1.16 miles of Goodwood’s driveway lies ahead, but what’s far more important, here in the new Porsche 718 Cayman GT4, is what sits right behind the driver and passenger.
It’s a new 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six seen here for the very first time in the very hottest version of the 718 Cayman, developing 414bhp and 420Nm of torque. Porsche claims 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds and a top speed of 189mph, but arguably of more importance to enthusiasts, drive is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox and a redline that creeps up to 8,000rpm.
We’ll have to wait a little longer for our first taste from behind the wheel, but from the passenger seat, a blast up the hillclimb course at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed does more than to hint that this is a Porsche enthusiasts will love.
First things first - the engine. Yes, it revs freely and it sings right up to that 8,000rpm with minimal fuss, but it’s no doubt something best savoured from the driver’s seat. With the exhaust valves closed it’s actually surprisingly quiet in the cabin (you’ll notice transmission whine more than anything), and even at full chat with the sports exhaust activated the noise isn’t breaking through into the interior with quite the force you’d expect from a naturally aspirated six-cylinder. Is Porsche keeping the ultimate performance and potency of this engine under tabs for now? Most likely.
That said, at speed on this famous driveway, this new Cayman GT4 feels like a car perfect for the task in hand. The undulations and narrow nature of the Goodwood sprint don’t phase it at all, and even from the wrong side of the car you can sense this is something innately controllable and superbly balanced, barely squirming out of shape under hard braking on the less than ideal surface. We’ll get our first proper taste very soon.
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