The option list for the Boxster S is as long as the sheet for the 911, and here's where things get interesting. Some of the options are pure performance, such as the PASM active suspension management, PCCB ceramic brake package, and the Sports Chrono Plus (which has the new launch control). The numbers add up very quickly, heading to damn-near double the base price.
Is it worth it? Yes, no, and maybe. It all comes down to use. As a pure sporting ride, the Boxster platform is better than the 911 variants. For the traditionalist, saying that is tantamount to treason, however true it may be. Remember, all but one of those trophies awarded to Porsche for winning the Targa Florio were for two-seat, mid-engine mounts.
2009 Porsche Boxster S
* Layout
Longitudinal mid-engine, rear-wheel drive
* Engine
3.3-liter flat six, dohc, 24-valve
* Transmission
Six-speed manual; optional seven-speed PDK twin Clutch Automated Manual
* Suspension
Independent MacPherson strut optimized by Porsche
* Brakes
Four-piston aluminum monoblock calipers, cross-drilled and ventilated rotors
* Dimensions
Length/Width/Height (in.): 170.9/70.9/50.9Wheelbase: 95.1 in.Curb Weight: 2,944 lb
* Performance
Peak Power: 310 hp @ 6400 rpmPeak Torque: 265 lb-ft @ 5500 rpm0-62 mph: 5.9 sec.Top Speed: 162 mph
Price Tag
$56,700
Vic Elford
Porsche, the Targa-Florio and why it mattered.There are only a handful of drivers who could be considered auteurs of their chosen occupation. Vic Elford is one of them. Rally, Formula One, Can Am, sports car racing--the term "all-around driver" is too easy a clich to describe Elford's talents, but in his case it is apropos. Sit down, belt up, read on.
EC: You have been associated with the great sports car races during what many feel was the prime era of motorsport, the '60s. What is the attraction of that decade for so many?
VE: Cars that people could associate with. Drivers they could actually meet and talk to. Regulations that allowed the engineers to build the best cars they could, without artificial dumbing-down of performance in any way. Can you imagine men like Pich, Forghieri, Singer, trying to work to the ridiculous regulations imposed by, say, Grand Am, where if someone comes up with a better way of doing it (like stretching the fuel window) it is promptly negated by changing the rules governing pit stops?The less rules, the better. Can Am had arguably the best racing of all time with rules that said, basically, four wheels, two seats and an engine. How you do it is up to you.
EC: It wasn't uncommon for you to do a rally one weekend and then later a full circuit race in a prototype. It appears that as racing has become so much more specialized that the great "all-around driver" has all but disappeared.
VE: I simply enjoyed trying to drive anything faster than anyone else could drive it--anywhere. Once I won the Geneva Rally, which finished on Saturday, then, as my rally car was still like new, drove down to the Mont Ventoux early on Sunday morning and drove in the hill climb in the afternoon.
EC: We were recently in Sicily for the launch of the new Boxster and were fortunate enough to be able to make a run of the last official course of the Targa Florio, including a stop at KM 38 where Porsche set up camp. In Cerda, just the mention of your name brings a lot of smiles and enthusiasm. Being that you are not a native, and a Brit at that, how did you enter into the legends of the Targa?
VE: Did you stop at the little caf in Collesano? They have a few photos on the wall of Nino Vaccarella and me. Whenever I stop there they never let me pay for coffee. Cerda is the same and Campofelice is even better. Whenever I'm there the chief of police always turns up to buy me a drink in the caf on the square.