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Le Mans '09


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Unexpected things happen in racing. A few years back, I was amazed to see a Cadillac CTS-V dicing with a Porsche 911 and beating it on an American road course.

Say it's not so! Oh, the inhumanity!

Must of been a poor driver or the Porsche had mechanical troubles.

I'm a former Porsche owner and am a bit biased.

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All three Cadillacs in that race did well against a number of Porsches, so it was no fluke. The Cadillacs were a factory team.

Here you can see the Cadillacs leading the field at Mid-Ohio, hotly pursued by Vipers and Porsches:
http://www.webridestv.com/photos/cadillac-cts-v-racing--mid-ohio-118691/27

Cadillac beating Porsche at Laguna Seca:
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/23/cadillac-cts-v-race-car-goes-out-on-top/

Of course, these were racing cars, with 500hp 5.7L engines and weighed less than 2900 lbs.
Specs here: http://www.supercars.net/cars/2726.html

I'd assume the Porsches were just as modified to make them race-ready.

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Glad to see Peugeot win. I love those diesel 908's. Quite frankly, for a long time I've felt the Peugeot are superior to the Audi. But they seem to have a vision problem or something, especially at night. I've watched them burn up the track in races like Sebring only to start loosing ground as night falls. Just a "thought" but maybe they've corrected whatever has been holding them back.

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That just doesn't see right, nor possible.


What, Peugeot winning, or Cadillac winning? Didn't see the Peugeots, but as for the Cadillacs, I would have doubted it myself, if I hadn't seen one of the races live on Speed Channel. Keep in mind, all the cars in those events are really far from being showroom stock.
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Caddys as well as Pontiacs whip up on Porsches on a regular basis depending on which series you are talking, There are prep I and prep II Porsche 911s running in ALMS , the Rolex series, the Koni challange just to name a few. One of the prep designations-forgot which one- designates a fully factory race prepped track ready car. The other perp designation are basicaly modified GT2s or GT3s that are pretty close to what you can buy in a street legal car. Much closer than the Caddys and Pontiacs. Porsche has a ton of irons in the fire racing wise and at times it appears that they are trying to do too many different things. They put a ton of cash into the LPM Spyder II cars that embarassed the might Audi R8 in the ALMS series the first year. GM has some very well focused factory backed/prepped cars in these series and typically they fare very well. Some of the tire regulations where Perelli tires were mandated heavily favored the GM products as the 911 typically do not like Perelli in race enviornments- they work much better on Michelins. IMHO Porsche really needs to rethink the 911 platform for competition purposes and go to a mid engine design.The mid engine Cayman has shown up on the podium in some very unlikely races in Europe. Porsche actually bought some of the teams to disband them to protect the 911 from the competition.

So- sad but true- you did see the Cadddys beating the Porsche. I drive a highly modified Cayman S as a daily driver so I particulary don't like admitting it.

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So- sad but true- you did see the Cadddys beating the Porsche. I drive a highly modified Cayman S as a daily driver so I particulary don't like admitting it.


I read that the Cayman is the more advanced car, but Porsche puts the more powerful engine in the 911 so it can maintain its flagship status. If I was in the market for a Porsche, the Cayman S would be my first choice.

How do you like your Cayman S?
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you are correct

Mine is modified with a boral exhaust system and some software remapping which gets the HP up around the 350 mark. In stock for for they keep the cayman S down to around 320. The 911s start about 80k and go up to the stratosphere.

Do not test drive a Cayman S if you do not intend to buy one. It is a diffficult expierence to get out of your system. I went out to trade my 540i for a 335i coupe- got baited and switched by the dealer- no 335i was available for sale- tried to get me to buy a sedan once they got me to come to the lot. I got mad and test drove the Cayman S next door, Hopelessly screwed. Bought one the next Saturday at another dealer in Va. 25K miles and very happy.

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