Porsche 718 GT4, test drive

Porsche 718 GT4, test drive. The sequel to a great work doesn’t always turn out well. This is especially true when that first creation became an overnight sensation, a cult-car and future-classic straight out the blocks. The rarified former GT4 was the recipe for purist driving nirvana and today, if you can find one, you can expect to part with the same or more money than they were initially sold for. The other thing with sequels of course, is that you’ve lost the element of surprise. The headlines sound familiar and interest tends to wane. If you’re just into reading headlines and bylines, the recipe for the new 718 Cayman GT4 hasn’t changed much. It still features a naturally aspirated flat-six engine ahead of the rear axle. It still sports a six-speed manual transmission. It still sports a fixed rear wing and it will still do 0-100kph in 4.4 seconds.

I’d normally forgive you for looking away now but wait a second because really, there’s more. Quite a bit more actually. This is Porsche and they never have a crack at something just to slap on the word ‘new’ to a brochure. The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is the first port of entry into the hallowed and haloed GT-family. It is built in the same factory in collaboration with the same people who build things called GT3; GT2 RS; GT3 RS; 911 RSR-19 and even the Porsche Formula E racecar. 

That flat-six engine is now bored out to 4.0 litres, having initially started life as the 3.0-litre turbo mill from the 992-series 911 Carrera. Slight verbal backpedaling required, given the media buzz that surrounded the 718 nameplate at launch and how it revived a historical throwback to Porsche’s famous 4cyl sportscar. 

The engine is then bolstered with new parts including a new flywheel and crankshaft bearings and a plastic sump - yes you heard right, and it weighs almost 40 per cent less than the steel one in the previous GT4. Don’t compare it to the NA engine in the rear of say, a GT3 for example. That one just wouldn’t fit but you can thank whoever you pray to that this new motor doesn’t let the GT-family down by reaching its peak engine speed at 8,000rpm. More on that a bit later. In a bid to improve efficiency and to meet the latest European emissions standards, one of the tricks has been to introduce adaptive cylinder control to automatically shut down one bank of cylinder either side of the engine to save fuel. It’s a very clever system, only noticeable by keen-eared drivers who will detect a slight change in the pitch of the exhaust.

Where the new GT4 really starts to get the purist pundits ticking is in the department of aerodynamics. Downforce on the new car is up 50 per cent from the previous-gen GT4. Let that sink in. View the car from any angle and you’ll immediately observe a design more characterized by the function and flow of air. The front splitter is wider and designed to channel air more fluidly underneath the car to reduce lift at the front and around the flanks into the side ducts. A big design change that’s hard to mistake are the separated tailpipes that jut out from the large diffuser, itself responsible for 30 per cent of the downforce on the rear axle. That other 20 per cent (122kgs at 200kph) is attributed to a reworked rear wing. That’s in the default setting, but another 26kgs of downforce can be gleaned from it with some manual fettling.

So what else is new on the GT4? For me, it’s the biggest headline. “GT4 gets the underpinnings of GT3.” Gasp! The new GT4 is heavily influenced by the GT3 in front and rear axle kit. The suspension is 30mm lower and the subframes, control arms, upside-down shock absorbers are all lifted from the don 911, all underthe management ofrevised torque vectoring and stability management software.

The wheels are newly designed, as are the GT4- specific high performance, 20” tyres either Dunlop Maxx Sport 2s or Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2. The sports exhaust has been revised as has the braking system. Porsche has even improved the leniency of the traction control and the ABS braking system forimproved performance on high speed, banked oval circuits. I can’t pick out just one feature about the new GT4 that stands out from the rest. Instead every new detail, every new engineering idea seems to add up to so much more than just one part, no matter how special. And the results are staggering.

Some fast facts: Around the infamous Nordschleife, the new GT4 runs 12 seconds fasterthan the carreleased just four years ago. Porsche is adamant that the increase in power would only have been sufficient for about 3 seconds fasterthan the first GT4, further proof of the sum of its parts making the difference. The GT4 has been designed and engineered by numbers and spreadsheets and science, all very Germanic and calculated. And it absolutely is. I know – I spent a few days with the team that put it all together. It’s definitely been built to a budget, designed as an entry-level GT player and therefore, the price and the cost must tick the same box but let me tell you from thirty-two laps around the Knock Hill circuit in Scotland – there is nothing more emotionally satisfying than driving a Porsche GT-bred car around an equally satisfying racetrack. They’ve got the science just right.

Sources:

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/porsche/718-cayman-gt4

https://www.topgear.com/

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