Want the narrowly focused, high-performance new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS even more narrowly focused and with even more performance? Have $229,000 and a desire to take your mid-engine Porsche racing and never, say, on actual streets? Then the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport is just the ticket!
The Clubsport is the racing version of the Cayman GT4 RS, itself the most muscular production 718 Cayman sports car you can buy. Homologated for SRO racing worldwide, the Clubsport is even harder-core than its street-roaming sibling, with the 911 GT3 Cup car’s 4.0-liter flat-six and a new seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission featuring shorter ratios than the old GT4 Clubsport’s six-speed unit.
Not only does that GT3 engine net the Clubsport a whopping 75 more horsepower than it had in its previous, non-RS incarnation sold between 2019 and now (which used a smaller 3.8-liter engine), it edges out the regular GT4 RS’s (also GT3-derived) 4.0-liter six by seven ponies. That peak 500 hp arrives at 8,300 rpm, 800 higher than in the 3.8L, and the new flat-six can rev to the same 9,000 rpm as the road car’s unit. Peak torque rises from 313 lb-ft to 343 lb-ft at a lower 6,000 rpm; that torque figure also beats the roadgoing GT4 RS’s by 13 lb-ft.
More torque available lower in the rev range? That’s likely to be a boon to GT4 RS Clubsport racers, as will be the revised suspension in this latest model. Porsche installs two-way adjustable shocks, adjustable anti-roll bars front and rear, new spring rates (three are available) tuned for “optimized responsiveness and a further improvement in body control.” We’ll take Porsche’s word on that; given how well even your most basic 718 Cayman drives, we have to imagine the ultra-focused, adjustable-setup racing model is on some more transcendent plane of existence.
Porsche equips every GT4 RS Clubsport with a welded-in safety cage, an adjustable Recaro racing seat, FIA-compliant six-point harnesses, a fire extinguisher system, and three built-in air jacks for lifting the car for pit stops. An FT3 racing fuel cell can hold up to 30.4 gallons of go-juice, which, as Porsche points out, makes the Cayman “suitable for endurance racing.” Indeed. A more muffled exhaust setup is available for tracks with noise restrictions, but you can bet which one we’d want installed.
Visually, the GT4 RS Clubsport builds on the version that came out in 2019 by way of more aggressive aero. There are now dive planes on the nose, 911 GT3 R-inspired fender slats, a Gurney flap added to the swan-neck rear wing, and a deeper front splitter. Porsche also has expanded the use of “sustainable natural fiber composites” throughout the Clubsport’s bodywork, which now makes up the aforementioned aero add-ons and steering wheel in addition to the doors, frunklid, fenders, and rear wing surface. The flax-based material is billed as a carbon-fiber alternative.
As far as turnkey race cars go, you could do worse than the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS. Porsche says the Cayman platform has proven reliable, a boon to the some 500 customers who snapped up the outgoing version of the Clubsport; lower running costs surely must offset that six-figure price tag somewhat, right? Hey, whatever logic gets you in the door. But if you’re a serious racing team looking to compete in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, SRO GT4 America, and GT4 America series next season (2022), reach out to Porsche Motorsport.
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Source : Motor Trend
