@expressmotoring Superfast GT4’s a racing cert

THE last Porsche Cayman GT4 was such a sensational car that there were almost fights in showrooms over them. Porsche produced the car in limited numbers and there was a lot of argy-bargy about who was on the list to get one, with all sorts of rumours floating around the internet about preferential treatment and skulduggery.

The good news is that Porsche says that it will continue to build this new Cayman 718 GT4 until at least 2022 or until demand has been met.

That’s exceptionally good news, except that I’ll need more than three years to save up the £75,348 Porsche wants for the car.

This new Cayman GT4’s engine is a total contrast to the fourcylinder engine in the standard Cayman 718, which sounds like an old Beetle engine.

It is naturally aspirated, displaces 4.0 litres and produces 414bhp.That’s 200cc bigger with

34bhp more power than the previous GT4’s engine.

It revs to 8,000rpm but doesn’t sound quite as sexy as the old engine because there’s not quite the same induction roar.

It still sounds pretty amazing though. It also has a clever trick of being able to shut down half its cylinders when the engine is turning under 3,000rpm to save fuel and reduce emissions.

An entire bank of three is shut down but after a few seconds it shuts down the opposite bank so that the catalytic converter is kept hot. Genius, and you can’t even feel or hear it happening.

If you still like changing gear you’ll love the fact that the GT4 only comes with a six-speed manual gearbox.

It’s lovely to use and the brake and throttle pedals are perfectly placed for a bit of heel and toeing. This is when you blip the throttle as you’re changing down a gear so that the revs are matched to the next gear.

On the road, it’s for showing off, but on a race track it stops you spinning the car going into