Every track day has that lap. Not the first one where everything feels cold and awkward, and not the last one where fatigue starts whispering bad ideas. It’s the lap where the car feels taut, the driver finally relaxes, and the conversation between hands, feet, and throttle turns flirtatious. This run at Eagles Canyon Raceway was exactly that. Lap 5. Warmed up (click here for the video). Fully committed. And just spicy enough to make the data blush.
This session was run on the long configuration at Eagles Canyon, filmed with a dash-mounted camera and a full TrackAddict overlay. Speed, lap timing, G-forces, and track position are all right there on screen — because when you start leaning on it a little harder, receipts matter. The car doing the heavy lifting is my Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0, finished in unapologetic Racing Yellow. Bright enough to offend minimalists and perfect for reminding you exactly where the nose is pointed when things get serious.
Lap 5 clocks in at 2:31.862, covering 14,355 feet with an average speed of 64.5 mph. That average might sound modest until you remember how much of this track is spent turning, braking, and asking the tires uncomfortable questions. The slowest point drops to 38.5 mph in the tight stuff — the kind of corner where patience is rewarded and impatience gets expensive. On the other end of the spectrum, the fastest point hits 118.7 mph, which feels every bit as fast as it sounds when there’s no roof and plenty of Texas air rushing past your helmet.
What really tells the story, though, is how the lap starts and ends. Rolling across the line at 94.9 mph and finishing at 98.7 mph, the car is clearly not ready to cool off. That’s the sweet spot: everything up to temperature, confidence high, and the Boxster quietly suggesting that quitting now would be premature.
The lap opens with a strong pull down the straight, the flat-six clearing its throat before things get busy. Braking zones arrive quickly at Eagles Canyon, and this track doesn’t tolerate half-hearted inputs. Get on the brakes with conviction, let the chassis take a set, and trust the front end to stick. Through the tighter sections, speeds fluctuate between the low-40s and mid-70s, and this is where the mid-engine balance really earns its keep. The car rotates willingly, the steering stays talkative, and the grip builds progressively rather than all at once. When you’re smooth, it’s rewarding. When you rush it, it gets… educational.
The faster sections are where things turn properly mischievous. Letting the car run out toward 118.7 mph, the engine note sharpens, wind noise builds, and suddenly the braking marker feels closer than it did last lap. That’s where trust comes in — trusting the brakes, the tires, and yourself to get it slowed down without turning enthusiasm into regret.
Mid-lap, the rhythm settles in. Turn-in feels cleaner. Throttle application gets earlier but more deliberate. Exits start lining up just right, and the lap stops feeling stitched together and starts flowing as one continuous thought. That’s the payoff. Not heroics, not drama — just momentum, precision, and the quiet satisfaction of doing it better than the lap before.
The lap wraps up with another strong run down the final straight, carrying nearly 100 mph across the line and straight into Turn 1 again. The video ends there, but mentally, it keeps going. Because this is how track days work. One good lap leads to another attempt. Another attempt leads to “just one more.” And before you know it, the session is over and you’re already replaying corners in your head.
This isn’t about chasing records or pretending every lap is perfect. It’s about progression. Lap 5 shows cleaner lines, deeper braking, smoother inputs, and a growing trust between driver and machine. The naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six does its part beautifully, the tires dig in, and that Racing Yellow hood sits in frame like a dare you can’t quite ignore.
If you enjoy honest onboard footage, real telemetry, and seeing a great car being driven the way it was meant to be driven, this lap delivers. No hype, no shortcuts — just a solid lap, a great track, and that familiar feeling at the end: yeah… that one hit just right.
P.S. Big shoutout to the TrackAddict app. It’s been rock-solid for logging laps, overlaying clean telemetry, and giving me exactly the kind of data that helps turn seat-of-the-pants impressions into something actionable. Super intuitive, reliable, and honestly a lot of fun to review between sessions.
Next up: finally installing the Garmin Catalyst. Can’t wait to add real-time coaching into the mix and see what it uncovers next. More data, more learning, more excuses to go chasing “just one more lap.”