Porsche Needs 100 Buyers To Make The Cayman GT4 Rally Car Happen

Okay, so who's in?

Last August we learned of the existence of Porsche’s Cayman GT4 rally car, based on the outgoing 718 Cayman GT4. It looked incredible. Unfortunately, we couldn’t confirm whether or not it was slated for production, even in limited numbers.

Fortunately, Top Gear received an answer from Porsche’s motorsport chief Frank-Steffen Walliser. “We had drivers, teams, fans, everybody excited (about the GT4 rally car)”, he said. “Even the WRC’s top five drivers all wanted to drive it. It’s pure rear-wheel drive and just the sound of the car as it comes through the woods, it’s really loud.” Walliser and his team even built a demonstration model to get “some experience, (and) how to set up and where to put a spare wheel. What to do with tires, everything.” So, why not build it?

Well, Porsche wants to, though under one condition: “We need to sell 100 to get the green light,” Walliser said. The prototype built has, more or less, resolved all outstanding mechanical and technical questions, thus making a production version good to go. But this business, and any business has to make money. Porsche’s bean counters have done the math and concluded the minimum number of buyers required. So, any takers out there?

If you need any additional convincing, Walliser also told Top Gear why the Cayman was chosen to be transformed into a rally car. In short, its size. “Just by the width of the car, the Cayman helps because it fits exactly the WRC track.”

Furthermore, it sounds like there's a solid chance the GT4 will race, assuming it’s built. “We are in conversations with the FIA about the RGT category. I expect if we enter a category, others will follow.” To be clear, Porsche has no intention of running its own rally team. A Dakar rally return is also ruled out. The Cayman GT4 rally car would be solely for private teams.

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Here's Everything You Need To Know About The Grueling Group B Rally

Get the lowdown on one of the most dangerous racing series ever.

Donut Media has done it again with another edition of its excellent “Everything you need to know | Up to Speed” series providing comprehensive histories for car enthusiasts, this time looking back at the most infamous period of the World Rally Championship: the grueling Group B era. One of the most dangerous racing series ever devised, it spawned by far the most powerful rally cars the sport had ever seen, which also led to legendary homologation road car variants like the Ford RS200 and Audi Quattro S1.

These cars were so overpowered that frequent fatalities led to the series being scrapped in the late 1980s four years after it started. As Donut Media explains, Group B started in 1982 as a class where there were practically no car regulations. Group A, by comparison, had a lot of restrictions from the power, weight and cost.

Homologation requirements meant that 5,000 models also had to be mass produced with four seats. In contrast, Group B only required 200 production models, two seats and no restrictions on boost. This of course increased the danger – watch some archive footage and prepare to gasp in awe as these fearless drivers tear through narrow sections of dirt, asphalt and snow while narrowly avoiding unprotected spectators. Sadly, Group B was shortlived and was cancelled in 1986 after fatal crashes forced it to end. As the cars became more powerful and the drivers more daring, a catastrophe was inevitable.

In 1986, driver Joaquim Santos ploughed into a group of spectators in his Ford RS200 during the Portugeese rally while trying to avoid a small group of fans on the road. 31 people were injured and three were killed in the crash. Shortly after, driver Henri Toivonen's Lancia Delta S4 flew off the side of the road during the Tour de Corse rally and burst into flames, killing both him and his co-driver. Group B cars were outright banned in 1987, and rallying was never the same again.