Brian P

An interesting thread in the AutoCross forum has started to morph into a thread that really belongs here.

Anybody have thoughts/experiences with the Cayenne on the track that they would like to share?

My personal experiece is that while I think the SUV is safe on the track by itself, it does cause vision obscuring issues for the drivers behind it who would like to pass.

Having been in a situation where I wanted to pass a Cayenne, I got close up behind it like I do with other cars (I drive a 2.5L boxster and I'm not lifting unless I have to). So, I caught up to one through a turn and as we exitted the turn, I was following fairly close. Close enough that I realized that I really couldn't see around it well, couldn't see the track up ahead, and it was also difficult to see his passing signal. Ok, maybe I was following a little too close, but it wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary for following a sports car on the track.

Personally, I'm a bit worried that at some point a driver is going to be behind a Cayenne when an incident occurs in front of the Cayenne. The lack of vision issue is going to cause big problems.

Geoffrey

Another concern that I've had is the height difference between the two vehicles. If there was car contact, particularly with a 911 hitting the Cayenne in the side it would most likely cause the Cayenne to rollover as a 911, 924, 944, etc. drives under it. I do not think the Cayenne belongs on the track at the same time as a car. I'm also unwilling to give up DE track time to provide for another run group specific to Cayennes.

Wonder what class PCA Racing would put the Cayenne? Perhaps F for the power to weight ratio?

I do like the Cayenne and if Porsche can make money with them, then hey, that's cool. However, these are utility vehicles and really belong on the street, hauling boats, cars, trailers, camping, huntin, etc. Racetrack...um...NO!

Tom

I've been to one DE with a nice big domestic pick-up truck in my run group. It didn't present any problems for me and allowed viewing of some interesting lines in the corners. Passing could be an issue if the driver isn't paying attention and I certainly wouldn't like to be followed too closely by one although that may be less of a problem as I can somewhat control what is immediately in front.

I think the big Cayenne question will come when drivers think they will be faster with sticky tires and the PSM turned off.

Dave in Chicago

They are very capable vehicles, no doubt. The issues I see are noted above... Visibility around such a large vehicle, height differential, and WEIGHT (C&D tested curb weight of 5724 lbs.). Shouldn't anything that tall and that heavy have lights on the top and a bunch of tow straps?

DJF1

While I have no problem with them AutoXing I really would not want to share the track with them. Its enough that we have to deal with SUV's ( read moving walls, on a day to day basis...For me its plain dangerous having them on the track. Besides the obvious visibility problems, I cannot imagine an accident with a C hitting another car at the speeds we are doing. Close to 6000 pounds is a lot of moving energy either for individual accidents or worse involving a normal sports car like ours or smaller cars like Miatas of SFR's...
C's are being promoted as amazing off-roaders. PCA should be hosting off roading DE events for the Cayennes. That would be fun!

Greg Fishman

Only time the Cayenne should be on the track is as a pace car (and even that is debatable) or to pull some one out of the kitty litter.

ltc

Just noticed on my home region's DE website that there is a Cayenne in Green group at an upcoming event (NHIS).

Jack667

I saw one at a DE at the Glen last year, and it didn't seem to present any problems, although it wasn't in my group and I may not have heard about any issues. I think that they're ok for DE but not racing. I'm pretty sure that PCA club racing already has specified that the program is for "Porsche sports cars"

Kurt R

I'd like to hear some comments from sports racer drivers who frequent this forum. Back when I was driving the Scirocco we would occasionally get put into groups with SRF. I rented the car once to a friend of mine at Brainerd. I have a video of him exiting turn 2, looks like he tracked out to the edge on exit when all of a sudden a Spec Racer whips around him on the outside. I don't know where he found room and I can't imagine him going in the grass, but he went through.

Robert Henriksen

Believe me, driving an SRF through a field of sedans is... exciting. Even Miatas loom over you like trucks. Our SCCA region puts on an annual six hour enduro with a bunch of IT cars & SRFs. Nothing faster than that, thank god. The SRFs get to play Le Mans prototypes for six hours, slashing through the field of slower cars.

You just have to assume you're invisible, much like riding a motorcycle in traffic. I don't think the Cayenne driver would have the same lack of visibility seeing other street cars; after all, it's the same traffic the Cayenne's designed to interact w. on the street. You do have to increase your following distance to regain visibility.

We have one Cayenne in our region that went out on the track during a few instructor sessions for laughs, see what it was like. He certainly didn't (doesn't?) intend on doing that on a regular basis. I had no problem with it; heck, Haas took his F150 out once for laughs, didn't really get in anyone's way. If the driver had been a beginner, though, I would have been a lot more leery about being within a quarter mile of that 6,000# of kinetic energy.

Robert Henriksen

Oh, rockfan, if you're interested/concerned about mixing SRFs and sedans, you definitely need to check out these pictures:

http://home.comcast.net/~snapshooter/zvssrf/zvssrf.htm

and the thread discussing them, started by the SRF driver:

http://www.specracer.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1439

924RACR

Wow! I was there that weekend (Waterford Hills), wasn't aware that this had happened... wasn't even any discussion about it. I can say we all saw the pic #3 and were wondering what'd happened... guess that answers the question...