Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport paves the way for flat-six road car

The new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport is the latest factory-production track-ready fun machine from Stuttgart. But it’s what’s behind the driver and powering this closed-course race car that has us more than a little hyped for the GT4 road version to come. It’s a natural-breathing flat-six, and—sweet combustion!—does it ever sound lovely.

The GT4 Clubsport model makes 40 more horsepower than the outgoing race car version of the Cayman, courtesy of a 3.8-liter flat-six engine with 425 hp. Porsche is clear that aside from the essential race car bits like the race steering wheel, stripped-out interior, and lightweight aerodynamic body kit (now made with natural-fiber materials like hemp and flax), this is more or less going to be the standard GT4 for the road. That means no turbo-four from the lesser Cayman GTS, Cayman S, and standard Cayman.

The new Clubsport now comes in two versions, Trackday and Competition, with the former employing fixed suspension tuning and brake bias so amateurs don’t make the mistake of tinkering and fouling something up.

The Clubsport sold 421 units in its prior iteration. While that doesn’t seem like a big number, it’s more than sizable for a non-road-legal race car. The aero kit, stripped and caged interior, and suspension pilfered from the 911 GT3 position this new Clubsport to be highly capable, and no doubt lessons learned from the project will result in an even better Cayman GT4 road car than before. The last one was pretty sensational, so we have high hopes.