pair of stones! So in reality I think there's probably only 10mph in it between the 330PS BGTS and 415PS GT3 which was rather a surprise!
Steering:
I'm pleased to report that the much maligned electric steering works fine on track. You don't know as much of what's going on at the front as in the GT3, but you know enough and given that there's less directness to the feel of the handling in the BGTS anyway, it's not something to worry about. Would it be better with HPAS? Yes. Did it bug me in on track? No
Brakes:
Probably the weakest part of the package on track. That said, in performance terms the standard steel items are more than up to the job of 5 laps / 20 miles even at Bedford where you're inclined to take more liberties - unless you're a professional driver or amateur racer, you're not gonna have a problem IMO. But where the fact that they're softer than before is no problem on the road, on track I'd want them firmer as when they heat up and the pedal goes longer, there was always a slight worry in the back of my mind that I'm going to miss the point of no return and not realise I've cooked them before it's too late. That may just be me not being used to the car though. But to reiterate, for track, firmer would be no bad thing.
Handling:
I've not had a mid-engined car on track for about 3 years and I can say it's lovely to be back! The biggest complement I can give it is that it feels a lot lighter than it looks! Boxster dimensions are mahussive now, but on track, the way it changes direction through chicanes etc is amazing, and more importantly, gives you the confidence as an amateur to push it and explore. It's also less scary trail braking. I've no doubt that the GT3 would ultimately do direction changes better, but you do have to take a big dose of MTFU to do it at high speed (frankly I have to have an instructor in the car with me to egg me on) especially with no PSM to save you - I had a massive tank slapper in the GT3 but managed to reign it in, dented my confidence for a lap or 2 though! Whereas the Boxster feels like it has less inertia to it. A negative is that there is quite a lot of body roll on track. I would hope that the X71 cars would improve on this (stiffer springs? thicker ARBs?) but equally I would not swap my PASM for it as it's not enough to bother me on track and it's not an issue during road driving - PASM's dual personality still wins for me. PTV seemed to work well in the tight corners and the car seemed very stable on the limit on higher speed corners which I'm guessing the diff had something to do with (it seemed to hold these lovely almost imperceptible drift angles) although I couldn't say exactly how much without driving another Boxster without it back to back.
PDK:
Just brilliant on track. Okay so you can't heel and toe, but you can spend a lot more brain power thinking about braking and lines which I really enjoyed. I even stuck it in auto for a few laps so I could concentrate fully while trying out different lines with the instructor to see what worked best. Then when I was happy, into manual mode it went again. Would I trade a PDK car for a manual car on track if I could only have one for evermore? Probably not. But trust me, if you're worried you won't have fun on track with a PDK, you don't have to be!
Anyway, so overall an excellent day
If you have a 981, get your track day booked asap, you won't regret it! Incidentally, both of my mates are pretty handy on track and having passengered in both the Caterhams with them, there is *definitely* one of them in my future. Been eying up CSRs 
http://uk.caterhamcars.com/cars/csr
http://uk.caterhamcars.com/cars/csr
AndyCGTS said:
Wow that sounds a fanastic day! I've been waiting to take my CGTS on a track day and oddly enought ive been looking at Bedford.
If you do, let me know, I'll come with and do another quite happily Actually, that goes for anyone here, always nice to have some company.Bedford may not be a "real" racing circuit, but in driving enjoyment terms I prefer it to Brands hatch
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