Porsche hints that hotter Cayman GT4 RS is coming...
WE’RE a greedy bunch, aren’t we? Porsche has only just given us the new 982 Cayman GT4 but already our minds are pondering “what if it had more performance…”
And we aren’t the only ones. Andreas Preuninger, who heads Porsche’s coveted GT division, has hinted that an even hotter GT4 RS could be on its way.
Speaking to Wheels at the GT4’s international launch, Preuninger revealed that the increasing popularity of Porsche’s GT cars means he sees room for a GT4 RS to join the Cayman range.
“There’s always room, if you create the room,” he said. “There’s lot of ideas that we have at the moment, and the good point is we have a lot more ideas than we can really carry out and realise. But I would say yes, sure. Stay tuned on this channel.”
Wheels understands any potential GT4 RS is well over 12 months away, though Preuninger did shed some light on how its additional performance could be achieved.
“There’s meat in this engine construction,” Preuninger added, referring to the GT4’s all-new, naturally aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six. “We concentrated on getting the regular GT4’s 420hp (309kW) so it’s right on the longevity side and on the emissions side, but I think that with this engine, if we weren’t strangled by [emissions] laws, it could produce more power quite easily.”
The man in charge of developing Porsche’s boxer engines, Markus Baumann, added some further detail, explaining that more performance could easily be extracted by fitting the new 4.0-litre with the GT3’s titanium internals, rigid valvetrain and rear-mounted dry sump.
“There’s a lot of room,” said Baumann, when asked how much additional power the 4.0-litre can make. “You can add technologies and then you enable this engine for more power and more revs.”
On top of the customary chassis improvements (improved aero, wider tracks, stickier rubber, and rose-jointed suspension), it’s likely the GT4 RS would be offered solely as a seven-speed dual-clutch to keep it in line with the rest of Porsche’s auto-only RS range.
The biggest hurdle facing the GT4 RS is cost. “To give this engine [the GT4’s 4.0-litre] more RPMs you give it more components that become really costly,” said Preuninger. “That’s why the GT3 engine was not an option for the GT4. In the GT3 we might have one of the most expensive engines in the automotive market for a street-legal car.”
Ensuring any potential GT4 RS doesn’t cannibalise the 911 range by offering similar performance to a GT3 is also a valid concern. So there are roadblocks to navigate, but as Preuninger says, stay tuned to this channel.
Link: https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/porsche-hints-that-hotter-cayman-gt4-rs-is-coming
Porsche’s new 4.0-litre flat-six has “a lot of room” for more power
DEEP breaths, engine lovers. Porsche has some news. Hot on the heels of giving us an all-new 4.0-litre flat-six to lust after in the second-gen Cayman GT4, Porsche’s engineers have confirmed it has ample headroom for more power and torque, and a GT3-rivalling 9500rpm rev limit.
Speaking to Wheels at the GT4’s international launch in Scotland, Porsche’s GT division boss, Andreas Preuninger, and the man responsible for Porsche’s boxer engines, Markus Baumann, both confirmed the 4.0-litre has lots of potential.
“There’s meat in this engine construction,” said Preuninger. “We would be stupid to give it the maximum for the first time. If you look at the Mezger when it first appeared in 1999 in the GT3, it had 360hp (265kW), and then when we stopped with the Mezger more than a decade later in the 4.0-litre it had more than 500hp (368kW).
“…with this engine, if we weren’t strangled by [emission] laws it could produce more quite easily.”
Not to be confused with Porsche’s other atmo 4.0-litre, which is fitted to the GT3 and is motorsport derived with titanium components, the Cayman GT4’s unit is based on the 911’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo, though around 80 percent of the engine is unique.
We’ve detailed the extensive technical changes here though two juicy technical details we didn’t know then are that the new 4.0-litre shares its sparkplug design with the 918 Spyder, and, contrary to reports that the engine’s sole transmission would be a six-speed manual (in the Cayman GT4, at least), it will be paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch.
Back to the performance. Like Preuninger, Baumann smiles knowingly when you ask him how much headroom the new 4.0-litre has to give.
“There’s a lot of room,” he says. “A lot of room. If someone wants us to enable this engine for more performance, we have those steps. Just look at what technologies the GT3 engine has … you can add technologies and then you enable the engine for more power and more revs.”
Specifically, Baumann is referring to the GT3’s titanium con-rods and valves, its unique valvetrain, plus its rear-mounted dry sump design, which is different to the GT4’s integrated dry sump.
Preuninger explains: “You need more RPMs for more power, and for more RPMs you need to look at the internals; the weight of the pistons, the friction parameters of the piston rings and the cylinder bores and the bearings. And the more RPMs you give the engine, the more components you need that become really costly.
"That doesn’t mean it’s at the edge of its capabilities mechanically, not by far,” Preuninger added. “But I can’t just plug in a different ECU and make 500hp and rev to 9000rpm. That wouldn’t be possible. First you’ve got the cam adjusters, we’ve got a rigid valvetrain in the GT3 … This [Cayman’s 4.0-litre] is still a high-revving sport engine, but it is not a race engine we can make 150hp more by the switch of a button.”
Cost isn’t the only hurdle Porsche faces when developing the 4.0-litre. Meeting ever-tightening emissions laws is arguably the bigger obstacle, though Preuninger assures us the new mill is futureproofed.
“It’s even better than it has to be on the legal side,” he says. “It’s already fulfilling the emissions rules for the day after tomorrow. [So] it’s not so much what the engine can make mechanically, it’s about how much horsepower can we make under the circumstance of the emissions. This is definitely the limiting side, it’s not the hardware.”
And as for a 9500rpm rev limit, or even beyond?
“Why not?” laughs Baumann. “If you had a dry sump, titanium components and a rigid drivetrain … anything is possible.”
Link: https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/porsches-new-40-litre-flat-six-has-a-lot-of-room-for-more-power
Talked to a sales, he said they only have allocation for customers who have brought 7 or more Porsche from them previously. 
The forum is very lucky to have him.
...
