[QUOTE=mdok;822870] Automotive engineering doesn't just stop.[/QUOTE]
It does for money.
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[QUOTE=mdok;822870] Automotive engineering doesn't just stop.[/QUOTE]
It does for money.
Indeed it can, briefly. Maybe Porsche needs to have two arms, retro and current.
[QUOTE=mdok;822870]I'm sure I'll enrage the extreme-rear-engined brigade here, but I cannot understand why Porsche cannot convince their core buyer group to just let them get on with making a really good mid-engined car, that is in the 911family cost ranges. The Cayman is a great platform, and with equal gear on/in it, will outperform a rear engined car every bloody time.
Let's have a Cayman GT2, or at least a Cayman GT3.
Porsche themselves knew many, many years ago that midengined yielded the highest ultimate limits. They are conversant with low polar moment design. Why have the flagship remain sterndrive after all these years? Yeah, they are wonderful up to a point, but a pendulum is a pendulum. Midengine rotates much more rapidly, and recovers much more readily when overdriven. We don't see too many hung-out-the-rear-engined cars in F1 or Lemans prototypes, do we?
I recognise the 911 family is a phenomenally, and relentlessly, developed motorcar. It has perhaps the most unique feel of any chassis there is. But in the end, it is let down by its engine placement. It does provide Porsche with a substantial, and very reliable, clientbase forever. But, that clientbase prevents Porsche from letting us have what they are really capable of producing.
Long live the 911 family, but let's move on! Automotive engineering doesn't just stop.[/QUOTE]
Believe me, I've thought about sticking the engine from the 911 GT3 into the Cayman. Don't think I don't dream about that. the 911 is their halo car. They can't have the crap beaten out of it by its little brother. :D But, you do have a point, taken from an engineering standpoint, as Clarkson put it, the Cayman sucks because they held it back. It has so much potential. Imagine a GT2 version? That might equal or destroy the Carrera GT in terms of raw performance. Oh well, if you have the money, I'm sure RUF will gladly do the conversion for you.
[QUOTE=mdok;822880]Indeed it can, briefly. Maybe Porsche needs to have two arms, retro and current.[/QUOTE]
I don't see a more retro company than Porsche actually. However, they did kinda break that record by introducing the Cayenne. :rolleyes:
i think there is no reason to not develop the cayman alongside the 911... carrera's will always win for practicality anyway, and besides, real men buy rear engined :D