very...very....very bad ass car! you're from houston...we don't have mountains here....where were the pics taken>?

 

There's no denying the 911 is a great car, but imagine how much better a SPORTS CAR it would be if they gave up those practically useless vestigial back seats and made it mid-engine...

Porsche has forgotten they're not in the car business to make 911's, they're in the car business to make and sell some of the best SPORTS CARS on the planet and no matter how much time/effort/money they waste trying to hold onto an architecture that any freshman mechanical engineer can see is far from ideal there is simply no denying that the mid-engine design yields far better performance. It practically took an act of god to get the dinosaurs in Porsche management to finally let go of air cooled engines and its clearly time for a new chapter...

The 911 USED to be a small, light, scalpel sharp sports car but (in my opinion) because its an expensive car and the folks who tend to have the money to buy it are 'older', Porsche has allowed it to gradually bloat into a comfortable 'Grand Touring' car with a dated engine layout. The 987 is smaller, lighter, and even though its been denied the engineering attention and access to resources afforded to the 911 its much truer to what the 911 USED to be... A razor sharp 'sports' car.

The rear engine placement was originally driven by the need for airflow and venting for the air-cooled motor, (A need that precluded mid-mounting it) but thats a problem they no longer have since they finally accepted the writing on the wall and switched to water cooling. Its time for Porsche to either change the 911 to a mid-engine sports car and shed some weight, OR, accept that the 911 is a 'GT' car and then focus their resources on the Cayman and make that platform the absolute best it can be... And its already shown it could be a world beater if given just a bit more 'rein'... Do I really think Porsche will do that... No. They're too hung up on the 911 being their 'top car'.

Sorry! LOL!

REVISED:
Actually, with the 4 door/4 seater Panamera coming out they just MIGHT get around to bringing the 911 back to its true nature as a 'sports car' and converting it to be mid-engined... That would actually be a way to enforce the 'family lines' they're so adamant about and keep the 911 on top. The real question is HOW LONG until they do it. (Assuming they're going to...)

 

Thanks! Thats a shot I took with my point and shoot pocket camera in the desert near Vegas after SEMA while doing a photo shoot with a freelance photo journalist. I'm told to look for his pro-quality pics to be in the may issue of European Car.

 

The rear end of this thing is absolutely awesome! Looks better/more proportionate than the ctr3 I think. Would love to see it with a Sportec front bumper!

 

Good lord... I saw this at SEMA, and it's even more impressive in person. Flawless build!

 

Cayman is my favorite Porche! It is the perfect size sports car. The 911 has gotten a liittle big, I am not dismissing the performance of 997 GT2's and GT3's, but the cayman is just a classic expression of a car built for sporty driving.

 

Larry(ITMerc) got the april cover of European car! pretty sweet if you ask me!

 

Most amazing Porsche I've seen since the 959. What are the performance numbers on this car and the cost to build? The gt2 BUMPER AND gt3 rear are the cake and eating it too. This car is like Christmas after hitting the Lottery.

 

Heh! Glad you like it. Its still being tweaked by TPC and Mike Levitas is working on setting up a media event with Excellence and hopefully a few others for sometime in the near future.
Right now on the minimal boost setting (5psi) its putting out right at 518hp and 398ft/lbs on pump gas. Mike has been working hard on the partial throttle maps and putting lots of time making sure the power band is broad and driveability is as good as he can get it but we're thinking that once all the maps are as good as they're gonna get that he can kick the boost up to 5.5 or so and settle on around 540hp and maybe 440 ft/lbs. We'll see, but even at 5psi its nothing to sneeze at!

Cost to build... A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell... Lets just say its not for the faint of heart!

 

Trust me I get how you are feeling about cost. I once modified a 996 turbo cab and a cayenne tubo at the same time to the tune of 1200HP combined. i'm sure that an ivy league education went into those 2 cars. I drove a caymen for 150 miles for a friend and thought about half of the things that you have done to this car. I'm inspired. do you have any idea what the 0-60 and quarter mile times are? your car is closing in on that Ruf that costs 500K.