earlyapex

John,

How's the Caymen doing in the consumables department? Going to Infineon at the end of this month with TM?

mitch236

I sat in a Cayman this past weekend and am 6'1" and had plenty of headroom. In fact, I would be able to get my helmet and cold air hose (on top of helmet) in easily so I don't understand the headroom issue, it has plenty.

The Cayman is a totally different car than a 911 platform and I believe it will become the DE car of choice in the future. There were at least 4 of them at the 48 Hours of Sebring last weekend. They are very well balanced and from what I've heard, easy to drive on the track, much like the 944.

Reliability is one concern I have. I've heard they may have an overheating problem on the track on hot days due to limited air supply to the engine compartment although I have no first hand knowledge of this. It is an intriguing car none the less.

All Porsches are pricey in my opinion but they do run well on the track and with all the beating they take, they seem to last as well.

mooty

eric, yes, i will be at infineon 2/24 right? too many dates, i am little confuesed, i know i will be at LS 2/20.

cayman has more headroom than 996 for sure. i tried both.

The Cayman is a totally different car than a 911 platform: RIGHT ON.

I believe it will become the DE car of choice in the future: PERHAPS. WE SHALL SEE. I LOVE IT THOUGH.

There were at least 4 of them at the 48 Hours of Sebring last weekend: WHAT RACE IS THIS? GRAND AM, PCA? WHERE CAN I FIND INFO ON THE RACE AND THE CAYMAN DRIVERS.

They are very well balanced and from what I've heard, easy to drive on the track: BALANCED INDEED, MUCH LIKE MY ALMOST RACE PREPPED E36M3. EASY TO DRIVE UP TO A CERTAIN POINT, THEN YOU BETTER HOLD ON AND WATCH OUT, ;-)


Reliability is one concern I have: YOU ARE GETTING ME WORRIED MITCH, LOL.

I've heard they may have an overheating problem on the track on hot days due to limited air supply to the engine compartment although I have no first hand knowledge of this. : I WILL KEEP AN EYE ON IT DURING SUMMER MONTHS WHEN I AM OUT AT THUNDERHILL AT OVER 100F. I KNOW THE BOXSTERS DONT HAVE OVERHEATING PROB. I AM KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED AS I USUALLY DRIVE 2X SESSIONS STRAIGHT, AND ALL DAY LONG.

Riad

Yeah, between my recording studio and the family I have little free time for tracking cars, but it's starting to gnaw at me.

Also, we are building a 3rd garage, so I'll actually have room for it. When I had both 996's my wife's Lexus was delegated to the driveway.

TT Surgeon

What, are you trying to say I have a fat head?

JimB

Moot,
Go to http://www.48-hours-at-sebring.com/?...n=sebring.main

Check race registration and DE registration to find the Caymans. There was one actually racing and a couple in DE. The one racing was speed yellow with red graphics just like the new Porsche ALMS car. I didn't pay too much attention because I was in a different group and focused on my car but I heard he did alright for an undeveloped car. It can take a long time to get a stock car to be fast on the track. Especially one that nobody has any experience with.

My girlfriend just ordered one. She's as much a track junkie as me so she ordered it with very few options. Carrera GT Silver and 19 inch wheels was about it. We'll stick some suspension in it with and GT3 seats and I predict it will be a very fast track car. I've had several long test drives and I would personally take it over a C4S any day. I hate weight!

Just my thoughts. I love the car.
Jim

mitch236

I think it will be a great car. Orbit Racing down here is trying to get a 3.8l engine to work with the PSM (the real nightmare of making it work) and when they are done, it may give the cup cars a run.

The comment about overheating was told to me, and I don't know how much truth was in the statement of if that person was merely bashing the car.

Riad

I don't think I could say that about anyone considering the pic in my avatar.

bobporsche996

the funny thing about the cayman is, aren't you not supposed to track any cars according to porsche? if you track it, it voids the warranty right? so... if porsche doesn't want you to track the car... why did they create it and advertise it for that market?

TT Surgeon

That's a whole other can of worms Bob.

P-Car fanatic

yup, don't go there, there's a 20 page thread on the turbo forum right now and its getting a little messy

evo_333

On a side note about the cayman, I was dropping my car off at Farnbacherloles in CT last week (what an amazing facility) and they were working on two Cayman projects there. One had a built-in TT motor with 500+hp and the other had the 3.8l dropped in.... They looked drop dead gogeous with aero kits and rims

Pics to come...

JimB

Personally I don't have any problem with Porsche voiding the warranty if you track a car. I don't think they have much choice. Things happen on the track that just don't happen on the street and that you can't expect the car to survive without damage. You can't expect Porsche to warrantee your tranny if you accidentally downshift to 1st rather than 3rd and tear up your syncros. Or worse, zing your engine because you just had a 11,000 rpm mechanical over-rev. And please don't say they should build the cars to withstand it. Purpose built race cars costing twice as much can't be built to withstand a missed shift. And there is also the matter of wear and tear. A mechanic treats each day of DE as 1k miles for the purposes of general maintenance. A car that runs a 24 hour race is basically a throw away. Stuff wears out much faster on the track. That's not a Porsche thing, it's a race car thing.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think they should or could get by with not fixing your radio because you track the car but conversely, you shouldn't expect them to fix your syncros or clutch or brakes or ? if you've been to the track.

As always, just my opinion.
Jim

Bullet

The GT article was a bit of a cop out I thought. The pemise is that the 2 cars could be had for roughly the same coin, so which would it be? The main author concludes that the cars are basically equal in that they both have such great characteristics but he'd rather have a 911 just 'cuz 911's give him a chubby, but then they offer an alternative point of view from an associate editor (or somebody like that) who says he'd rather have a Cayman S. It's like those stupid C&D comparisons where they have one car come in first, and then they offer another opinion where that car came in second.

I didn't actually like the article very much.

IMO, The C4S looks much better than the CaymanS, but I'd have to drive a Cayman S before offfering anything intelligent up on the matter. I'm not sure I'd want my dedicated track car to be mid-engined and my regular car to be rear engined. I find that the 2 experiences compliment each other, and I'm not sure I'd want to have to change driving styles that much from one to the other (other than aggressiveness and speed!). I think I'd pick a Cayman S as a track car if my daily driver was a BoxsterS, and an older 911 if my daily driver was a 996 or 997 . . .

-B

JimB

This one?

http://www.autoblog.com/2006/02/15/p...-in-the-u-s-a/