Porsche Cayman 981 Black Edition

[rex]

Putting the ISOFIX mod to good use:



 

[rex]

And the story goes on... but not exactly as I anticipated to 

Since the baby, I have to be closer to home and I can't leave for weeks. Nonetheless, I still wanted to do a track day at Hungaroring or a visit Nurburgring. Since the latter requires at least 4 days, I chose to go to Hungaroring, for now...
I wanted to take the Golf but with the missfire issues I can't really enjoy the car and it's not ready for trackdays. So, until I fix or swap the engine I guess I will use the Cayman for trackdays as well.
The car is better prepared to handle the track action than before but as I found out, there are huge limitations...

So, on the 11th of August (exactly 1 week after the F1 Grand Prix at Hungaroring), Hungaroring opened its doors for a track day event. Since I wasn't in the Golf (where I would have as many sessions/laps as possible) I decided to have 4 sessions with the Cayman - not to kill it.
The weather was very very warm and the tires are now, by far, the worst think about this car for the track. I couldn't use the new brakes to their full potential because the tire grip was very poor. I had real problems maintaining the optional tire pressure throughout the day. I learned that 2.3 bar (33PSI) is the best tire pressure for this tire (P Zero) but I only had about 4 laps (in total) with the tires at this pressure.
Even at the optimal pressure, these were the maximum G's I managed:



It is clear that if I intend to push the car even more, I need better road tires (like Pilot Sport 4S) or semislicks - Cup 2 or similar.
Before I edit the video with the best laps, here are some photos:







 

[rex]

Like promised, here is the video with the best two laps of the previous trip:

Compared to my previous trip to Hungaroring, I was 0.8 sec slower. Not the end of the world, but at least I got to see what "when wrong" by looking at the data (I'm using VBox sport + exterior antenna & Circuit Tools and Performance Tools).



I was a bit slower in turns 6 (because of the lack of guts) and 13 because I couldn't find an approach that would not involve loads of understeer (yet).
In the second lap form the video above, I lost all 0.8 seconds in turn 14 when I encountered traffic. Why the hell someone would be either extremely slow (this was the category with the fast cars) or on their cool down lap and still use the racing line is beyond my comprehension...
Anyway, once more, this is a great little car and I had great fun in it. 

[rex]

Good morning everyone!

I keep telling myself (and you) that the Cayman is not my trackday car but the reality is I am constantly giving you trackdays footage. Well this occasion is not different...
Since I wanted at least one more trackday this year and since Nurburgring is out of the question (for this year), I decided to visit the Transilvania Motor Ring circuit which is 70 miles away from home.
I wanted to go with the Golf but, after the non resolved missfire issues, I "settled" for the Cayman...

The day started a bit worrying for me since it looked like another cold and wet day but it turned out to be the opposite. I had lots of fun and no issues with the car.
I still like the Golf more in the bends (due to the semislick and suspension setup) and on braking but I love the Cayman for the traction when exiting corners and for the sound. To have the same fun all around I would have to change the tires, the brake pads, the ARB's and probably the springs and shocks. But, once more, that is not something I want to do right now. So, even with these downfalls I will enjoy the car as it is:



A drive-by video (Sport OEM exhaust):

And the best lap of the day:

Any advice is welcomed!

[rex]

Over the past few months I've been thinking of what I want to do - car wise.
And, I have absolutely no conclusions  . But, here is how things stand right now - I will talk about the Golf in it's topic, I will concentrate on the Cayman and Porsche in general.
I absolutely love the Cayman. It is such a nice car... It is an awesome daily and a decent track car. I especially love the sound and the manual gearbox. I've contemplating about trading it in for a 718 GTS 4.0 or a 718 GT4 and, even if the 718's are much more capable on track, for daily drive I would stick to my Cayman (the noise is affected in the 718 because of the particle filter installed to the exhaust). So, I intend to keep the Cayman for a very long while.
The general idea is that I would have a few weekend cars, the Cayman for daily and a GT3/GT3RS (997.2, 991.1, 991.2 or 992) for track days. Right now the budget doesn't allow for a GT3/GT3RS but even if it did, the driver is nowhere near the skill required to use a car like that. I've reviewed some of my "brown moments" with the Golf and I remember how close to the limit I was going. I am far from that in the Cayman - probably because it is much more expensive if I crash it.

So, I NEED TO IMPROVE MY DRIVING SKILLS  . I order to do that, I started watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZlOkt1oU2k&list=PLAZL0MKQigFNSY0BTdt_GsDwxdHoeJ302[/youtube]"]this tutorial.
And I notices how far behind I am, regarding my skills  . I guess the more you learn, the less you know...

I will try to use what Scott is teaching and I also bought two Porsche TrackDay Experiences.

1. g-Force Testtrack Boxberg
Basically I will be driving a 992 CarreraS and learn to control oversteer. This is especially handy since, as I said, in a few years I would like to buy a 911.

2. Master Nürburgring GP & Nordschleife
After sending my driving diplomas and some videos from trackdays, I got admitted to this training and I start from their Master Level Experience 
I will be driving my Cayman and I hope to better learn racing lines and how to control the car. Since this trip is quite close to my service interval date, I will also have the car serviced at Nurburging at Manthey-Racing. Yes, they are the Porsche specialists that built this:

So, since I am there, I am investigating the possibility of changing the sway bars with the Sport Chassis ones and also have a more track-focused wheel alignment.
I'll see how it goes, fingers crossed! 

In the meanwhile I will continue to use the car as my daily and as a trackday cars in between.
Thanks for watching!
   

[rex]

Quite some time since I last wrote anything over here... And a lot of things happened since then.
I hope everyone is well!

Next week should have been the Porsche oversteer training... All flights to Germany are cancelled and the training is also cancelled. I think this is the first year in 11 years I haven't had a trackday since June... But I guess this is understandable. In Romania, the authorities took Corona very serious - some might say too serious (not me though) and I couldn't even drive the Porsche for 2 months - partially because of the ban to travel unless for a serious motive and partially because the Romanian version of MOT (carried out each 2 years) expired and that was not a good enough reason to go out and get it done.

In the meanwhile, the car had a proper wash to get rid of the winter salt and grime. I do this every year when switching to summer tires and I hope to keep the car rust free for a long long while. Those big calipers look very sexy 



I like the BBS CH-R wheels, but I prefer the OEM Carrera Classic ones better.



The August Nurburging Porsche training is still on and I am very excited about it. I hope the world will be safe enough for them not to cancel.
All the best!

[rex]

Hello everyone!
Yesterday I returned from this years Nurburgring adventure and, after some rest - as I drove, in total 4221 km (2622 miles) and approx 51 hours during the past 6 days, out of which about 850km (528 miles) - I would like to share with you what exactly happened...
There are many thoughts, photos and videos I want to share so it is going to take more then one post. This post is about general impressions. So, without further ado, here we go 

This has been my first Porsche Track Experience event and I have so say, Porsche has not let me down. It was a wonderfully organized event and, even if expensive, well worth the money.
The event took place over 2 days, the first day the instructors would show you the racing lines and the second day you could choose either to do the same as in the previous day, or have the instructor drive behind you or free driving.
The auxiliaries - food, beverage, gifts were top notch. The instructors as well.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that we had the Nordschleife and the GP Track combined - this doesn't happen very often and I was nice to learn the GP track as well.
All the cars attending were Porsche's (it is not mandatory though) and 80% of them were GT3RS and GT3. The were either some rentals (like 992 TurboS, 992 Carrera S, 718 Cayman) or some older 911's or some non GT 991's or a handful of 981 GT4's. Here are some of the cars in the lineup:

The event consisted of about 13 groups - I think about 3 groups were English speaking and the rest German.
I was a part of group 10, with 3 other cars - all 991.2 GT3RS. We had 2 instructors (Chezito Mendez and Renate Sanders) both driving 992 Turbo S's. And there was I, with the 275hp stock 981 Cayman  . I would say we were evenly matched  . One of my colleagues was at Nurburgring for the first time so, at least I wasn't the slowest :).



During the first hours one "defect" the car has, has become a big issue but also a blessing in disguise. The seats (OEM base ones) over little to no side support, so I nicknamed them the "bench" as you slide from one side to the other. Because of this, by knees were constantly banging the audio speakers on the left and the central tunnel on the right. I had some knee caps with me, just in case, and after the injury started to get serious I took a break from the training and went to the hotel to get my knee caps.



One of the instructors went ahead with the remaining of the cars and the other was (Renate) waited for me. So, for the next 2 days I had a personal instructor  . A gentlemen also joined us for a few laps in his, very beautiful, 991.2 GT3 Touring but had some issues (personally) and did not join the second day. He was also having problems with the manual gearbox as we was not always in the correct gear (and the NA engines don't work very well outside of a specific power band). As such he was maybe 30 sec to 1 minute slower then me.

Anyway, the first day of training ended without something notable to say... No great laps or laptimes as the instructor was very fast in some parts of the track but also slowing down to much for me on others.



After the training I attended the Touristenfahrten driving session on the Nordschleife & GP Track and I have to say it was a mess... So many cars all over the place that I am seriously considering ever doing another Touristenfahrten... As it is very difficult for me to get to the track, I think I will do some trackdays/trainings only.
Next up, the second day and some photos (after I get some from the officials) and videos (after I edit them and overlay the GPS data). Stay tuned!

[rex]

And the story goes on...
The program of the event was, as follows:
- some theory about grip, lines, rules - very minimal and nothing new.
- 1st day you have to follow the instructor
- 2nd day you can either follow the instructor, have the instructor follow you, or have free laps, without any instructor.

As I had one instructor only for myself I thought it would be stupid of me not to benefit from her experience and her advises.
The day didn't start very well as the rear brake pad warning message went on after only a few miles. So I lost about one hour and a half changing the pads at the Porsche Dealership in Nurburgring (Manthey Racing) - I was scheduled for a service and pads change the following day but they were very nice and changed the brakes on the spot to allow me to take part in the Porsche Experience Program without loosing to much time. Also my instructor had lunch earlier and I skipped lunch to maximize the track time.
The track was also closed for about 30 minutes due to a very nice 997.2 GT3RS which had an encounter with the side rail in one of the sessions - the driver seemed fine.

About the day, I have to say I enjoyed it a lot! I started pushing my limits more and more, the instructor was very helpful and I learned a lot from her.
As you will see in the video below, we both had a walkie talkie / radio and we could communicate both ways. As I wanted to concentrate on the laps my instructor would do the talking during the lap and I would use the radio after the completion of the lap. The audio was quite good because the radio was connected to my AUX input in the car.

Anyway, here is a lap with more things to see...

And a few works about that particular lap:
- this trip was the first time I've been on the GP track and I can say I'm not yet comfortable with it. As you see, I could use more of the track and more of the curbs.
- when I usually see cars in my back mirror, I know they are faster then I am and I immediately signal right and move to the right side. In this case, that was not quite OK since the GT3RS's were slower than I was on the last part of the track. You will see the instructor also comment on this.
- during my previous day and also the laps before the above one, the instructor told me I am very fast in the last part. She told me that I "drive like a professional racing driver the last part of the circuit" (after Hohe Acht) and she previously joked about me passing other German plate 991's - GTS, GT3, GT3RS, etc by saying "the further you are from Nurburgring the better you are". In the video above you will hear her say that again...
I am not yet sure if she was serious or not (I think she might have been a bit serious ), but, of course, her statements filled me with joy and pride. And they also made me concentrate more and take more chances in some areas (areas where I feel I still can do better).

Also, as a general feedback, I understood more about the cars' weight transfer when doing different things and I think I should generally have an earlier turn-in to keep the car balanced.
Next up, the best lap and/or photos.

P.S. Oh... I forgot something... This training was the "Master" level one - the third level in Porsche trainings. This implies people have 2 other trainings previously (Precision & Performance). But I think they should also judge people on skill / laptimes / etc. Because I don't think it's normal to have so much disparity in performance... I could keep up with the GT3RS's but I was way faster than other cars (GT3's, GTS's, etc) and that should not be the case.

[rex]

And here is the video with the best lap:

As in the usual way, a few word about it:
- since I go from a stand still at the Bilstein Bridge and since I also do the GP track, the BTG time is estimated as follows: I take the previous journey's Bridge to T13 (L4 Apex) time and I add the time from T13 (L4 Apex) to Gantry. This is how I got to 8:21.
- there are a lot of corners where I am faster than I've ever been: Flugplatz, Fuchsröhre, Kesselchen or Stefan-Bellof-S - to name only the biggest improvements.
- but there still are a lot of areas where I can improve the lines or the apex speed by 1-2 kph/mph. So there still is a reason to go to Nurburgring  .
- I am also not exactly where I hoped I would be regarding using the maximal grip provided by the tires (the G-meter should be, when braking and then turning in, moving on the circle arc  formed between the 1G braking forces and 1G lateral forces). I did understand more of what I am doing right/wrong during this trip, so I hope to improve upon this during my next track days.

As always, comments and feedback are welcomed!
The instructor was very kind with the "Perfect" at the end of the video, but I truly want to know what I can do better.

Cheers!

[rex]

One more thing to discuss about the Nurburgring trip - the service at Manthey Racing - but, before that, some photos of the car "in action" - just received from the organizers:











Thanks for watching!

[rex]

And, just like promised, the story goes on...
After the Porsche Track Experience event finished, I was scheduled for a 4year intermediary service at the Porsche Dealership at Nurbugring - which happened to be Manthey Racing. For all Porsche lovers, Manthey Racing is really the place to be... I think there were a handful of cars without a massive spoiler/wing:





The customers service is great, as you would expect.
Besides the service, I also had the wheel alignment done... I wanted a more track oriented setup. This was the first time someone asked me how much I weigh and if I have a passenger on my trackdays before doing a wheel alignment. I think they are used to corner weigh the car when doing the alignment - too bad my suspension is fixed. Also strange to me was the way they did the alignment. I am used to having the car on a platform and either using strings or some optics you would do the setup. Over here, they took the weeks off and installed a stool like device on each wheel (I guess that also measures the weight). Anyway, here is the current setup:



I have to say I can't feel much of a difference - even if increasing the camber and the toe was felt more with the previous car. I will talk more about the setup of the car in following posts.

And since the previous license plate holder broke and then melted (I guess due to vibrations and heat), I got new ones. Also a lot of bugs after the trip:



Next up, the latest trackday report - one week after the Nurburgring trip. 

[rex]

3 weeks since the last track day and only now did I have the time for a proper debriefing 
Just before my summer vacation I visited the "local" (70 miles from where I live) track - Transilvania Motor Ring. I only did laps for 2 hours but I managed to go through the whole tank of gas in those two hours. I hardly stopped - only for tire pressure and maybe a 5 min break. But I had fun and that's what matters.
The car was very good except for the tires which seemed much more overwhelmed than previously. I had a number of traction and understeer problems and those were visible in the times. My best lap was 1 sec slower than the previous best lap (one year ago).

I got the chance to look at the data stored by the VBOX and it was obvious I was much better on the brakes (I think this is due to the things I learned at Nurburgring) but much worse when it came to traction...



At the end of the day I noticed the front tires exterior shoulders were worn (I think due to the understeer issues) - and this didn't happen previously.
Since I was pretty close to the wear marker, I decided to change the tires in preparation for the next track day (25 Sep). I searched for alternatives to the Pirelli P Zero's the car came equipped with, and I really wanted the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 ones - but they are not factory approved for the car and, maybe more importantly, they didn't have rim protection. Next in line were the Continental Sport Contact 6 which were also not factory approved. So I ended up with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. Just intalled them today and, as for the performance I will speak after the track day, but I can tell you they look much better than the Pirelli ones and also have a much more pronounced rim protection.

[rex]

So, back with another track review...
The new Michelin Pilot Sport 4S are awesome for the first, maybe, 10 laps... after that, they lose a lot of grip and, they end up like this:



These are the left front ones (the left back ones are slightly better but still suffer from the same issue). This is mainly due to the fact it's a clock wise track, I suffer from understeer on most left side corners and I also use the kerbs more.

They lasted for 54 laps (about 35 - 40 hard laps) at Transilvania Motor Ring - this is way below the Pirelli P Zero ones that lasted about 45 hard laps at Hungaroring, 35 hard Nurburgring laps, and 35 hard laps at Transilvania Motor Ring. Plus about 15k miles on the road. So there is no comparison when it comes to wear.

When it comes to times, the 4S is 1-2 seconds faster than the Pirelli. I improved my times with 2 seconds from my previous trip and with 1 second from my previous personal best.

Even if there is not much to see, here is the new personal best:

This was my 10th hard lap and there are a lot of ares to improve, but later on the tires started to lose traction.

A much more interesting video is when I'm chasing a 981 Porsche Boxster GTS... I am quite surprised I can stay with him or even be a bit faster - he also has some AR1 tires, according to my passenger...

Comments or advises are welcomed.

Next up - another chase video with one of my friends - a diesel mk5 Golf faster than my Cayman.
Also next - I am not sure what to do with the tires (I will try to change them using the warranty since this has not even remotely happened during my previous 12 years of trackdays with all sorts of tires). Ideas for replacements?

[rex]

And the last video I want to share of the last trackday is a chase video with one of my oldest and best automotive friends @Acidutzul . The VW Golf was quite evenly matched with his car back in the days but, since he upgraded the turbo, the Porsche is now, in its stock form, a similarly fast car... He's got a MK5 2.0 TDI Golf with about the same power to weight as my Porsche but with other mods as well: Bilsteing B16 Coilovers, APRacing brakes, thicker AntiRollBars / Sway Bar, semislicks and, I also think, he is a bit of a better driver than I am. As the cars are evenly matched we get to do these chase videos, that we enjoy a lot.

He is pushing a bit and, maybe due to some brake issues - I personally think the rear brakes are too powerful - the video may be more interesting to watch.
As you can see (after the smoke from the exhaust clears  ), the MK5 platform is quite capable even with a diesel engine.

Enjoy!

[Larky7]

Hi, only just came across this. That Porsche looks so nice! I am definitely going to own a Porsche one day!

I love the fact you said at the beginning of the thread it’s not going to be track car, then it’s now a track car Anyway keep at it, like to see more what you do with it.