Looks like the 6 speed cars and the PDK cars are pretty equal with the right weight split.

PCA Club racing has had this PDK vs. Manual situation in the GTB1 class for the last 4 years, after many seasons of running, 100Lbs is the current weight difference between the 2 and it always seems to play out fairly..

On many occasions and in side by side tests we have seen the PDK no lift shifting is worth about .5 car lengths PER shift and that equates to a rather large distance/time over a long race.

Interesting to see how this will play out..

Your car looked GREAT CJ! and you guys were driving the wheels off it...!

 

Rum Bum has their own agenda and is in NO WAY in collaboration or involved with DeMan testing our GT4-R.

Nick Longhi is a long time friend and we live in the same small town in NY. We have always driven cars together and his seat time was NOT a Rum Bum involvement..

Just saying...

 

This is the first time I've heard such a precise comparison of PDK vs. 6-speed performance from someone as knowledgeable and experienced as Rick D. While the upshifting benefits with PDK are clear, is there also a gearing difference/advantage with the PDK transmission?

 

Gearing is very close from the GT4 6 speed to the PDK on the CS cars. The CS cars use the PDK trans from the 2.7L base car and 7th gear is electronically locked out.
The overall gear charts are similar with the advantage going to the CS in my opinion.

You can see some of the differences I am quoting here on this video done a few years back.. Go to the last 3 minuets for a Drag race comparison of the PDK vs. Manual

 

I've watched that video many times. It's a great resource for people trying to better understand the comparative differences.

Rick, other than the transmission difference, can you tell us how your GT4 race car differs from the Clubsport car?

 

Glad to see Rick and CJ pushing the cayman platform in IMSA

Rick,

How does the GT4 compare to the 3.8L 987.2 conversions you've built? Would also like to hear why you chose to build out a GT4 vs purchase a factory clubsport?

 

$75,000 less race ready..

 

I came down to assist on the engineering of the DeMan car having spent the last 12 years working on these cars and bouncing back and forth between 997s and Caymans on the same tire. This effort was solely a DeMan effort with some guidance but the reality is that it was impressive seeing Rick (NOT A HIRED GUN) do these fast times; what was more impressive was seeing his his average lap times throughout the stint. For him to be only .25 sec off P1 is pretty awesome but in endurance racing, what's more impressive was his being able to do quality average lap times on 2 hour old tires. The car has potential to be a quality race car given the lack of fall-off but the politics of the field leave me skeptical. What's the old saying? Don't bring sand to the beach? While some of the other teams/cars may not have gotten that memo, it was nice however to see the Cayman GT4 guys running straight up and making proper use of the testing as intended.

CJ's cars looked great and of all the Clubsport cars in the field, they seemed to have the best grasp and kudos to them given their short time with the Porsche brand. I think that they will have a solid program and they look to be making all of the right moves.

 

THIS is what impressed me! Kudos to Rick for doing the business, absolutely fantastic effort on his part, AS the DRIVER!

Definitely true on the second observation above. Top pro TEAM effort!

Tony D's take: "Speaking of the Continental series, the voluminous number of Porsche Caymans in either GS or ST (14 of the 26 cars at Daytona) has led to the joke the series’ acronym of CTSCC actually stands for “Continental Tire Spec Cayman Challenge.”"

 

Nice to see the caymans doing so well!

 

A little vid from the ROAR.. Be sure and watch in HD!

 

I speculate that the value of Caymans is about to jump if solid race results follow. Isn't this the same reason why many years ago the 911 became legendary?!? The race results... Hmmmm....