Automotive

Porsche goes rallying with wicked Cayman GT4 Clubsport concept

Porsche goes rallying with wicked Cayman GT4 Clubsport concept
Porsche will use this Rally concept as the course car for the upcoming ADAC Rallye Deutschland
Porsche will use this Rally concept as the course car for the upcoming ADAC Rallye Deutschland
View 8 Images
Porsche's Cayman GT4 Clubsport rally concept
1/8
Porsche's Cayman GT4 Clubsport rally concept
A light rack like that on a Cayman GT4: super cool
2/8
A light rack like that on a Cayman GT4: super cool
Underbody protection for off-road racing
3/8
Underbody protection for off-road racing
Porsche will use this Rally concept as the course car for the upcoming ADAC Rallye Deutschland
4/8
Porsche will use this Rally concept as the course car for the upcoming ADAC Rallye Deutschland
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport: designed for racing
5/8
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport: designed for racing
The Clubsport's cockpit is already a spartan affair
6/8
The Clubsport's cockpit is already a spartan affair
Foam impact protection in the doors
7/8
Foam impact protection in the doors
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport getting a touch sideways
8/8
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport getting a touch sideways
View gallery - 8 images

Porsche has rolled out a very interesting course car for the upcoming ADAC Rallye Deutschland – a rallified version of its Cayman GT4 Clubsport, complete with whopping great rally lights and underbody protection. If the interest is there, Porsche might even start selling the thing.

For the moment, this should be treated as a concept car, but it's a concept car that's slated to run the ADAC rally ahead of the field as a course car, with Frenchman Romain Dumas, recent Pikes Peak record annihilator, at the wheel.

It runs the Clubsport's standard 385-horsepower, 3.8-liter flat six, with a six-speed PDK dual clutch transmission. As well as the giant light pod on the hood, it's got full metal underbody protection, and WRC-spec impact-absorbing foam in the doors.

Underbody protection for off-road racing
Underbody protection for off-road racing

As the Clubsport edition, it's already race-ready within, with a full roll cage and a totally stripped-back cockpit full of rude but lightweight switches and knobs. A luxury car it ain't, this is pure function and speed.

Porsche's Vice President of Motorsport and GT Cars, Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, said this rally beast may make it to production. "We're looking forward to seeing how the rally world responds to our FIA R-GT concept study,! he said. "I would like to invite every interested driver and team principal to visit the service park and take a close look at our rally concept car. Based on the feedback and the interest from potential customers, we will then decide by the end of the year whether we'll develop in the mid-term a competition car for near-standard rallying based on a future Porsche model."

The Cayman GT4 Clubsport getting a touch sideways
The Cayman GT4 Clubsport getting a touch sideways

We're in, but not because we've got the time or skills to go rally racing. We just love the juxtaposition of those Mad Max lights on such a classy supercar, it tickles us right in the gasoline department.

Source: Porsche

View gallery - 8 images
1 comment
1 comment
EH
Ugly and impractical. The lights could have been low-profile using light-pipes, but as they are they will cause lift at high speeds on the front end, making steering dicy at over ~80mph or so. The 1st generation Miata with the flip-up headlights had the same problem, but at least they looked cool.