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Do you know the way to San Diego? [to the Dionne Warwick tune of Do you know the way to San Jose?]

June 26-27th and June 29th–July 12th 2007 By Jim Cambron

Everyone knows that San Diego is “a ways and a half” from Huntsville, over 2,000 miles.

But once a real Porsche enthusiast has tasted the Porsche Parade; “the greatest automotive week of your life;” then going to the Parade is not the question, the only question is: when do you leave and which route do you take? I started planning for this trip just after I missed attending the Portland Parade last year.

Suki, my better half, hates to ride; in fact, on most of our vehicular trips she’s either asleep, eating, drinking, or looking for a place to get rid of what she just drank. The Club Sport racing shells fitted to our Porsches make them her least favorite vehicles. After all, these seats are designed to help hold you in the proper driving position; they’re not exactly Lazy-boy recliners. So, rather than us both suffering for 70 hours in those seats, I decided to fly her to San Diego and back, and make the trip in our new Boxster alone.

In determining the number of days for the drive out, I considered the distance of 2,100 miles, the new Porsche, a reduced number of potty stops, my choice of meals, and starting and ending each day at my discretion. With about a thousand miles a day, I could make it in two days with a stop in Midland, Texas which is located “mid-way” between Huntsville and San Diego.

Then I had another thought; why not “see the USA” and take the back-roads. With only two exceptions, 9 miles on I-25 in New Mexico and 31 miles on I-8 in Arizona, I could circumvent the interstates. The back-road distance was 2,155 miles—but putting a time on that distance was impossible to estimate, due to the reduced speeds through towns, road construction, traffic lights, stop signs, and various other delays. Club member Dell Crosier, a veteran cross-country traveler, advised me to allow four full days.

So I shaped a plan to leave on Tuesday, June 26th and arrive in San Diego four days later on Friday evening. It seemed like a good plan, but I remembered a quote by Moltke: “No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy!” which also applies to life off the battlefield. Another complementary quote from a former commander was: “Remain flexible, but not limp!”

Preparation for Departure

The four main Parade competitive events are the Concours, Time Speed Distance (TSD) Rally, Autocross, and Tech Quiz. While I have won local and regional level Concours trophies, winning at the national level is well beyond both my and my Porsche’s current capability. Some Concours participants drive to the Parade and then show their vehicles, but most of the winners are more akin to my good friend Steve Blalock of the Peachstate Region, who has an ’05 997S with only 70 miles on it. He has prepared the vehicle to such a perfect level that the only question is if he will get a perfect score or miss a tenth of a point somewhere. No driving or use of his Porsche except for continual cleaning and detailing. That’s not for me and my Porsches.

An alternative to the formal Concours is the Porsche Paddock. At the 50th Parade in Hershey I received the “Best of Show, 1st Place” ribbon for all of the Boxsters displayed in the Paddock. This year’s Parade again featured a Paddock car show and I wanted to win that same “Best of Show” trophy with my new Boxster. That’s why I planned to arrive on Friday afternoon, to allow me two full days to prepare the Boxster for Paddock review early Monday morning.

My other primary goal was to win a trophy in the Autocross. At Ft. Worth I learned the importance of track tires for the autocross event. I towed a tire trailer with my ’02 Boxster but

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Porsche’s new models no longer have trailer hitch attachment points. I use a car trailer for travel to regional DEs, but 2,100 miles is too far to tow a vehicle, so I decided to ship my autocross wheels to the Parade site.

The new Porsche

The GT3 RS that replaced my RUF Boxster is a great track car, but it’s not a comfortable trip car with its solid suspension and lack of AC and cruise control. I needed another Porsche specifically designed for PCA trips and car shows. There are two requirements to win the PCA Paddock: a heavily optioned unique car that outshines the competition and preparation of the car to a level of cleanliness that dazzles the judges. You have to achieve both of these to win.

There are five requirements to win the PCA autocross: 1) tune the engine to produce its maximum power, 2) reduce the vehicle components to a minimum weight, 3) mount the widest and stickiest tires on the lightest wheels, 4) adjust the suspension for handling neutrality, and, 5) secure driver training from a professional and practice. In my case, #5 was the most difficult requirement. Additionally, all vehicle mods had to be IAW the Parade Competition Rules.

I got the new Boxster in April and its features include: Cayman S front and rear bumpers; the complete Porsche carbon fiber interior plus a carbon rear wing and side inlets; TechArt front spoiler and side skirts; PCCB composite-ceramic brakes with 19” Carrera Sport wheels mounting 285mm width rear tires; a Power-flow intake, a EVOMS modified DME (to be added post-Parade), Fabspeed headers and racing catalysts; PASM suspension with H&R PASM compatible lowering springs; bi-xenon headlights; the sport-chrono system; Bose surround sound; Club Sport racing shells; Simpson racing harnesses, and a Brey Krause fire extinguisher.

The Boxster was certainly unique; it had every available Porsche performance option plus a number of after-market products and was well equipped to win the Paddock. It should also be a great performer with a calculated 350 hp and 2,850 lbs for a power-to-weight ratio surpassing the 997S by nearly 10%. The suspension had been tried and balanced and the autocross wheels and tires were enroute via DHL. I had made every preparation and hoped I was ready to be judged.

’07 Boxster S

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Tuesday, 6/26 – Day 1 of a planned 4 day trip to San Diego My back-road route passed through Decatur, Russellville, Vernon, and into Mississippi.

With a high-risk surcharge on my auto insurance policy, I couldn’t risk a traffic ticket and was determined to keep my speed within 5 miles of the posted limit, and even closer through towns.

I started each day with the convertible top down until the temperature reached the mid-90’s. I also wanted to eat exclusively at “blue-plate diners”—no “fast food” joints, but that plan went out the window as I found very few diners along the route.

Passing through middle Mississippi a little after 2:00 PM, with 280 miles on the trip odometer, I was suddenly surprised by a Check Engine Light (CEL). I pulled into an abandoned gas station and evaluated my situation. The light was not flashing, so it wasn’t critical, but it was still worrisome since I had only owned the car for 12 weeks and driven just 2,500 miles. The computer message read: Check engine visit workshop. My first thought was what have I done to cause this problem? I installed a K&N air filter last week and I remembered the K&N in my ’02 Boxster once got rain soaked and destroyed the Mass Air Flow Sensor, triggering the CEL. It’s not raining, but excess oil from K&N filters can also trigger the CEL. I installed Fabspeed headers with 200 cell racing catalysts. Those same catalysts failed last month in my GT3—but that failure caused a flashing CEL. Regardless, I needed a Porsche dealer and hadn’t seen one lately, not since leaving Huntsville this morning.

I called Randy Carter, the Porsche of Huntsville Service Manager, who said it was about 140 miles to Memphis, 400 miles to Dallas, and another 1,875 miles to San Diego. He advised me to detour north to Grossett Porsche in Memphis and he would notify their Service Advisor.

Within the hour, Andy Durr, Grossett Porsche Service Advisor called me to arrange for my reception, service, and overnight stay. He said the Memphis rush hour traffic would prevent me from reaching the dealership prior to them closing, but that he would save me their first appointment the next day. He also gave me directions to several hotels and restaurants located near the dealership. I checked into a Memphis hotel by 7:00 PM and thought about how this failure would impact my plans. It was still a long way to San Diego.

Wednesday, 6/27 – Memphis, TN, and day 2 of a planned 4 day trip to San Diego

I was sitting at the service bay of Gossett Porsche by 6:15 AM and within the hour their service technician said the CEL code was for a faulty Bank #1 (right side) catalyst. I couldn’t believe I was victim to yet another right-side faulty Fabspeed catalyst; twice on two cars in two months. I decided to return to Huntsville for the catalyst replacement rather than wait for what could be several days in Memphis. I remembered the difficulty the dealer had initially fitting the Fabspeed exhaust to the Boxster (requiring substantial forming and modifications) and thought that their experience might prove useful if similar efforts were required. I pulled back into my driveway that afternoon with 668 wasted miles on the trip odometer. Thursday, 6/28 – Huntsville again and day 3 of what would have been a 4 day trip

At least our very recent experience with the GT3 educated me and the Porsche mechanics on Fabspeed catalyst failures. Our first step was to check the exhaust back-pressure at 2,500 and 6,000 rpm. The GT3 had less than 1.0 PSI of pressure on both sides at 2,500 rpm, but while the left (good) side only had 2.0 PSI at 6,000 rpm, the right (bad) side catalyst back pressure was off the gauge (over 15 PSI); the failed catalyst was completely blocking the exhaust at high rpms, preventing the exhaust valves from fully closing and triggering the flashing CEL. However, the Boxster exhaust back-pressure revealed both sides within the required specs at both engine speeds. No catalytic restriction indicated a different type of failure this time.

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So by 10:00 AM we have the Boxster on the lift at the dealer, the headers/catalysts dismounted, and everything ready for a quick re-installation to get me back on my way west—but when the FedEx truck arrived, there was no Fabspeed package. FedEx said the catalysts were in Memphis, and would be in Huntsville tomorrow—another wasted day. Friday, 6/29 – Can I make it to San Diego before my wife does?

I started the day at work when I should have been on the 4th day of my vacation. I wondered when the would the catalysts arrive in Huntsville? Will they fit this time? Will they work this time and for how long? When can I get on the road? Can I cover 500 miles today, leaving 1,000 for Saturday and 500 for Sunday, in order to get to the airport in time to pick-up Suki at 1230 PM? Obviously the back-road routes would no longer be possible—but would the interstates even be passable with all the recent flooding? Then my customer called to see if I could meet him in Oklahoma and Texas for business meetings on my way back; another complication.

This time the FedEx truck had the headers/catalysts and Vic quickly installed the set and put me back on the road by 3:30 PM. My detailed plan was replaced by a rough schedule of Texas tonight; western Arizona on Saturday; and to make it to the airport by noon Sunday.

One rainstorm after another emphasized that while the Boxster’s steeply raked windshield may look stylish—it severely restricts vision during frog-drowning gully-washers. I had to drive well below the average traffic speed for much of the early evening.

By midnight I had logged 500 miles and started looking for a hotel. I had to stop at seven hotels and all four Texarkana interstate interchanges before I found a vacancy.

Saturday, 6/30 – Is this the way to San Diego?

I’m on the road again by 5:00 AM and am thankful for Cracker Barrel’s audio-books which entertain me throughout the day and night, but after 16 hours and 1,100 miles I’ve had enough of the car, the road, and the tapes. I pull into a Best Western hotel in Tucson and calculate that it’s only 540 miles to San Diego and I’ll gain an hour when I enter the Pacific Time Zone. Oh, my Check Engine Light came on again in Dallas. The first set of Fabspeed catalysts lasted 1,150 miles; this second set triggered the light at just 750 miles. On the advice of Fabspeed and with the concurrence of my mechanic, I ignored the light for the remainder of the trip. One pleasant surprise was finding an 80 mph speed limit in west Texas—that helped, but it was still a long way across Texas; even in a Porsche.

Sunday, 7/1 – Arizona and the Town & Country Resort, San Diego, California

On the road again by 5:00 AM and worried about making it to the airport before Suki’s plane lands—if your know Suki, then you understand. Mapquest says it’s only 6 hours to the San Diego Airport from Tucson—I think I will just make it. I listen to another audio book as I cruise west and keep a close watch on my engine gauges as the outside temperature passes 111 degrees. Throughout the trip the engine temperature never passed an indicated 180 degrees including cresting the California Continental Divide at about 5,000’ where the sign advises you to turn off your AC to prevent boil-overs.

I pull into the San Diego Town and Country Resort at 10:15 AM and calculate that I’ve covered 2,050 miles in 28 hours of driving time, averaging 73 mph (excluding stops). Total time on the road was 34 hours for an overall average of 60 mph (including meals and fuel). I need to unload my luggage into our room in order to fit my bride’s luggage in the Boxster. Unfortunately, our room won’t be ready until 3:00 PM so I stash my luggage in a friend’s room and figure I have enough time to wash the car—after all, I can’t pick her up in a dirty Porsche.

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For many years Zymol sponsored the Parade wash rack and provided multiple wash stations,

hoses, nozzles, buckets, sponges, soaps, drying towels, and specialty solvents. Somehow, PCA lost their relationship with Zymol in 2005 and we have suffered without Zymol’s expertise and products since then. Zymol staffed the wash rack with experts who were glad to help analyze cleaning and waxing problems and offer advice and assistance. This year’s wash station was sponsored by Griots who provided hoses, buckets, soap, and hotel towels. I appreciate Griot’s sponsorship, but their definitely not Zymol!

The Town and Country Resort was built in the 1950s and has undergone continuous updating

and renovation so that it has the previous generation charm and grace, combined with modern conveniences. I thought the resort’s best feature was the plethora of flowers lining every pathway; wonderful fragrances filled Mission Valley. The San Diego weather was perfect with temperatures ranging from the mid 50s to the mid 70s. There was fog every morning followed by sunny days and cool breezes. It was definitely perfect convertible weather and the Porsche convertible tops stayed down all week. Except for the distance from the east coast, San Diego was a perfect site for the Parade and the local PCA Region made every possible effort to present an excellent Parade.

Welcome Tent

Griot’s Wash Rack Safety Inspection

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Once I got Suki back to the resort and we checked into our room and stowed our luggage, we

negotiated the Parade Registration, had the Boxster Safety inspected, and she went off to explore Mission Valley while I settled down to perform some serious cleaning. I skipped the Parade Welcome Party in order to get in about six hours of preparation. The Porsche Paddock first call was at 7:30 AM the next morning and I had to be ready. It’s amazing how many bugs you can accumulate over 2,000 miles and through 12 states (I passed through 4 states twice). I was exhausted by 9:00 PM and announced “That’s as good as it’s going to get!” and retired for the evening. Tomorrow was my first Parade opportunity to excel!

Parade Day 1, Monday 7/2– Porsche Paddock, The Concours, and The Concours Banquet

Like the Hershey parade, the San Diego Region judged the Porsche Paddock vehicles concurrent with the formal PCA Concours and selected the single best Porsche in each model group. The award criteria was: “the most optioned, equipped, and overall modified Porsche while in good taste and immaculate condition.” A cursory glance at the competition revealed very few modified Porsches and most of them also lacked the detail of cleanliness needed to win recognition. I thought I had a good chance to win, as I made one more swipe over the tires.

Town & Country Tower

Town & Country Resort, Mission Valley

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There were 54 Boxsters and 15 Caymans among the 750 Porsches on display in the Porsche

Paddock. I watched the judges walk among the Porsches, looking at each car. The head judge walked over and asked if the Boxster RS was my car. He said it was a great vehicle, very representative of what they were looking for and perfectly matched their presentation and condition criteria. He said the selection of the RS Boxster was one of their easiest decisions since it was by far the most optioned and modified Porsche and was “heads above” the competition. Winning this “Best of Class” award with the new Boxster certainly made all my time, effort, and money worthwhile. I even got a small smile of satisfaction from Suki—now that’s something! I hope to do as well in the Autocross, at least 3rd in class, maybe even 2nd. But prior to the Autocross is the Rally, our weakest event.

Porsche Paddock

“Best of Show”

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Parade participants this year included three of the fifty Special Edition PCA Club Coupes

that debuted at the 50th Parade in Hershey, July 2005. Only one of these Coupes still belonged to its original owner; the other two were acquired by second owners at about $30K above the original price. The Coupes are all painted Azurro California metallic blue and have a 381 hp performance package. They are among the rarest, most beautiful, and most powerful normally aspirated Porsches and the PCA is extremely proud to have been honored with them.

Parade Day 2, Tuesday, 7/3 – TSD Rally, Beach Party, and The Rally Banquet

We never finished very well in the rallys. Our experience ranges from four miserable hours in the Florida heat and humidity to nice drives through the Smoky Mountains and a little of everything in between. Our rally philosophy has evolved into the following edict: Don’t let the rally destroy the Porsche, the Parade, Suki’s health (motion-sickness), or our marriage.

This year the Rally was only 125 miles in length and included some great scenery south and east of San Diego. We survived the Rally in accordance with our edict, placing 24th in the Unequipped Plus Class. That score was a little less than our 2005 Hershey 16th Place finish and a lot worse than Steve and Liz Baum’s 6th place at Hershey, but we were satisfied. There was no

Concours Banquet

PCA 997S Club Coupe

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trophy for 24th place, but we also had no accidents, no motion-sickness, and no arguments. We marked it down as another successful Parade Rally. The Rally ended as they all do, back at the Resort with a Yokohama sponsored Ice Cream Social.

Tuesday night was a Southern California beach party at the Marine Base on Coronado Island

and featured the Zone Challenge which included the various Zones competing in Frisbee, Tug-of-War, Sand Castles, and on Skim Boards. Everyone seemed to have a good time in this family oriented event which also included the Budweiser truck with beer on tap. Dinner featured a Mexican Feast with all the trimmings including ice chests full of ice cream, again.

Day 3, Wednesday, 7/4 – Autocross and Independence Day at Sea World

The Autocross is the ultimate Parade competition with the winners securing the bragging rights as The Fastest Porsche in America for each class. This was my third Parade autocross so I knew what it takes to win at this event. My garage wall features the 5th Place Boxster S Production Class trophy from the ’04 Parade in Ft. Worth and the 2nd Place Boxster S Production Class trophy from the ’05 Parade in Hershey. I certainly have room for another trophy on my garage wall and I built the new Boxster specifically with this goal in mind. The new Boxster

TSD Rally

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adheres to the letter of the Parade Competition Rules and if there was any shortcoming in the set-up, it was my lack of autocross practice in general and in this car specifically.

I have published the details of my Autocross preparation and competition in a separate article so I will not go into great detail here other than to mention that there were 412 Porsches participating in the Autocross; 43 Modified, 39 Improved, 164 Production, and 166 Stock. There were a total of 70 Boxsters and 15 Caymans; 58 of the 986 Boxsters and 11 of the 987 Boxsters. My Boxster finished exceptionally well winning 1st Place in the Boxster S/Cayman S Production Class and securing the title as the 5th Fastest Production Porsche in America. These results were more than I ever dreamed of achieving and I was so proud of the car—truly it is a fine replacement for the ’02 RUF Boxster. I credit its success to the Kumho V710 tires and the exceptional performance of the PCCB brakes. The increased engine power and reduced vehicle weight didn’t hurt either.

Day 4, Thursday, 7/5 – Tech Quiz, President’s Reception, USS Midway Victory Banquet

The Tech Quiz was renamed the Technical and Historical Quiz this year. This event has traditionally been a real killer; I guess you have to make it that way with so many knowledgeable Porsche enthusiasts. At Ft. Worth, I guessed at 76% of the questions and the Hershey Quiz wasn’t much better with guessing at 66%. I didn’t record my guesses this year, but since I only answered 31 of 65 questions correctly (47%), obviously there was a lot of guessing involved. In spite of my guess work, I still finished 11th overall in the 986, 996, 987, & 997 Class (down from 9th in class at Hershey). Here are a few of the actual technical and historical questions— 1) How much more torsionally rigid is the 996 bodyshell than the 993? 5%, 30%, 40%, or 55% 2) Alternators produce 3-phase alternating current. What component rectifies the current to produce DC current? Regulator, Phase Converter, Transformer, or Diode? 3) What does the number prior to the decimal on DIN fasteners equal? Modulas of elasticity, 1/100 of minimum tensile strength, Yield strength ratio, or Percent of carbon in the steel? 4) When was Porsche Inc. officially registered in Germany? 1921, 1931, 1936, or 1946? 5) In what year and car did Dan Gurney win Porsche’s first Grand Prix? ’61 - Type 803, ’62 - Type 804, ’63 - Type 805, or none of the above?

Autocross Trophy

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6) Which team drove the GT3R and won its class in the ’99 LeMans? Alzen, Huisman, & Riccitelli; Collins, Havens, & Wagner; Spagnoli, Merzario, & Farnbacher; or Haywood, Bell, Luhr, & Maassen?

The shortened Parades reduced the amount of time for activities beyond competing in the four main events. Suki and I used our only free afternoon during this Parade to tour Hotel del Coronado and the US Navy 7th Fleet Headquarters and its magnificent two story Base Exchange.

We also attended the President’s Reception again this year, held on the China Star; a three

mast ship retired as part of the San Diego Marine Museum. This reception was held just prior to

Coronado Hotel

China star

Marine Park

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the Parade final event, the Victory Party aboard the USS Midway with dinner for a crowd in excess of 1,500. Speakers included the Porsche family, Porsche Auto Group, Porsche Cars North America, and Porsche Club of America Officers. A LMP2 Spider was also displayed.

One of the highlights of the Parade is interacting with members of the Porsche family. I

appreciate that the PCA treats them like the royalty they represent to our Porsche marquee. Suki and I first met Peter Porsche at the Tampa Parade but did not get time to sit and talk with him until the Ft. Worth Parade. At the Hershey Parade, Peter was joined by his younger brother Wolfgang, as well as Peter’s son Daniell. This year Peter was once again at the Parade and we enjoyed visiting with him and his love of his granddad’s Porsche automobiles. Friday, 7/6 – Suki flies home and Shipment of Parade Signage to Huntsville

I’ve volunteered as the Director of Signage for the 2008 Porsche Parade to be held in Charlotte, NC. This duty includes receipt of the San Diego Parade signs and shipment back east

Peter Porsche

Prescott Kelly PCA President

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for storage until time to modify them for next year. Throughout the week in San Diego, I made a daily stop by the hotel equipment room where the signs were issued to the Event Directors each morning and then returned upon the conclusion of the event. By Friday morning quite a large pile of signs had accumulated, including those left-over from prior parades.

George and Tracy Jones let me use Porsche of Huntsville’s DHL shipping contract to return the signs from San Diego. The hotel baggage room provided all the packing materials and assisted in the packing effort to get these signs ready for shipment. It took three of us two hours to pack 23 boxes measuring 44 cubic feet and weighing 696 pounds. The total cost to PCA was only $800—representing a 65% savings from our $2,225 budget.

I had the Boxster packed by noon and spent the remainder of Friday talking with Porsche

guys that had not yet departed. Everyone agreed that the nicest feature of San Diego is the weather. There are few things in life more pleasant than sitting at a restaurant alongside the

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ocean, listening to the waves roll-in, eating great seafood with a nice bottle of wine, having a good conversation, and enjoying weather with just a nip of a cool breeze.

Someone should count the number of PCA members who drive to the Parade each year in their original Porsche. This year’s Grand Marshals drove their 356 from St. Petersburg. It took them two weeks to get to the west coast, they spent a week at the Parade, and they set aside another two weeks for the return trip. Pictured below is a similar 356 loaded down with concours preparation supplies and equipment. It is packed for the return trip to San Francisco and included in the baggage is a newly awarded Concours First in Class trophy.

Saturday, 7/7 – Heading east on US60; California, Arizona, and New Mexico

With plenty of time to cross the western half of the country and meet my customer at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, I was excited about driving some of the back-roads I hurriedly bypassed on my way west last week. I departed San Diego at 5:00 AM and picked-up CA78 at Ramona, traversing southern California from the coast to Blythe. CA78 is an original wagon trail, now seldom traveled except by the locals, running through the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, the Salton Sea, the Algodones Dunes, and the Chocolate Mountains. If you ever get the chance, make sure you drive this road. It’s a little over 200 miles through some of the most desolate, but beautiful

Algodones – Imperial Dunes

Julian, California

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landscape you’ll find in the US, with an occasional hidden valley, like Julian and Ocotillo Wells. I really appreciated the opportunity to see this unique part of the southwest.

I crossed into Arizona at Blythe and picked up US60. It’s one of two original trans-continental highways commissioned in 1926 and runs from Virginia Beach to Los Angeles. Unlike US66 which has been mostly replaced by I-40, US60 is still intact across most of the US. US60 zigzags across Arizona, through downtown Phoenix, and up through the White Mountains. The only congestion was west of Phoenix in the retirement communities of Surprise and Sun City. The temperature hovered around 115 degrees, but it was nice and cool in the Boxster.

You cross into New Mexico at an altitude of 8,000 feet and on several occasions while passing cars the combination of the altitude and the low octane fuel caused me to glance at the gear shift lever to make sure I was in the right gear. You have to plan your passes in this situation, even in a Porsche. US60 takes you down from the mountains to the Plains of San Augustine just west of Magdalena which is the home of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array. The Array was featured in the 1997 Jodi Foster film Contact.

After 770 miles and 13 hours I was ready for a steak at one of my favorite restaurants: The Roadrunner in Socorro. After supper, I drove by San Miguel, the oldest Catholic Church in the US, built in 1598. I stayed at the same Holiday Inn Express I use when working at White Sands Missile Range. I’m very familiar with the Socorro area since much of my Pueblo pottery collection came from this part of New Mexico. But I’ve never been to Socorro in a Porsche, and the looks I got as I drive through town led me to believe that not many Porsches have ever driven the dusty streets of Socorro

Sunday, 7/8 – US 60 & US 62 thru Clovis and Amarillo to Lawton, Oklahoma

On the road again by 5:00 AM and continuing east on US60 toward Oklahoma. North-eastern New Mexico consists of vast plains stretching for miles. Thank goodness for cruise control, otherwise, it’d be difficult to maintain a sane speed when the road and landscape stretch to the horizon and beyond. The scenery changes as you enter Clovis; the brown desert grass gives way to green prairies. As desolate as west Texas is, it’s better than New Mexico. You travel for 10 miles or more at a stretch between fence gates and I seldom see so much as a cow.

West of Amarillo, I detoured north to old US66 to see Stanley March’s Cadillac Range. This free road-side attraction was built in 1973 and is sort of the automotive equivalent to Stonehenge. It features ten 1949 to 1963 caddies planted in a row at the same angle as the Cheop’s pyramids. This is a definitely a “been there and done that” exhibit; interesting, but not much.

Western Oklahoma was one poor town after the next and it was difficult to find a decent gas station. I pulled through several before I found a station with premium and that was only 90 octane. But I never heard the valves rattling or engine knocking in spite of the poor gas. I

San Miguel

VLR

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entered Lawton, found my hotel, got a bite of supper and located a self-service car wash for tomorrow’s first priority. I covered 580 miles in a little over 10 hours and by this time was getting tired of life on the road.

Monday & Tuesday, 7/9-7/10 – Back to work at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma My customer wasn’t schedule to arrive until noon so I had time to wash off some of the bugs

accumulated over the past 1,320 miles. That was when I noticed the large number of stone-chips and chin spoiler curb damage. I counted about three dozen 1/16” to 1/8” rock chips spread across the lower front spoiler and one very nice-sized chip all the way through the paint on the driver’s side upper rear fender. San Diego was the worse area I’ve even seen for scraping the chin spoiler at most every driveway and intersection. On several occasions I had to detour several blocks in search for an intersection I could negotiate to minimize the front-end damage.

My business at Ft. Sill was just another routine business trip, except for lunch, when driving the Boxster sure beat the rental car de jour. Upon the completion of our meeting, I headed south toward Dallas while my customer went to the Lawton airport, flew to DFW, secured a rental, and drove to the hotel. With only 189 miles to travel, I was checked-in and waiting for him when he arrived—proving that sometimes it actually is quicker to drive than to fly—and a lot more fun! Once again, driving less than 5 mph over the speed limit allow me to observed, rather than participate, in several speed traps in southern Oklahoma and northern Texas.

Wednesday, 7/11 – Enroute to Dallas, Texas and more work

While working at Lockheed-Martin in Arlington, Texas, I often thought about Thursday as the last day of my trip. 16 days on the road is a long trip and although I’d had a great time, and “was bringing home the gold,” I was ready to get back to my normal routine. I also needed to get that Fabspeed induced Check Engine Light corrected. After the check engine light, the most worrisome part of the entire trip was parking and protecting the Porsche at various hotels across the country. Just about every time I left the Porsche, I’d return to find several folks standing around it and the ensuing conversations took at least 5 minutes on each occasion.. Thursday, 7/12 – Returning home; Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, & Alabama

I started my last day of the trip on the road again by 5:00 AM. The trip from Dallas passed uneventful; the weather was nice, the roads clear, the Porsche was running well, and I pulled into my driveway in the early afternoon and recorded my mileage.

The initial Check Engine Light trip took two days and covered 668 miles. The second start, from Huntsville to San Diego was a distance of 2,050 miles and took 28 hours of driving time—compared to the Mapquest quote of 2,019 miles in 29 hours and 50 minutes. Mapquest quoted an average speed of 67.6 mph; I averaged 73.2 mph. I averaged 25.9 mpg on the way west, and

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26.2 miles on the way back home for a total fuel cost of $550. I guess this is acceptable mileage considering that it included an average speed of 70-80mph on cruise control, using the AC, in temperatures up to 111 degrees, altitudes up to 8,000’, while crossing several mountain ranges, and using reduced octane gasoline. The way home with the detours through Oklahoma and Arlington totaled 2,220 miles. The total trip mileage was 4,634 miles (or 5,300 miles if you include my false start). I guess the Boxster is thoroughly broken-in now.

Back home I discussed the CEL dilemma with both Fabspeed and the Porsche dealership.

Porsche of Huntsville confirmed Pioneer Porsche’s rear O2 sensor reading; that the right bank catalyst was not adequately cleaning the exhaust. I learned that Porsche changed the 2007 catalysts from 600 to 800 cells and increased the O2 sensitivity a corresponding amount to achieve 9% cleaner exhaust emissions. Whereas you can satisfactorily substitute an aftermarket 200 cell performance catalyst for a 600 cell OEM catalyst, that same catalyst will not adequately replace a 800 cell OEM catalyst. This caused the CEL.

I talked with Bruce Anderson at the Parade. He is regarded as the senior Porsche technical expert in the US and he said: “Colonel, we had a similar discussion at the ’03 Dixie Tech. You wanted to “hot-rod” your Boxster and I said that there were only three sources of quality Porsche components; Tech Art, Evolution, and RUF—no one else. Nothing has changed since then. You can get cheaper products in both meanings of the word, but not better products than those three. Now why are you surprised? My advice as been consistent, but your adherence to that advice has not.” I was Busted! Saving money with Fabspeed was not worth the pain.

Suki and I thoroughly enjoyed our fourth Parade in San Diego and in spite of the amount of

time it took, I’m glad I drove to the west coast. The new Boxster is a great replacement for the RUF as proven by its winning performance in the Porsche Paddock and the Autocross. If a car looks like a winner and backs it up on the track, that meets my definition of a great Porsche.

Our Region has an important role in the 2008 Charlotte Parade and I encourage every member to start planning now to participate in as many events as possible. There is a reward for you and your Porsche with every activity. The Parade starts with the Concours on Sunday, June 29th, followed by the TSD Rally on Monday, the Penske Garage Tour on Tuesday, the Autocross at the Lowes Motorspeedway on Wednesday, the Zone Challenge on Thursday, followed by a two day DE at the Speedway Friday and Saturday. It’s only 7 hours away, hope to see you there!

’08 Parade T-Shirt