pedsurg

We've been discussing how the gen 2 caymen held up during their first race season over on the cayman race forum; specifically the robustness of the new block, Porsche's putative racing block of the future. Here is the response from the series sponsor Ron from Napleton Porsche:

"We have learned that the new engine is perfect. No oiling issues, overheating, or bearing failures. Power steering failures are non exsistint since the fluid is cooled thru the enginne cooler. No ABS issues whatsoever. We have over 30K track miles on the cars now with several 3 and 4 hour enduros, 98 degree race weekends, rain, you name it. They have performed without a "hiccup". "

Good news indeed for gen 2 crocs !!

Jack
Tampa

cello

What is this, how you say, "cayman race forum" , por favor?

Info pls! TIA

mooty

^www.caymanclub.net

cello

Thx mooty.

I will post over there but do you know what the spec'd cars weigh; ie what they get them to after the tear down and build up? Approx of course.

TIA.

pedsurg

Caymanclub is now http://www.planet-9.com

The cars are fully spe'c out in the cayman interseries championship section (specifications and standard equipment thread) and seemed to be priced at $79,900.

Jack Tampa

mooty

napleton porsche told me the wt, but of course, i can't remember, but it's not light. but it's a spec series, so there are rules. i am sure it wont be hard to dropo it to 2600 lbs no driver.

the price of 79k is not quite race ready.
the one new car, done, turn key car is $101k or so.
can you build one for less, probably, but if you want it like what they raced, it will be 100k or so.

pedsurg

Mooty: What do we get for the extra 22K ; and what do you think of the new block ??

Jack
Tampa

pedsurg

Will these cars be running at the 48 hrs of Sebring ??
Jack

Cosmos99

What year constitutes a gen 2 cayman? Once my M coupe sells I am either going with a Cayman S or a trackday 964.

KS-CS

Model year 2006-2008 = Gen 1
MY 2009+ = Gen 2

Cosmos99

Thanks

Erik@GBox

If you are considering a Cayman for racing, I highly recommend a back up gearbox. We have been seeing these quite a bit, and while it would appear that the engine is quite strong, the same can not be said for the gearbox. We are working out a new synchronizer for the 2nd gear that should help with it's durability. It will be similar to the 996/997 steel synchronizer option. I will try to post up more on this after we have confirmed the option with good test results.

They sure do look like a perfect track car though. I understand them to be exceptionally well balanced and fun to drive.

Erik Johnson
GBox Performance Transaxles
(303) 440-8899 work
(303) 895-4828 cell

cello

Erik - Can you explain what is failing re the gearbox. Is it just the 2nd gear synchro, or that and more, etc ? TIA..

cgomez

Same experience here. My engine lasted 4 years (2 years of DE and 2 years of HARD racing) and its failure was transmission related (Gearbox/clutch failure took the cranks and case with it).
I went through 2 gearboxes last year, and 2nd gear gave me lots of trouble on the rebuilt tranny at Sebring.

As posted above, I think some of the internals are not that strong and there must be a heat problem (in hard racing conditions) in the gearbox of the midengine cars (Info from a West Coast raceshop running several Boxsters had similar experiences and blames it on poor cooling to the bearings, not curable with coolers). It is not necessarily a given that the box will fail but it is certainly running at a tighter limit than the engine, so any small mistake (bad shift or downshift overrev) just increases the chances of failure exponentially (both my gearbox failures ocured after downshift overrevs, one moderate - 800rpms, the other massive - 2000rpms).

All in, awesome car, and best platform IMO, but you do have to take care of the gearbox.

pedsurg

Given the above, is anyone planning on changing their tranny fluid more frequently ??

Jack