Flirting with beauty

The Porsche Cayman GT4 is a super GT, 2-door coupe with Porsche’s distinct styling and mid-engine layout.  The GT4 boasts a minimum of 385 horsepower in a 3.8 liter 6-cylinder engine with a reported torque of 309 pounds per foot.  With the standard 20-inch alloy wheels, so wide that they practically fill out the wheel arches, the car grips the road with a stickiness that screams speed when you need it.  The presence of street-legal amenities such as headlights and breaklights fails to belie its racetrack ready form.  Like any good racecar, the spoiler in this car actually does its job by producing a “noticeable amount of downforce at the rear axle” keeping all 4 to the floor when cruising at the top track speed of 183mph.  And, as a street machine this thing is quick; the 0-60 times in at 4.2 seconds in an explosion of power.  That’s faster than the popular 2016 Masarati Ghibli (6.1 seconds) and the 2016 Jaguar F-type S Coupe (4.9 seconds).

Summary: this thing is pretty and it flies.  

So, imagine my surprise when, leaving Scotch Plains this morning, sitting next to me at the light on Bonnie Burn Road, was a Titanium White Porsche Cayman GT4, with candy-apple red brake calipers showing through the wheels, revving its engine and then flying off the line at the green, taking in the S-curves on that road as if it was on rails.  I quickly lost sight of it when it “drifted” up and around the corner, daydreaming about being able to talk to the owner. 

Porsches aren’t rare in NJ.  However, thanks to past years of Top Gear, I actually knew what I was looking at, was able to estimate what was under the hood of the $85,000 car, and drool accordingly.  I’m not much of a gear-head, but that show in its prime, with its excellent mix of personality and information about gas-guzzling supercars, I now know just enough about those high-end vehicles to be envious and understand about their potential performance characteristics.  Now, the hosts of the show (one in particular) was sacked after he verbally and physically assaulted a producer on the BBC show.  Amazon then scooped Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Hammond and Mr. May who have an incredible on-screen chemistry, to host a new show about driving…exclusively to be shown on Amazon Prime TV called “The Grand Tour.”  I anticipate that when it debuts later this year (in the fall according to Wikipedia), I will be watching so that I can learn more about things that I can’t afford: Ferrari’s LaFerrari, the Bugatti Chiron and the brand new 2017 Lamborghini Centenario.    

Until then, I’ll continue to daydream about being able to drive the GT4 around the neighborhood.  Glad I saw it as I thought I wouldn’t be seeing it again for some time.  Wasn’t even able to get a picture as our meeting was so brief.  Imagine my surprise when, 20 minutes later, I saw it again!  On, Route 78, pulled over to the side of the road by NJ’s State Troopers…who, I imagine, just wanted to get a closer look at it themselves, and daydream a little too.