This will be quick I promise.

Now, I know that we reviewed this car last year. Hell, it won 2024’s most chuckable car of the year. However, I’ve driven the same exact car again on the same track, but in damp conditions.

So, brief intro to what’s going on.

It’s a gutted and caged base 718 Porsche Cayman. It’s got pads that won’t melt and some Continentals that grip fine. It’s also a PDK car not a stick, oh well.

And I’m at Rudskogen Motorcenter in Norway, with loose instructions, free will, and a damp track.

Aight, now with that outta the way:

This car fucks.

This little car, even in base form, is one hell of a fun time. But of course it is, I’m on a damn race track, in a porsche. However, what I’m not after all that track time, is completely destroyed.

Unlike the z28 I’ve tracked before (and eventually i will get to writing about that), this little Porsche isn’t a battle of wills. I’m not on the ragged edge of control, reigning in 700 hp and 3800 lb of uncannily well cornering and communicative American might. The car doesn’t beat me into submission before allowing me to exploit its performance. And it certainly doesn’t punish you for trying to see where the car’s limits live.

While the z28 is a phenomenal track car, this thing weighs 800 lb less. It’s an eager, responsive little car that will take as much abuse as you can give it. And it not only takes it, but the Cayman won’t kill you when your driving style becomes “experimental” at the limit.

The baby Porsche is a very confidence inspiring car that allows you to build trust quickly. And a good chunk of that is its relative lightness (and balance). The nose can be guided around like a precision munition into your ass. You also feel the lack of mass compared to other cars as it grips and dances around track. The chassis is stiff, with just enough body motion to let you feel how the car moves.

It’s a great learning tool as well. It’s idiot proofed, with the electronic hand of god holding on to your diapered ass incase you cock it up. And yet, even if you do, it’s not hopeless like some older machinery… or like a Formula 4. Get liftoff oversteer? It’s fairly easy to fix your mistake.

And the brakes, good lord you could just keep digging and digging until you find where ABS lives. And then back off with still enough mental capacity to take notes for the next lap.

I really don’t know how many cars of the last few years can take that level of mechanical abuse consistently. A GT3? Sure but that’s expected. A Miata? Probably. An Elise Cup? Maybe? And like, you don’t need that Cayman to be gutted and caged. Just make sure you have belts, fine tires, pads, and fluids that won’t boil and viola, track car.

That little base Porsche DOES NOT CARE what you throw at it. It ate the damp tarmac just as greedily as it did the hot ass summer conditions from last year. And it will continue to do so, long after the Cayman goes out of production. This car had a safe word in theory. But it’s never been said before, and only the lord knows the things you two have done.

You want the best track car for a budget higher than a Miata and clapped BMW but lower than a 911 T? Go buy a 718 Cayman. Or the generation prior if you want to hear an na flat 6 instead of a turbo flat 4, just know you’ll give up midrange. Doesn’t even have to be a stick, you’ll be engaged enough flinging this thing through a corner like a lunatic to truly car about shifting.

Now, if you excuse me, I have some classifieds to browse. That Elise Cup 260 and Alpine A110 GT that exist in my search history are about to have a new friend.