Dec 2, 2005 4:11:29 PM
- easy_rider911
- Rennteam VIP
-
- Loc: London , United Kingdom
- Posts: 22190, Gallery
- Registered on: Nov 8, 2004
Walter Rohrl drives -20mm 997 4S in GT Purely Porsche Dec 05
I have just read an interesting interview with Walter Rohrl in the December 2005 edition of GT Purely Porsche. He takes Chris Harris for a high speed drive around the Col de Turini in a 997 4S with -20m sports suspension and rear differential lock. Herr Rohrl says he loves the sports chassis the most. He also says that the Marketing Department at Porsche rejected any plan to put a rear differential lock on the Cayman S otherwise it might be faster than the standard 997 Carrera. He says that for the Cayman S to get better, Porsche has to improve the 997 first because Porsche will not allow the Cayman S to be better than their flagship 911 model. He does not comment when asked whether there will be a Clubsport edition of the Cayman S. That's all the nformation I can remember. However, the article also praises the legendary driving ability of the great man describing the speed he is able to take corners, how he goes through a corner in 4th gear which Chris Harris would only manage in 2nd gear and how he is able to do heel-toe downshifts from 2nd gear to 1st gear 'just because he can'. All in all, Walter Rohrl scared the sh*t out of Chris Harris. Wish I could drive like that. It's worth a quick read if you can get hold of a copy.
I said that on the Cayman forum but people still don't understand that Porsche decides which car is "king" and which one is a "prince" only. This doesn't have anything to do with concepts but marketing. The Boxster is Porsche's entry level model, the Cayman S is the model in the middle which will push owners sooner or later towards the 911 (at least this is what Porsche hopes) and the 911 is the top end model RANGE with it's own "hierachy" again. It may be difficult to understand for some people but the 911 is THE Porsche for many people, it would be very very stupid (from a marketing point of view) to ignore this. Porsche did that in the past (the 928 was supposed to replace the 911) and they failed miserably. A Cayman can't replace the 911 either since it has only two seats. As long as people don't "get" it, it is absolutely useless to try to explain that to them. I had my share of "attacks" on the Cayman forum because I tried to explain. 
