Sep 15, 2008 12:36:37 PM
- Porsche-Jeck
- Rennteam Master
-
- Loc: Rheinland , Germany
- Posts: 4856, Gallery
- Registered on: Jun 27, 2005
Encounter with the Über-Cayman
Hi folks, had a remarkable encounter yesterday while doing some laps on Nordschleife.
In the Kesselchen sector (highspeed sector) I became aware of a fast Porsche quickly growing bigger in the rearview mirror of my humble 987S
I only had a quick look in the mirror (it's better to focus on the upcoming manouevre) and thought: ahhh, one of the dozens of Ring-GT3s again and made room to let him pass me.
When he came closer the sound indicated that I must have been wrong with the GT3 - the thing sounded like a fighter jet
Only then I realised that it's a highly modded CaymanS with fat rubber and a huge wing at the rear
I was following the car for a couple of corners (maybe "following" is not the right word
- more like watching him disappear) and apart from the crazy speed the most impressive observation was how this thing was glued to the track - simply incredible 
Later I talked to the owner (nice Norwegian guy) at the parking lot and he frankly shared some tech specs of the car:
The owner had a 997 GT3 first - for some reason he didn't like the driving dynamics too much and he thought a 4WD 997 TT might fix the problem, just to figure out that the TT is too heavy for the track and somewhat unpredictable at the limit.
Then he spend RUF a visit to fix his "problems". CTR was an option, but he didn't like the design of the rear...
Hence RUF built a one of it's kind Über-Cayman for him.
3.4 L engine with two superchargers putting out 490 hp.
GT2 suspension parts + GT3 brakes, undercarriage from GT2,
fix rearwing from Techart, BBS rims + Toyo R-compounds, interior stripped and equipped with full rollcage + GT2 bucket seats, curbweight kg 1,150-ish. The car had just 2,000 km on the odo, hence no long term experience regarding reliability yet (RUF provides a 1 year warranty).
Owner seemed to be very happy with the car's performance
and claimed to drive circles around any other Porsche at trackdays/DEs 
He was somewhat shy to talk about the Euro Euro invested into the project (must be crazy including the Norwegian prohibitive taxes)
Amazing what one can do if money is no object
On a side note re more "affordable" trackworthy P-cars :
Had some great pax-laps with a friend (living close to the Ring, hence a very experienced "Ring warrier") in his 997 GT3 - he bought the car this Spring and did some minor tweaks (NoS optimized suspension), which makes the car far less prone to understeering, but still very predictable (not too tail happy). Even from the passenger seat one could feel how well planted the car is and how well it indicated the limit - definitely way more "communicative" at the limit than my 987S Actually the guy owns a brandnew 987S also (some guys have it all ), but he's afraid to drive it on NoS ("still don't know how it behaves at the limit..."). Apart from the handling the power of the GT3 is awesome of course: where I have to carefully "plan" each overtaking manouevre with my 987S, it's over in the blink of an eye with the GT3
Having said that the 987S (even with 280 hp only) is still an amazing package on a track like NoS (though on modern GP tracks I sometimes feel like a rubber duck in the sea ). No problem to keep up with the M3 crowd at NoS (with skilled amateurs behind the wheel) - CSL with semi-pros behind the wheel or stripped "Ringtools" with R-compounds are another story though.
Here some pics of the Über-Cayman:
In the Kesselchen sector (highspeed sector) I became aware of a fast Porsche quickly growing bigger in the rearview mirror of my humble 987S
I only had a quick look in the mirror (it's better to focus on the upcoming manouevre) and thought: ahhh, one of the dozens of Ring-GT3s again and made room to let him pass me.
When he came closer the sound indicated that I must have been wrong with the GT3 - the thing sounded like a fighter jet
Only then I realised that it's a highly modded CaymanS with fat rubber and a huge wing at the rear
I was following the car for a couple of corners (maybe "following" is not the right word
- more like watching him disappear) and apart from the crazy speed the most impressive observation was how this thing was glued to the track - simply incredible
Later I talked to the owner (nice Norwegian guy) at the parking lot and he frankly shared some tech specs of the car:
The owner had a 997 GT3 first - for some reason he didn't like the driving dynamics too much and he thought a 4WD 997 TT might fix the problem, just to figure out that the TT is too heavy for the track and somewhat unpredictable at the limit.
Then he spend RUF a visit to fix his "problems". CTR was an option, but he didn't like the design of the rear...
Hence RUF built a one of it's kind Über-Cayman for him.
3.4 L engine with two superchargers putting out 490 hp.
GT2 suspension parts + GT3 brakes, undercarriage from GT2,
fix rearwing from Techart, BBS rims + Toyo R-compounds, interior stripped and equipped with full rollcage + GT2 bucket seats, curbweight kg 1,150-ish. The car had just 2,000 km on the odo, hence no long term experience regarding reliability yet (RUF provides a 1 year warranty).
Owner seemed to be very happy with the car's performance
and claimed to drive circles around any other Porsche at trackdays/DEs
He was somewhat shy to talk about the Euro Euro invested into the project (must be crazy including the Norwegian prohibitive taxes)
Amazing what one can do if money is no object
On a side note re more "affordable" trackworthy P-cars
:
Had some great pax-laps with a friend (living close to the Ring, hence a very experienced "Ring warrier") in his 997 GT3 - he bought the car this Spring and did some minor tweaks (NoS optimized suspension), which makes the car far less prone to understeering, but still very predictable (not too tail happy). Even from the passenger seat one could feel how well planted the car is and how well it indicated the limit - definitely way more "communicative" at the limit than my 987S
Actually the guy owns a brandnew 987S also (some guys have it all ), but he's afraid to drive it on NoS ("still don't know how it behaves at the limit..."). Apart from the handling the power of the GT3 is awesome of course: where I have to carefully "plan" each overtaking manouevre with my 987S, it's over in the blink of an eye with the GT3
Having said that the 987S (even with 280 hp only) is still an amazing package on a track like NoS
(though on modern GP tracks I sometimes feel like a rubber duck in the sea ). No problem to keep up with the M3 crowd at NoS (with skilled amateurs behind the wheel) - CSL with semi-pros behind the wheel or stripped "Ringtools" with R-compounds are another story though.
Here some pics of the Über-Cayman:
