Cayman R Chat

[PaulD86]

frayz said:

Bang on,

I came from a extremely focused and big bhp Subaru Impreza and the areas to use it on the road to any kind of potential were few and far between. Even with the Cayman some 250bhp short on power, the R is just such a peach of a sports car. And if the 2 were side by side, i know id be getting in the silly green one every time

I don't usually, but seeing as the sun is out, i've driven mine to work again today.
Every time i get in mine, it feels like an event, and it only takes a few medium paced corners before you remember just how special they feel.

I honestly cant see what could replace it for driving enjoyment.

I also came from an Impreza, albeit not one with anything like the power of yours. Mine was apparently around 350bhp ish. Although it felt quicker so may have been more. The problem with it was that it only felt exciting at really stupid speeds and levels of comitment - it was happy driven slow or happy driven flat out. It didn't like anything inbetween. It was also a bit of a blunt instrument. Lots of grip and power but not so big on finesse.

The R is so delicate by comparrison. It's nice to drive at any speed. And the running costs are miles lower. And people don't look at you like a boy racer in it.

Suns out so I think when work finishes I'll be heading for the keys

[Joehow]

Whilst the R is an amazing road car and I do love mine. I would still swap back to my 996 GT3 in a heartbeat.

I would sometimes just sit in that car, it felt special in a way my R doesnt quite hit the mark.

The biggest difference though is that engine, the punch from 4k and noise was exceptional.

Don't get me wrong the R is brilliant and a wonderful sports car and I am super happy to own one - its better than my Cayman GTS and 981 Spyder but the gt3 is still firmly top of the tree for me.

[Porsche911R]

Joehow said:

Whilst the R is an amazing road car and I do love mine. I would still swap back to my 996 GT3 in a heartbeat.

I would sometimes just sit in that car, it felt special in a way my R doesnt quite hit the mark.

The biggest difference though is that engine, the punch from 4k and noise was exceptional.

Don't get me wrong the R is brilliant and a wonderful sports car and I am super happy to own one - its better than my Cayman GTS and 981 Spyder but the gt3 is still firmly top of the tree for me.

mmm punch In a 996 GT3 from 4k !!! I think the memory is warped :-p

[Joehow]

Porsche911R said:

mmm punch In a 996 GT3 from 4k !!! I think the memory is warped :-p

I drove one again the other day it picks up its skirt at just over 4k and starts running at about 5k.

Either way I love that car and miss it dearly. We can all agree to disagree can't we.

[frayz]

Joehow said:

I drove one again the other day it picks up its skirt at just over 4k and starts running at about 5k.

Either way I love that car and miss it dearly. We can all agree to disagree can't we.

Something about that Mezger mechanical delivery that i think no other Porsche quite has, its pretty unique.

Having said that, and driving them back to back. i have never been disappointed getting back in my car after a stint in a 997 GT3.
But then again, im comparing a modified R to a stock GT product.

As far as the water cooled cars go, i do think the sound especially from the NA Mezger motors is pretty much unbeatable with bar the exception of the 991.2 GT motor.

[Porsche911R]

Joehow said:

I drove one again the other day it picks up its skirt at just over 4k and starts running at about 5k.

Either way I love that car and miss it dearly. We can all agree to disagree can't we.

yep I can agree you loved the car :-), but not that it picks up at 4k revs, It's more like 5.5k. and 6k to start the fun hence great on track.

so we cannot agree to disagree there ;-) as that's the nature of the engine and why I sold mine pretty quick as it made a poor road car for me. The Megzer hype is over rated for road cars imo on PH, great on track where they rev out and keep making power, but they are dead at 4k esp in the older car with much less Bhp. Even c2S is faster to 70 odd due to the GT3 gearing !!

if you loved it, that's great, I respect that :-) , but the engines gutless at 4k really and was not design to be punchy at those revs. I get the thrill at >5.5k but it was too slow to cover ground to ever reach the sweet spot in 3rd gear on UK roads ;-(

I don't miss mine one bit ;-)

[Joehow]

Its hardly gutless.

Its not exactly like a Type R or 197/200 where its on or off.

I disagree on the gearing, i got more enjoyment from it on the road than my R as it feels special all of time - to me anyway. The R you need to push hard to get the same thrills thus delving further into license losing territory. Hence trackdays where the R can maybe be a little more fun as its less spiky than the GT3 and a piece of piss to drive.



This thing has both licked for on road thrills though.

Edited by Joehow on Friday 23 August 16:57

[Joehow]

frayz said:

Something about that Mezger mechanical delivery that i think no other Porsche quite has, its pretty unique.

Having said that, and driving them back to back. i have never been disappointed getting back in my car after a stint in a 997 GT3.
But then again, im comparing a modified R to a stock GT product.

As far as the water cooled cars go, i do think the sound especially from the NA Mezger motors is pretty much unbeatable with bar the exception of the 991.2 GT motor.

Yeah your car is probably more of an event! Bet its a blinder on track as well!

[frayz]

Joehow said:

Yeah your car is probably more of an event! Bet its a blinder on track as well!

Yeah i ended up on track within 4 weeks of owning it, lol.

Event...I think so, but then i've only ever driven one other Cayman R and that was stock, manual/ PCCBs/PSE etc
Which is beautiful to drive i might add, just less aggressive.
My car just feels a lot more immediate in terms of steering and throttle. Feels more planted and in my opinion felt more dialled-in than the GT3s ive driven which were stock. But then can you really get the measure of a car within a 20 min drive on the road?

The exhaust on my R is not valved so its "shouty nobhead" mode all the time, which probably has its fair bit of placebo attached in terms of thrills. It makes a hell of a racket north of 4.5k rpm.

More induction, more exhaust and the chassis mods make a huge difference to the R i think. I agree its mega on track and i wish i was able to track it more. I would like to add a further few mods to increase its focus further towards pure driving enjoyment.
Its not my daily so it doesn't matter to me

[Joehow]

Ive actually seen your car once, it is a step on I think. I was at RPM when you picked it up collecting my 986 Boxster, unfortunately they made a huge pigs ear of that.

However Ricky is now there and I am a big fan of his!

More trackdays! Come to Spa next year! Jon etc are coming with me this year from Ford.

[MrVert]

I'd love to get my R on track at Spa. Did it last year in my 997 and loved it.

Proper track

[frayz]

Joehow said:

Ive actually seen your car once, it is a step on I think. I was at RPM when you picked it up collecting my 986 Boxster, unfortunately they made a huge pigs ear of that.

However Ricky is now there and I am a big fan of his!

More trackdays! Come to Spa next year! Jon etc are coming with me this year from Ford.

Love to Joe.

Currently in the middle of a full kitchen rip out and install which is consuming funds at a hideous rate, and i haven't taken the WAG on holiday this year yet.

If i can get away with it and a snow trip next year, im game

I don't know Ricky, but ive never had an issue there. Having said that, i do most things on the car myself.

[Slippydiff]

frayz said:

I don't know Ricky, but ive never had an issue there. Having said that, i do most things on the car myself.

He’s ex an JZM technician who happens to be a bit handy when it comes to setting the geo up on Porsche GT cars.
He turned my Mk 1 996 GT3 from a hedge seeking missile into the sweetest handling car imaginable.
Unfortunately he left JZM to work with a team that were running Cup cars.
I subsequently took my 996 GT2 to JZM to do the geo, the results were “less than exemplary” ... I’ve not used JZM since.

[frayz]

Slippydiff said:

frayz said:

I don't know Ricky, but ive never had an issue there. Having said that, i do most things on the car myself.

He’s ex an JZM technician who happens to be a bit handy when it comes to setting the geo up on Porsche GT cars.
He turned my Mk 1 996 GT3 from a hedge seeking missile into the sweetest handling car imaginable.
Unfortunately he left JZM to work with a team that were running Cup cars.
I subsequently took my 996 GT2 to JZM to do the geo, the results were “less than exemplary” ... I’ve not used JZM since.

Sounds like a good man to chat to then. Mine was last setup by Centre Gravity, and I have to say I quite like how it feels. Having said that, things can always be improved I guess. For me it’s about building as much confidence in the car as possible at the limit as that allows me to get the most enjoyment from it.

RPM have also finally officially taken on Tim Harvey as their chassis setup guru/director etc.
He’s been doing their CSR packages for years now, so will be interesting to see how that develops.

[Rsx Boy]

Interesting....when did Ricky leave JZM ?

[Joehow]

Rsx Boy said:

Interesting....when did Ricky leave JZM ?

A few weeks ago, he's gone to work with Chris at RPM who left JZM last year.

[TDT]

Joehow said:

Rsx Boy said:

Interesting....when did Ricky leave JZM ?

A few weeks ago, he's gone to work with Chris at RPM who left JZM last year.

Ah! I didn’t know that Ricky had moved on. Last time i went to JZM for a check up he wasn’t in which was unusual, but I didn’t question it.

I too am a big fan of his work/setup. He has looked after my car including fitting the MR track day kit, and he’s a really nice guy also.

[Joehow]

TDT said:

Joehow said:

Rsx Boy said:

Interesting....when did Ricky leave JZM ?

A few weeks ago, he's gone to work with Chris at RPM who left JZM last year.

Ah! I didn’t know that Ricky had moved on. Last time i went to JZM for a check up he wasn’t in which was unusual, but I didn’t question it.

I too am a big fan of his work/setup. He has looked after my car including fitting the MR track day kit, and he’s a really nice guy also.

Yeah agreed he's top bloke and very good.

[ClioTrophy55]

Photobombed by a Suzuki!
New Government scrappage scheme required, methinks.

[Rocket.]

Just catching up on this thread but have often thought about a mythical 987 Cayman RS... In my mind it would have a 3.8 Mezger engine and about 150/200 kilos removed and eat GT4s for breakfast.