The 718 Cayman has cemented itself as a great alternative to the 911. For a few years, the GT4 variant of this mid-engined sports car has been the best performer in its category – something built for enthusiasts and real drivers. Now that top model is about to get a bigger brother in the form of the 718 Cayman GT4 RS.
Significance of the 718 Cayman GT4 RS
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS will get its world premiere in November 2021, so the company is just wrapping up its final testing and evaluation drives. It will be the first 718 or Cayman to carry the ‘RS’ badge ever. In Porsche code, the ‘RS’ term is a significant one. It stands for “Rennsport” or Racing Sport, and is reserved for street legal variants of motorsport-tuned variants or particularly sporty variants of certain models. Given how extreme the GT4 already is, it’ll be interesting to see just how far Porsche has managed to take the 718 this time as an RS model.
In the case of the 718 Cayman GT4 RS, what the engineers have done is to cut the vehicle’s weight down, give it more power, increase its downforce and also improve its responsiveness and feedback to driver inputs.
“During development, we gave the 718 Cayman GT4 RS everything that characterises a genuine RS: lightweight construction, more downforce, more power and, of course, an even higher level of responsiveness and feedback to driver inputs. The fantastic lap time of the Nordschleife is impressive proof of how clearly noticeable these improvements in driving dynamics are,” said Director GT Model Line, Andreas Preuninger. “Our customers can look forward to a pure driver’s car that makes a thrilling driving experience an absolute priority.”
Setting A Time At The Nürburgring-Nordschleife
A lightly disguised prototype of the 719 Cayman GT4 RS with the optionally available Micheline Pilot Sport Cup 2 R and a retrofitted racing seat was driven around the 20.832km stretched of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit. It completed its run in just 7:04.511 minutes. That’s 23.6 seconds faster than the 718 Cayman GT4’s time.
“The 718 Cayman GT4 RS is an uncompromising driving machine. It feels as nimble as a go-kart on mountain roads, yet is impressively stable and well-balanced on the racetrack. Otherwise, such a lap time wouldn’t even be possible,” says Jörg Bergmeister. “The GT4 RS is one of the sharpest cars Porsche has ever developed. And you really have had to experience the breathtaking noise it makes for yourself,” adds the world-class driver, who has devoted more than 500 hours to the 718 Cayman GT4 RS during test and tuning drives as part of the car’s development.
