We rolled into Laguna Seca at 7:25 AM, Erik in the GTI and me in the Boxster, the weekday commuter traffic from Salinas to Monterey not being as bad as usual. As we were unpacking our cars, my colleague Jon arrived in his sleek Seal Gray 996, which was a nice surprise because he hadn't been sure if he would be able to make it. It was his first day on the track. I intentionally arrived with only a quarter tank of gas, and went to the gas pumps and filled up, using their 100 octane mixed with their 91 (both ridiculously expensive) to aim for a mixture of 93, which is what my car says it prefers.

I rode with Jon for a couple of laps in the morning low speed drive-around and gave him a few pointers on the racing line, unwinding the wheel, the basics. Then I went out for my first session and Jon rode along. He was probably surprised at the speed, and on a couple of occasions said, "whoah!" Getting warmed up but driving at a normal, safe pace, my lap times were in the 1:57 range. Afterwards, I went out and rode passenger with Jon to help him get a feel for the line, braking and turn-in, etc. He was wisely being cautious for his first track experience.

In the second session I was getting a little more comfortable and hoped to bring the lap times closer to a respectable qualifying time. I worked my way down to 1:53 and felt pretty good, knowing that for qualifying it would be a little warmer, and knowing that I was leaving plenty of margin for error and could drive a little harder.

I gridded last for qualifying, having missed the previous race, so I knew I'd probably have to pass a few cars since I am usually mid-pack. On the other hand, I tend to qualify higher than I finish, being a more consistent qualifier compared to some other faster cars. I went out fairly slowly on the warm-up lap, hoping to at least start my first timed lap with clear track.

The qualifying session was good, and I worked my way into a string of consistent 1:51's, with my last lap being the best at 1:51.189, within a second of my personal best set in April 2002 at the club's last trip to Laguna Seca. I was down to about 1/8 tank of gas, so I figured I'd put in a 1/4 tank of the 93 mixture before the race.

We gridded for the race starting at about 20 minutes before the race start, and I was surprised to find that I had qualified 5th out of the 14 cars. Once again my consistent qualifying performance had served me well. There were at least 3 or 4 cars gridded behind me that were clearly faster and would probably pass me early in the race, who for one reason or another hadn't qualified as well.

With about 10 minutes to go, as I secured the in-car camera, I realized that I had forgotten to get gas. I double-checked the gauge and it read about 1/8 tank, with the on-board computer guessing 22 miles "remaining". The 10-lap race, plus parade and warm-up laps would amount to about 30 miles. I considered making a quick run to the gas pumps, but figured that it would be a close call on time, not to mention the question of whether I'd lose my grid position by being "late to grid". The Boxster has never had any trouble on track with fuel starvation at very low fuel levels, even when the computer ticks below "10 miles remaining", with the needled buried below zero and the red warning light on. The gauge and computer display are evidently very conservative, leaving lots of room for pilot error without leaving motorists stranded at the roadside. So I finally resigned myself to just seeing how far I could go, with the plan that the moment I felt any fuel starvation or sputtering, I'd come into the pits and quit. It seemed very unlikely that I would run out of gas so suddenly as to be stuck out on track, especially since the second half of the circuit is downhill. But I was very annoyed with myself for potentially screwing up my race before it even started.

I set the on-board computer to display the "miles remaining" so I could check it on each lap. When it falls to about 10, it stops displaying numbers, as if to say, "I promise nothing", so you have to keep track of how far you've gone since the last useful reading.

Row 1 was Monty (Corvette) and Joe (M3). Row 2 was Steve (Mustang Cobra R) and Laurn (turbo Miata). Row 3 was me (Boxster) and Kevin (Boxster S). Row 4 concerned me the most, with Ed (turbo Miata) and Rick (911 RSA), both sure to be faster in the race. Row 5 was Joel (240Z) and Chance (Mustang Cobra), both possibly faster. Row 6 was Tammy (Diasio D962) in easily the fastest car of all, along with Hans (Lotus 7 w/ Honda S2000 engine). Tammy had only been able to do 3 laps all day, and therefore had barely even gotten a chance to post a qualifying time. At the back were Bob (Neon ASC), Doug (Miata) and John (M3). John and Doug had not posted qualifying time. I told Kevin that if we were side-by-side into Turn 2, I'd just stick to the inside and leave him room on the outside all the way around the corner.

As we rolled slowly down the main straight waiting to see the green flag drop, I grabbed 2nd gear at about 40 MPH, which meant I'd be in a fairly good place in the power band to get away. The green flag dropped and I floored it, getting a pretty good start and a mistake-free upshift to 3rd gear, with Steve pulling away only slowly. But at the green flag I immediately heard the roar of engines behind me on both sides, and my senses told me that there was a different car coming up in each of my blind spots. With the cement wall on my left and Kevin on my right, I just knew that I had to maintain a straight line to leave room for Ed between the wall and me, and Rick between Kevin and me. For a moment, we were 4-wide on the main straight! But by the time we went under the bridge before the little Turn 1 rise and kink, Ed and Rick had both gotten by Kevin and me with excellent starts (and of course more horsepower).

The next bit of excitement occurred as we headed down to the Turn 2 hairpin. Under braking on the inside line, Ed locked up his brakes as he tried to command the inside and prevent Rick from going by on the outside, and a big puff of tire smoke went up. I'd made a better start than Kevin, so I was well ahead of him enough to take the outside line and just cautiously wait for Ed's mess on the inside to sort itself out. Kevin fell in behind me. Ed kept trying to slow down and eventually took to the dirt on the inside. I saw it all unfold in front of me. Joel had more guts and took advantage of my caution, taking the inside line and passing me as I went around the outside. Ed got the car slowed down but ended up looping it around as he started to get back on the track just past the second apex of Turn 2.

So heading for Turn 3 on the first lap, the top 8 were Monty, Joe, Steve, Laurn, Rick, Joel, me, Kevin. Already, I'd lost three positions (Ed, Rick, Joel) but gained one back (Ed). I held station in 7th place behind Joel for the rest of lap 1, trying to stay close, with Kevin putting pressure on me. Kevin got a good exit out of Turn 11 and pulled alongside down the main straight as we started lap 2. I gave him room on the inside and he easily beat me to Turn 2, pushing me down to 8th place.

I tried to stay reasonably close to Kevin on lap 2, but he was pulling away steadily and was gaining on Joel quickly. Exiting Turn 5, Kevin got a run on Joel and I saw him move to the left to make a pass before Turn 6. But that's a hard thing to do because the hill running up to Turn 6 is steep enough to sap every bit of power out of your car, making it very difficult to pull someone there. But Kevin managed to pull ahead just enough to take the corner. Unfortunately for him, the inside line there meant that he couldn't take the corner fast. And Joel was pretty much stuck behind Kevin exiting the corner. They both came out of the corner slowly, and this allowed me to close the gap on them through the corner, and come right up on Joel at the exit. I kept my foot buried on the throttle and pulled out to the left, easily out-accelerating both of them as we started up the hill. It was a tremendous feeling to pass two cars out of Turn 6 and climbing the hill. I was ahead well before Turn 7 and the corkscrew, suddenly pulling myself back up to 6th place.

Kevin didn't get as good a run out of Turn 11 at the end of laps 2 and 3, so I was able to stay ahead into Turn 2 and maintain 6th place through laps 3 and 4. I kept my eye on the mileage display and saw that the computer was reliably ticking down 2+ miles per lap. At the end of lap 4, Kevin made another move down the main straight, and passed me going into Turn 2 again, pushing me down to 7th place as we began lap 5.

I checked my mileage display again and saw that the computer was no longer willing to promise anything, going to its "---" reading. I decided that after my "lucky" pass of Kevin and Joel on lap 2, and Kevin regaining position, there was no way I was going to gain any more positions. I decide to start upshifting just a little bit earlier, in an effort to conserve fuel a little. But what I found was that even that little bit of performance drop?I'm guessing a rate change of a second or two per lap?allowed Joel to catch right up to me within a lap, and so I gave him room as he passed me heading for Turn 5, dropping me back to 8th place.

I kept my eye on the gas gauge, which was by this time in the lit red warning light below zero, and kept alert for any sign of fuel starvation or sputtering. I continued to go a little easy on the upshifts, and Ed caught back up and passed me pretty easily. At around lap 6, the car started feeling just a little bit less glued to the track on right turns. It seemed like the left rear tire wasn't sticking as well. I compensated by easing up just a little bit more until I adapted to the changed balance of the car. Soon Tammy caught up and went by coming out of Turn 10. But I was able to close the gap to Joel.

At the end of lap 7 John passed me and Joel, John, and I were all ready to lap Bob at about the same time heading down the mai straight. John went left and Joel went right, around Bob, three wide. Joel got squeezed a little approaching Turn 1, and had to put his right tires in the dirt. I didn't want to be near that, and decided to ease back and not pass Bob going into Turn 2. I went by him approaching Turn 3, came out of the turn slowly, and saw Hans in my mirrors briefly approaching Turn 4. I gave him room on the inside in case he wanted to try a pass, but he wasn't really that close, and after getting by Bob I pulled away from both of them.

Chance had caught up with me at the end of lap 8, but couldn't find an opportunity to pass for the next lap. The white flag appeared and I was relieved that I would complete the race without running out of gas. Chance got a good run on the main straight and went by on the inside of Turn 2, dropping me back to 11th place. Since I now knew I had enough gas, I decided to drive a little harder and stay close to Chance in case he made a mistake. But he drove a perfect lap and we cruised in to finish the race.

My 5th place starting position was not something I could have expected to hold during the race, and I probably could have managed to hold 9th or 10th if hadn't been adjusting my aggressiveness to the fear of running out of gas. But overall I was pleased to just be out there racing, having fun, and not running out of gas.

I took another ride with Jon in the afternoon and it was immediately obvious that he'd gotten confident with more speed through the corners, and had just gotten a lot more comfortable going fast while surrounded by cement walls. He was going a lot faster but was always in control of the car. He asked me to drive a few laps in his car in the last session. The 996 felt instantly similar to the Boxster in good ways: the brakes were right; the steering was right. It instilled a sense of confidence for how to take the car into and through a corner, where in a completely different car I'd be a lot more tentative. Of course, I wanted to drive the car several notches less aggressively than I'd drive my own. But the familiarity allowed me to drive it without having to worry about whether the brakes would be a world apart from the Boxsters. The 996 had a lot more oomph under the gas pedal; for example when I stepped on it down the main straight I could really feel the car accelerating hard right away, and with the extra speed I probably got off the gas around the Turn 1 kink and slowed down for Turn 2 a lot earlier, not wanting to push the car very hard. I'm not terribly experienced driving other cars on the track, so it was interesting to feel the difference between the mid-engine Boxster and the rear-engine 911. I'm not sure I describe the difference yet, but it was noticeable. Certainly the 996 handled well and felt great. The extra power was very nice.