I found an interesting website,
Cars Cars Cars
, and in one section they provide a formula to make rough horsepower calculations based on a car's weight and 0-60 mph time. To estimate horsepower, you divide the car's weight in kilos by 0.9, and then divide that result by the car's 0-60 time, or, stated otherwise: horsepower = (weight/0.9)/0-60 time. I played around with some Cayman specs and the formula seems to be fairly accurate. For example, if you take the Cayman S weight to be 1363 kilos (3000 lbs.) and use Porsche's claim of 0-60 in 5.1 seconds, the result is 296 horsepower. Porsche reports CS horsepower to be 295. Pretty close. Now, if you use a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds, which is what is repored by Road & Track and others, with the same weight, you get 315 horsepower! Very interesting. Perhaps this figure is not that far off? Remember that the BMW Z4 should make mince meat out of the CS if you compare horsepower and torque figures, but in reality they are evenly matched. In some road tests, our little CS is slightly quicker. Could a stock CS motor be producing 315 horsepower?
Yes, stock Cayman S motors are producing more than 295HP, that's been shown by independent dynos of stock cars, also the reported 295 number is at around 6200 rpm, but the Cayman S makes power up to almost 7K, I think my peak initially was 6950, so yes the Caymsn S motors make more than 295 "marketing" HP.
I have always thought that Porsche engines are a bit underrated, but for some reason the BMW motor in the E46 M3/present M coupe is overrated. Most acceleration numbers seem to show this also. I think the CS engine is putting out about 305-310HP while the BMW motor is a bit short of its stated numbers. The way in which the engine delivers its power will also have an effect.
Yes, I know that the CS motor's power is under rated by the factory, but I didn't think Porsche would underrate it that much! It is to say the least thrilling to think my pride and joy could be pulling 315 horses.
