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Porsche brings press to try out Cayman S
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Reviewers convene at Barber Motorsports Park
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<div class="byln">Thursday, December 01, 2005
<div>RUSSELL HUBBARD</div>
News staff writer
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<p class="fstory">Porsche is back in town, again using Barber Motorsports Park to introduce a hot new model to automotive trade and hobby publications.
<p class="fstory">About a dozen car reviewers for publications such as Road and Track Magazine were at the track Wednesday. The object of their attention: the spanking new Porsche Cayman S. There are only about 270 in the United States and Canada.
<p class="fstory">German carmaker Porsche chose the Barber complex off Interstate 20 in east Birmingham to let seasoned auto reviewers test the new sportster on the winding race track that regularly hosts car and motorcycle races. The track has become a fixture on the worldwide auto scene since it opened to in 2003.
<p class="fstory">The Barber complex hosted a similar press event in 2003 for the introduction of the Porsche Cayenne sport utility vehicle. It is the permanent home of Porsche's high-end instructional school for weekend racers, which attracted 2,000 students this year.
<p class="fstory">The Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau this week pegged the 2005 economic impact of the track and museum at $65.6 million. And it is coveted by Porsche for events such as Wednesday's, which the carmaker takes very seriously.
<p class="fstory">'Events like this form the first impressions of the world automotive press,' said Gary Fong, Porsche's North American spokesman. 'People are looking for objective views of new cars, so this is a very important venue for us.'
<p class="fstory">There were about a dozen reviewers at the track on Wednesday - broadcast crews, trade magazine writers, notable freelancers and staffers for Porsche Panorama, a magazine that's published by a group of aficionados and devoted exclusively to the German brand.
<p class="fstory">They got a lot of technical talk of interest to car fanatics, and up-close interviews with Germany-based engineers who designed the new Cayman. But the big draw was driving the speedy two-seater.
<p class="fstory">Porsche driving school instructors based at the track each took a Cayman S and paired off with a reviewer to guide the visitors through the course before letting them have a go at the wheel. Instructors included racing legends such as Hurley Haywood, Dave Murry, Chip Robinson and Doc Bundy.
<p class="fstory">Some of the writers are skilled drivers. They enjoyed pushing the car hard on the 2.4-mile track built for $60 million by Birmingham dairy and real estate mogul George Barber.
<p class="fstory">'This is one of the best tracks, and I have been to a lot of them,' said Benoit Charette, a freelancer who writes for Montreal's La Presse and co-authors an annual auto guide published in Canada. 'It's more than a track, with the sculptures and the museum. It's top-notch.'
<p class="fstory">The Cayman S has a top speed of 171 mph and goes from zero to 60 mph in 5.1 seconds. It has a 3.4-liter engine that's situated behind the two seats but in front of the luggage area. That 'middle engine' design gives a sports car tremendous stability and agility.
<p class="fstory">Expert racers such as Robinson - a winner at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance bout - were able to jet the visitors around the course at speeds approaching 70 miles an hour in some of the curves, and over 100 miles an hour in the straight patches.
<p class="fstory">'It should be smooth,' he instructed as the car roared around the track. 'You are always looking up, keeping your head up, looking through the turn.'
<p class="fstory">The visiting reviewers also took a crack at a short course set up in a parking area with pylons. There, Porsche instructor Christian Coggins was able to get the Cayman S and a passenger to about 60 mph in just a few dozen yards before braking hard, gently sliding the back end into turns, and accelerating again.
<p class="fstory">These events are serious business for Porsche, complete with overnight lodging for reviewers at the Ross Bridge Resort in Hoover, catered lunch at the track and face time with insiders such as Cayman design team leader Matthias Kulla. He was one of three top Porsche factory supremos who made the trip from Germany. The others were Jan Roth, the leader of the Cayman project, and Juergen Kapfer, who oversaw the power train development.
<p class="fstory">Reviews written from information gleaned Wednesday will soon begin appearing in major auto magazines. The car goes on sale in January and starts at about $58,000. Each of Porsche's 210 North American dealers has an advance model to show off. They are the only ones in the U.S. or Canada, other than the couple of dozen the public relations unit has for temporary loan to lucky and influential reviewers.
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Looks like Mr Juergen Kapfer is the person to ask about the 'missing' 30HP ;-) Thanks for posting the information - joking aside, it is nice to see names of people associated with the project. I hope some good interviews come out of the testing session, giving us more inside on how the car was developed.
My understanding is that it is the people in the marketing department that need to answer for the missing 35 bhp. The engineers could tell us how to get it back.
In some ways this pisses me off because I was supposed to be invited to this event and no invite showed up, I thought the event had been delayed but evidently not. Looks like a call to Porsche is in order... ugh...
I think the loss is for all of us - with K-Man S being there we ALL would have learned a lot of good info - chances like this don't come around often :-( I hope you are able to get to the bottom of this - lets just hope it is not as simple as the postal system loosing the invite.
K-Man, wow,how would you get invited to such an event?
K-man,
Sorry you did not get the invitation to attend. When you make the phone call to Porsche find out when they are going to release the cars they have on US soil for sale. My dealer has informed me my ordered car is in port but has no idea when it will be released. But what the hey they still don't have their showroom model yet either.
rick
