The race track-focused Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport has made its official public debut at the Los Angeles motor show.
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport uses the same 3.8-litre flat-six engine as the GT4 road car, with the power output unchanged at 380bhp. However, while a dual-clutch gearbox was considered and rejected for the roadgoing GT4, the racer gets steering wheel-mounted paddles controlling a PDK transmission.
The rest of the mechanical make-up is remarkably similar to the ‘regular’ GT4. There’s a mechanical rear differential, although the lightweight rear suspension is taken from the 911 GT3 Cup race car instead of the GT3 road car, as is the strut front axle. The passenger seat has gone and there’s a welded-in roll cage and a bucket seat with a six-point harness.Porsche claims an all-in weight of 1300kg. It comes with a 90-litre fuel tank as standard, although a 70-litre and 100-litre alternative is also offered.
The GT4 Clubsport gets 380mm steel brakes all round, with one-piece, six-piston, aluminium fixed calipers at the front, and four-piston versions at the rear. The ABS system is highly tweakable, with 12 stages of adjustment, and the ESP system has been adapted to work with slick tyres.
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport will be sold through Porsche’s motorsport business at Weissach or the US importer. Prices starts at €110,000 plus local taxes, which should mean a price of £77,850, or £93,400 including VAT.
Porsche says it plans to homologate the car for use in a number of sports car racing championships around the world, including the Pirelli World Challenge, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge and club races run by the Porsche Club of America.
The choice of name is potentially significant, because Clubsport still offers the tantalising possibility of an even more hardcore road-going and racing Cayman, badged GT4 RS.
