Is This The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4?
Fans are in for a real treat at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland contested from 16-19 August: A very special course car, the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, will run ahead of the starter field. For Porsche, the entry of a concept study for the FIA R-GT category based on the near-production GT circuit race car is a critical test under real conditions. Whether this turns into a rally project for customers with a similar vehicle in the medium term will be decided at a later stage. Driving the vehicle is Porsche works driver Romain Dumas (France), who is considered one of the best all-rounders in the motor racing scene. For the last twelve years, the Le Mans winner has contested rallies around the world with his own team. Dumas has also won the legendary Pikes Peak hill-climb four times and holds the course record there. The factory drivers Richard Lietz (Austria) and Timo Bernhard (Germany) are also seasoned rally drivers and were involved in the test programme with the Cayman GT4 Clubsport concept rally car. The Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport, which has been campaigned at clubsport level worldwide since the 2016 season, is powered by a 283 kW (385 hp) 3.8-litre flat-six engine. The mid-mounted engine drives the rear wheels. The vehicle features Porsche dual clutch transmission (PDK) with shift paddles on the steering wheel. For rallying, full underbody protection has been fitted. An energy-absorbing foam element, as used in WRC cars, has been mounted in the doors. 聯Were looking forward to seeing how the rally world responds to our FIA R-GT concept study,聰 says Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Motorsport and GT Cars. 聯I would like to invite every interested driver and team principal to visit the service park and take a close look at our rally concept car.
Back to the OP's point, I'm talking about a well speccd (SPASM) tin top Carrera S, not a PASM Cab. If I were choosing a Spyder vs. 991 Cab, I'd choose the Spyder all day. With all due respect to the 911, one of which I own and love, the 981 Spyder is the greatest sports car ever made. The manual top is a small price to pay for the greatest sports car ever. I'm not sure that it "is" the greatest sports car ever made ('62-'64 GTO, 250 SWB, Mclaren F1, GT1 Strasse, NART Spider, etc.) but it's certainly up there and is without question the most accessible. 100k (or less) sports car anywhere that's as good or even close. BTW, I've never driven the previously mentioned "greatest" so I could be wrong. Keep in mind the GT4 is also a Cayman. It beat the base 991 around Nurburgring by 13 seconds. Only 4 seconds down on a 991 S with PDK. PDK is easily worth a few seconds around the ring. The GT4 has the GT3 front end suspension, but not the back end. My point is Porsche figures out the pecking order for us. You can't blame any particular component of the car. These cars aren't allowed to be what engineering could achieve. Marketplace Parts Marketplace Vehicle Marketplace Vendor Announcements Rennnlist Help and Announcement Forums Rennlist Forum Glitches - post them here. Test posts are permitted.
EVERY time I open the garage door and see my Alpine A110, I feel a slight frisson of annoyance. I鈥檝e never liked retro styling on modern cars, simply because it never quite works. But move on we must. I never drive old cars 鈥?by which I mean anything made before this century 鈥?because on the whole they are a huge disappointment, except in two regards: they are smaller and lighter than modern equivalents. Famous examples include the Volkswagen Golf, the Porsche 911 and the 鈥渆ntry-level鈥?Rolls-Royce. While it is true that smallness and lightness in old cars tend to translate into instant death in an accident, when combined with 21st-century engineering these attributes confer remarkable benefits. We鈥檒l come on to those in a minute. The French-made Alpine is, per se, not a radical idea. It鈥檚 a mid-engined, two-seat sports car. The layout has obvious disadvantages, most notably in rear visibility and luggage space, but it immediately renders a car magical because of the way it enhances driving dynamics. In that respect, the Alpine bears comparison to my Ferrari 458 Speciale.
The Ferrari is more beautiful, because the maker has always styled cars for their day, which is why they become classics. It is also a lot more powerful, with almost 600bhp against the French upstart鈥檚 248bhp. The Fezza has a V8, the Alpine a hot-hatch four-pot. The 458 is naturally aspirated, but the Alpine is turbocharged, which immediately elicits cries of despair from those people who can鈥檛 move on. More important than any of this is that the Alpine is almost 300kg lighter than the Ferrari, which in layman鈥檚 terms is like removing a Harley-Davidson Fat Boy from the boot. This brings us to the optional physics bit. Most people accept that low weight improves acceleration and fuel economy. What is less well understood is that the effects of excess weight are compounded in corners, which is where we seek our fun. Instinct tells you that it鈥檚 harder to turn around with a heavy old wooden ladder than it is with a lightweight aluminium one.