The Cayman S and GT Variants of the 911: A Handling Car Like No Other

We're standing here with Porsche's Cayman S and GT variants of the 911, and we reckon this is the best handling car Porsche makes at the minute. The engine is in the right place in the middle, and it's just beautifully balanced. Lovely and silky steering - it's got all of the good ingredients of a great Porsche.

However, Porsche thinks it can make it even better still. As done a few tweaks taking a bit of weight out and dropping the car to create something it calls the Cayman R. So, this is that car now. I'll put the window up so you can hear me properly. There is no air conditioning in this car which is one of the contributing factors to a weight saving of around 50 kilos. There's no radio either - they're both no cost options to put them back in. Other changes include the power has been turned up only by 10 horsepower or so. Do notice it, and it does feel a little bit more urgent partly that's the weight partly that's the power.

The chassis meanwhile is been dropped by just over 20 mm rides on passive dampers and it gets the lightest wheels fitted to a current production portion just on some decent roads in northamptonshire now. And it just feels that little bit more alert all the time. What do you pay for all these changes - not as much as you might think, a standard cable is 46 Grand this is only 51 now.

One of the reasons Porsche has developed this car is so that you can feel the differences on the road but it's also aimed at the people who like to enjoy their Cayman on the track. And given we're in Northamptonshire, we might be able to find one not too far from here. Okay, so we'll start off on track in the Cayman S this is at silverstone's horsedriving experience center.

Oh, it feels really nice around here. The steering's got loads of feel, it's got plenty of power cuz it's some sort of second third gear circuit turns in nicely grips very well and you can just feel the power just starting to edge the tail rearwards out of the tighter corners. It's a tidy little car this really but you could tell I think because we're now on here, we're asking a lot more questions of the chassis than you ever would on the road. You can tell that at heart it is a road focused car - I mean a GT3 Porsche 911 would be a lot flatter a lot more controlled and I wonder I wonder how close to that the C and are with its loss of weight and lower suspension I wonder how close to that sort of GT 911 experience it will get.

Okay, so this is the R now immediately you can hear there's a bit more noise from the back there and on the first corner you turn into it's a tiny bit more under on the way in even though we're not flat out yet because it's got the limited slip differential. It feels quicker as well actually you can certainly either feel the extra response to the engine or it is at 50 kilos oh my this is good turns in with real enthusiasm massive enthusiasm if you get the front end tucked in which you kind of need to do with this differential I think.

Oh, you can then start to drive it on the throttle and the steering possibly feels a bit lighter. I wonder if that's a result of the reduced wheel weight but it's still got oodles a feel it's just that bit more adjustable mid corner quite aggressively between sort of under steer and neutrality and over steer. But my god, it's good and although you can get a lot of the changes on a Cayman S you can fit a lot of the options that this R has got I don't know given the value of the art I think if you want what the r offers you might as well you might as well have it. You know this is just superb really sensation so although the modifications to create the R haven't turned the Cayman into some kind of Porsche GT3 rifle, what they have done is they've taken all the lovely bits of the S they've turned it up by about 10 to 15% now given the price I think whether you use it primarily on track like Silverstone here or on the road I think that's 10 to 15% well worth having.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is Porsche's Cayman S and GT variants of the 911 theide we reckon this is the best handling car Porche makes at the minute the engine's in the right place in the middle and it's just beautifully balanced lovely and silky steering's terrific it's got all of the good ingredients of a great Porsche however Porsche thinks it can make it even better still and as done a few tweaks taking a bit of weight out drop the car to create something it calls the Cayman R so this is that car now I'll put the window up so you can hear me properly there is no air conditioning in this car which is one of the contributing factors to a weight saving of around 50 kilos there's no radio either they both are no cost options to put them back in other changes the power has been turned up only by 10 horsepower or so do notice it it does feel a little bit more urgent partly that's the weight partly that's the power the chassis meanwhile it's been dropped by just over 20 mm rides on passive dampers and it gets the lightest Wheels fitted to a current production portion just on some decent roads in northamptonshire now and it just feels that little bit more alert all the time and what do you pay for all these changes not as much as you might think a standard cable is 46 Grand this is only 51 now one of the reasons Porsche has developed this car is so that you can feel the differences on the road but it's also aimed at the people who like to enjoy their Cayman on the track and given we're in North hamptonshire we might be able to find one not too far from here okay so we'll start off on track in the Cayman S this is at silverstone's horss Driving Experience Center oh it feels really nice around here the steering's got loads of feel it's got plenty of power cuz it's some sort of second third gear circuit turns in nicely grips very well and you can just feel the power just starting to Edge the tail rearwards out of the tighter corners it's a tidy little car this really but you could tell I think because you're now on here we're asking a lot more questions of the chassis than you ever would on the road you can tell that at heart it is a road focused car I mean a GT 3 Porsche 911 would be a lot flatter a lot more controlled and I wonder I wonder how close to that the C and are with its loss of weight and lower suspension I wonder how close to that sort of GT 911 experience it will get okay then so this is the r now immediately you can hear there's a bit more noise from from back there and on the first corner you turn into it's a tiny bit more under on the way in even though we're not flat out yet because it's got the limited slip differential it feels quicker as well actually you can certainly either feel the extra response to the engine or it's at 50 kilos oh my this is good turns in with real enthusiasm massive enthusiasm if you get the front end tucked in which you kind of need to do with this differential I think oh you can then start to drive it on the throtle the steering possibly feels a bit lighter I wonder if that's a result of the reduced wheel weight but it's still got oodles a feel it's just that bit more adjustable mid Corner quite aggressively between sort of under steer and neutrality and over steer but my God it's good and although you can get a lot of the changes on a Cayman S you can fit a lot of the options that this R has got I don't know given the value of the art I think if you want what the r offers you might as well you might as well have it you know this is just superb really sensation so although the modifications to create the r haven't turned the Cayman into some kind of Porsche GT3 rifle what they have done is they've taken all the lovely bits of the S they've turned it up by about 10 to 15% now given the price I think whether you use it primarily on track like Silverstone here or on the road I think that's 10 to 15% well worth having athis is Porsche's Cayman S and GT variants of the 911 theide we reckon this is the best handling car Porche makes at the minute the engine's in the right place in the middle and it's just beautifully balanced lovely and silky steering's terrific it's got all of the good ingredients of a great Porsche however Porsche thinks it can make it even better still and as done a few tweaks taking a bit of weight out drop the car to create something it calls the Cayman R so this is that car now I'll put the window up so you can hear me properly there is no air conditioning in this car which is one of the contributing factors to a weight saving of around 50 kilos there's no radio either they both are no cost options to put them back in other changes the power has been turned up only by 10 horsepower or so do notice it it does feel a little bit more urgent partly that's the weight partly that's the power the chassis meanwhile it's been dropped by just over 20 mm rides on passive dampers and it gets the lightest Wheels fitted to a current production portion just on some decent roads in northamptonshire now and it just feels that little bit more alert all the time and what do you pay for all these changes not as much as you might think a standard cable is 46 Grand this is only 51 now one of the reasons Porsche has developed this car is so that you can feel the differences on the road but it's also aimed at the people who like to enjoy their Cayman on the track and given we're in North hamptonshire we might be able to find one not too far from here okay so we'll start off on track in the Cayman S this is at silverstone's horss Driving Experience Center oh it feels really nice around here the steering's got loads of feel it's got plenty of power cuz it's some sort of second third gear circuit turns in nicely grips very well and you can just feel the power just starting to Edge the tail rearwards out of the tighter corners it's a tidy little car this really but you could tell I think because you're now on here we're asking a lot more questions of the chassis than you ever would on the road you can tell that at heart it is a road focused car I mean a GT 3 Porsche 911 would be a lot flatter a lot more controlled and I wonder I wonder how close to that the C and are with its loss of weight and lower suspension I wonder how close to that sort of GT 911 experience it will get okay then so this is the r now immediately you can hear there's a bit more noise from from back there and on the first corner you turn into it's a tiny bit more under on the way in even though we're not flat out yet because it's got the limited slip differential it feels quicker as well actually you can certainly either feel the extra response to the engine or it's at 50 kilos oh my this is good turns in with real enthusiasm massive enthusiasm if you get the front end tucked in which you kind of need to do with this differential I think oh you can then start to drive it on the throtle the steering possibly feels a bit lighter I wonder if that's a result of the reduced wheel weight but it's still got oodles a feel it's just that bit more adjustable mid Corner quite aggressively between sort of under steer and neutrality and over steer but my God it's good and although you can get a lot of the changes on a Cayman S you can fit a lot of the options that this R has got I don't know given the value of the art I think if you want what the r offers you might as well you might as well have it you know this is just superb really sensation so although the modifications to create the r haven't turned the Cayman into some kind of Porsche GT3 rifle what they have done is they've taken all the lovely bits of the S they've turned it up by about 10 to 15% now given the price I think whether you use it primarily on track like Silverstone here or on the road I think that's 10 to 15% well worth having a\n"