Porsche Cayman Turbo Returns to the Ring?


April 18, 2008 1:26 PM by Brian Potter
Filed Under: Spy Photos Porsche
The omnipresent Jalopniks have tipped us off to some interesting spy photos which were taken by BridgeToGantry.com, a site dedicated to all things about the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Wearing Ludwigsburg license plates, which indicates an official Porsche AG car, BTG spotted this Porsche Cayman doing some hot laps. What was interesting was not it's appearance but rather its sound. BTG photographer gives an account of hearing the distinct sound of a turbo engine as this Cayman flew past.

BTG states they have seen a similar Cayman prototype making the same noise a year ago, but it's back. A turbo charged Cayman making somewhere in the neighborhood of 340hp would be a serious threat and outperform its older sibling, the 911. Known for being lean and well balanced, a Cayman Turbo would absolutely cannibalize 911 sales and Porsche knows it. According to BTG, privateer teams last year who were using the Cayman were suddenly upgraded to, “money-can't-buy factory-backed RSR 911s.”

Check out BTG source link below for more photos.

 

I agree, Porsche will never build it. The 911 is there bread an butter. I Cayman is a much better designed car for balance. However Car and Driver did a write up on the FBL 3.8 X51 conversion on the Cayman, I think it cost around $150,000 (USD) including the Cayman, this car was no faster then the 997S with X51.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...specialty_file

 

Orton Performance does the 3.8l swap, everything included for $21K.

http://www.ortonperformance.com/pors...engine380.html

I don't think it would be a ton faster, but it looks like a fun car with the reliability of a stock 997S engine. Considering you could pick up a Cayman S for about $45K, it wouldn't be a bad deal but then again you might as well buy a 997S for the money.