Good idea - I'm a big believer in race car level of maintenance and safety even for advanced DE cars.
I don't know the race shops in CA unfortunately but there is a lot of knowledge on this board that can help you decide.
Have fun - last year was my first in the Cayman and I love the car. Mine is not PDK but I can see the attraction.

 

However the 6spd does have cooling issues. It's inherent in the midenegine configuration. When you accelerate hard the gear oil goes into the gear stack leaving the ring and pinion starving for oil and cooling. We've seen 6spd gearboxes without cooler break 300 degrees.

Bottomline is any Cayman tracked needs a cooler. But we aren't talking the $10k! Mentioned above. More like $1200-1500. The reason the PDK gets more attention is that it limps if it overheats. And even open diff cars overheat in sport+.

Lastly, one must consider the whole system. On open diff and factory LSD cars we see excessive rear brake wear and heat. I've seen rear calipers with the paint burned off of them! It's the electronic babysitters. The LSD reduces the involvement of the nannies and helps save your brakes.

 

Hergesheimer.

 

Thanks for the detailed info! Most appreciated.

 

As another mid engine data point- last year I started tracking a boxster with a 3.4 911 engine and a boxster S 6 speed. Ignorance is bliss as they say, but after installing a AIM dash that I hooked up engine oil and gearbox oil temp sensors, I was surprised at how warm the engine oil (230) and gearbox oil (250) after back to back 25 minute sessions. Running 3 radiators, 911 oil cooler and the gearbox has a small cooler mounted under the rear trunk, but it is in a very warm place and near the hot exhaust.

Currently looking at putting a gearbox cooler in front of one of the radiators up front where one of the AC condensers would be. If it works, I will post up some pics. Long plumbing runs are the biggest challenge.

 

This is been very educational for me, had no idea that the overheating is related in some part to the mid engine design. Darn me for loving the driving characteristics of mid engine layout!!

 

Running the lines up front isn't really a problem. BGB and others have been doing this since ghe Cayman was released. They ran the 24 Hours of Daytona with their set up. It's not uncharted waters. The PDK was a new variable but the same solution works for it too.

 

Thanks for the continued contributions to the thread. It sounds like BGB's front mounted air to oil cooler for the differential is the best starting point.

Any word back from Arubenstein on his testing?

S.

 

My two cents FWIW.
981CS PDK. I track hard but don't race, at altitude. HPR in Colorado. Near the end of season I had my tech install the Guard LSD (now I keep TC turned off - see GTGears comments above re: brakes) and an oil to water Laminova cooler for the diff. I also installed the OEM center radiator. This is the same set up my tech uses in his spec boxters with huge success. Because this was done at the end of the year, I have not had a chance to really test oil temps since the last two days on the track had ambient temps below 70F. Even so, I did see lower oil temps than I normally would have had I not done this. It remains to be seen what happens next summer. Heat management at altitude is difficult.

 

just wanted to ask a question here. I have a base 10 Cayman with pdk but not the lsd. I am planning on doing DE and TT events at the west coast tracks (buttonwillow, chuckwalla, fontana, willow, laguna) and just found this thread.

Do the base cars have overheating issues as well? I have only tracked Lotus's before so no experience tracking Pcars. yet

I was planning to get the center radiator and call it good? This thread seems to be oriented on the S models and for racing so any help/info on the base models would be much appreciated.

 

I know this is an old thread but was wondering if any other information or recommendations developed? I have a 987.2 with a center radiator and run DE events predominantly in FL using Sport Mode. Yesterday it was around 96 degrees at the track and my highest coolant temp was 233 and my oil temp was 261. I use Motul 5W40 and change my oil every 15 hours of track time. I don't know what my PDK fluid temp is.

 

Rich, did you do PDG at Sebring? I was going to but didn't know if I could stand the heat. Assuming the temps you read were via your Solo DL or a Durametric and therefore accurate as opposed to the gauges, those are on the high side. John Tecce at BGB in Daytona recommends PWR radiators. They're pricey but are more efficient than stock and have worked well for me. He and the other Porsche race shops around here also recommend running distilled water / Water Wetter in lieu of the Porsche coolant / distilled water solution, especially for PDK track cars. Hope this helps as my experience is with 997s.

 

Yes I did. It was hot but not as bad as I thought. A fan in the paddock helped a lot. The temps are from a Solo DL so they should be somewhat accurate. I saw a posting from John where he talked about modifying the radiator shroud to allow more air to hit the radiators. My PDK isn't overheating as it's not going into limp mode, but I am concerned about its temperature which I can't measure. Have you talked with or seen Mike Carter lately? I haven't seen him since he sold his GTS.

 

Do you have a trans cooler? As others have suggested, try Water Wetter for your radiators and make sure you clean out your radiators - most people never do. Also make sure your center radiator, if installed aftermarket, has enough of a vent hole on the bottom of the car. If the engine temps still get too hot, turn on your defroster at full temperature - that will help at the expense of your personal comfort. If you are running at over 260 deg on the engine oil, don't run standard motor oil - run race oil.

Also, if this is a pure track car and you still have the bumperettes, take them off and open up the rear. If it's a street car - then disregard that last point.

 

Rich, do you have aftermarket grills over your radiator openings? I installed aftermarket grills over the radiators on a 987.2 I owned previously. I had temperature issues at the track. I removed the grills and there was a fairly dramatic drop in temps. I was very surprised to see how much the grills hindered air flow.