OK, so I have owned my Cayman S coming up on 7 years now. I can safely say that this is a car that can do almost anything - except haul two more passengers in the back seat. Other than that, I have used it for long road trips, fishing trips, camping, back road excursions, daily commuting, grocery store runs, auto crossing, Time Trials, and all kinds of track days with the SCCA, NASA, Trackmasters, and Hooked on Driving. In every case and in all uses, this car does everything well. It is the ultimate underdog at the track, yet can embarrass much higher power cars, much more expensive track cars, and just about anything on 4 wheels if the other driver isn't prepared for what is coming in the rear view mirror. Granted, I have modified this car, but that makes it a bit of a "sleeper" that defies expectations.
When I purchased it from a seller back east, he had just had TPC Racing install a full STage4 JRZ race suspension on it, as well as a limited slip differential and a Tubi sports exhaust with a nice ECU tune. Since then, I have made a few more adjustments to the suspension and tires, along with deep sump and other oiling mods, and I upgraded the brakes to Girodisc rotors, Pagid pads, and Motul fluid. I also had the car color-changed with a full-car vinyl wrap to a green that mimics the green color of the 2007 Porsche GT3RS. Many of these changes have been shown in other posts on my blog. But the biggest change came in 2016 when I had Vision Motorsports completely rebuild the engine. It was bored out from the stock 3.4 liters to 3.8 liters, and a long list of modifications gave it better oiling, higher HP, higher torque, and far more track and daily street dependability. Chrome-moly pistons, new rods, race bearings, underdrive pulley, third radiator, custom crankshaft with oil channels, lightweight aluminum flywheel and racing clutch, etc. With an additional 45 HP and more torque across the band, this car punches above its weight class!
Here are some photos and videos from today as well as through time, commemorating what has been a car with more uses that you can imagine!
Here is a short video of the sound of the car on the street as it accelerates and when blipping the throttle to downshift, and one with some exhaust sound at idle and revs to about 5000 rpm.
And a few videos of the car in action at Sonoma Raceway and Laguna Seca. Some are older, when the car was still in its original black paint, some are newer.
Laguna Seca, 2014. This was before the engine rebuild.
Sonoma Raceway, 2017, after engine rebuild:
And a few more from both tracks:
Thunder hill Raceway, no external microphone:
And this is a full session (older version of car), produced with multiple camera angles by Jay Rosa at VisionWells:
The Gator being used as an SUV, and a pic of before it's color transformation:
