The weekend was action packed with ALMS and also WEC being at Circuit of the Americas, but this also limited the teams time on track. The 35, 36 and 37 TPC Racing / Porsche of Towson GT3 Cup cars had two test sessions and two practice sessions before qualifying. During the practice sessions, the team worked hard on chassis setup to prepare strong cars for qualifying. Once it came time to qualify though, there was a short downpour as the cars were on grid. IMSA did not call the qualifying session to be a wet session though since the sky was clearing up but the track surface was wet, so the team could not put rain tires on. With this happening, qualifying was cancelled and the cars would grid based off of combined practice times.

For race one of the weekend, the skies opened up once again and the team would go out on rain tires. During the race, it was raining the entire time which made for an interesting race. Ben Keating would start further back in the field due to not having a qualifying session, starting nineteenth on the grid in the 35 Porsche of Towson GT3 Cup. Michael Levitas started second in the Gold Class in his 36 Porsche of Towson GT3 Cup with teammate David Williams starting in third in his 37 Merkle / Porsche of Towson entry.

At the start of the race, Ben Keating made up three positions in turn one and had a fantastic start to the race. Levitas in the 36 Porsche of Towson entry was fighting with Platinum traffic to catch the Gold leader and Williams was holding a consistent pace to keep up with Levitas. During the race, there were many caution periods which made for only five laps of green flag racing. This did not give the team enough time to fight for higher positions on track, but Levitas and Williams who have proven to be a dynamic duo finished second and third in Gold.

Race two of the weekend was a great race with a dry track. Michael Levitas and David Williams went out on track with one goal in mind which was to survive the race to secure the championship. Levitas started the race in second once again and David Williams started in fourth. At the drop of the green flag, David Williams had a great run in the 37 Merkle / Porsche of Towson GT3 Cup and made a great pass for third. From there, the race would not see a caution period and the 36 and 37 TPC Racing / Porsche of Towson / Merkle GT3 Cup cars would finish second and third, but more importantly secure the team and drivers championship.

With the strong finishing position by both Michael Levitas and David Williams, this allowed Michael Levitas to secure the Drivers Championship, David Williams secured second place in the Drivers Championship and the TPC Racing / Porsche of Towson / Merkle team secured the Team Championship.

“Racing at Circuit of the Americas in my Porsche of Towson GT3 Cup car was fantastic,” stated Michael Levitas. “It is a great track and I hope to race here again. We had one goal in mind this weekend and it was to keep the cars in one piece and secure the championship. We accomplished that and it could not have been done without the hard work from our amazing TPC Racing team and the great support from Porsche of Towson. The team has worked so hard this season and we have always brought fantastic cars to the field. It is great winning the team and drivers championship and also to have my teammate David Williams finish second.”

“COTA is one of the greatest sports car racing facilities in North America and it was fantastic to have the opportunity to race there,” stated David Williams. “Getting 3rd place in both the rain and the dry made for a fantastic weekend! Being my first year in the IMSA GT3 Challenge series I didn’t really know what to expect. The level of completion was fantastic and the Porsche Cup car is truly something special to drive. Getting second place in the Gold Championship was very rewarding. I couldn’t have done it without the support of my teammate Michael Levitas and the entire TPC Racing team. Can’t wait for next year!”

With the championship secured, the team goes to Road Atlanta next for the season finale.

About TPC Racing:

TPC Racing is the Mid-Atlantic’s premier maintenance, service, tuning and modification center dedicated solely to Porsche sports cars. This long time focus on only one make, Porsche, has enabled us to become experts in Porsche service, tuning and racing.

TPC Racing has its roots in the IMSA Supercar Series of the late 1980’s and early 1990s, as well in the Grand Am Rolex Series with over 28 race wins and 40 podium finishes. In 2004, the team won the team and drivers championship in the SGS class. In 2006, TPC Racing won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT Class.

By combining a lifetime of automotive enthusiasm, business experience and technical skill with advanced aeronautical training and certifications, Levitas has managed to extend the engineering of some for the most advanced and well-regarded machines in existence – Porsche race cars.

About Porsche of Towson

Porsche of Towson is Baltimore’s only exclusive Porsche center. That means that our Porsche staff is 100% dedicated to the Porsche brand and nothing else. They will be able to assist you with all of your Porsche needs. On behalf of the entire Priority 1 Automotive Group family of dealerships, welcome to Porsche of Towson. We look forward to meeting all of your Porsche needs.

Porsche of Towson is a part of the Priority 1 Automotive Group which is a family owned and operated group of dealerships. As a family dealership, the family’s reputation in the community is of the utmost importance. Therefore, there is a tremendous focus on providing exceptional customer service. With a brand new state-of-the-art Porsche dealership (completed in 2010), the most elite and experienced group of client advisors for sales and service, and a highly trained team of service and support personnel, your sales and service experience is assured of being second to none. Our clients appreciate the way we do business. We know you will too!

About Merkle

Merkle is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency. For more than 20 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. Employing data-driven strategies, Merkle combines a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines to offer complete integrated customer marketing solutions. With a strategically led, consultative approach, we work closely with clients to design, execute and continuously evaluate CRM programs throughout the buying cycle, across channels and media.

About CrunchDaddy Popcorn

CrunchDaddy Popcorn makes “Popcorn Unusual!™”, an array of sweet and savory inventions that take the sophisticated snacker beyond the common recipes for caramel, kettle and cheese popcorn. All CrunchDaddy Popcorn flavors are available on-line through their website, www.crunchdaddy.com

It has been a busy year for David and, wife, Sayuri G. After having their TPC Racing Cayman S Turbo featured on the automotive news website, Autoblog(Quick Spin: TPCRacing Cayman S Turbo picks up where Porsche left off), they share this very capable car to each dominate their respective classes in the PCA Golden Gate Region’s annual autocross series.

Sayuri, an autocross regular, is no slouch behind the wheel of her TPC Racing Cayman S Turbo.

Equipped with the TPC Racing Turbo Kit and the TPC Racing Stage 4 suspension system, their Cayman S Turbo ran flawlessly all season and consistantly outperforming the competition, often winning by 2+ seconds! The competition includes GT3s, TTs, and many other modified Porsches with experienced racers behind the wheels. David and Sayuri drove supremely well all season, each wining the regional championship for their class!

During the off season, David and Sayuri will be brainstorming on making their Cayman S Turbo even more stellar, so that next season, they will be ready for even faster competition.

The UK’s premier Porsche specialists, PARR, have been featured in 911&Porsche World Magazine with their client’s modified Boxster S. The center piece modification on this car is the addition of a TPC Racing Boxster Turbo Kit. Producing over 100whp, over stock, this Boxster is ready to move!

CLICK HERE to read the entire article from the September 2010 issue of 911&Porsche World Magazine.

CLICK HERE for more information about the TPC Racing 987 Cayman/Boxster Turbo Kit.

OR

CLICK HERE to learn more about the TPC Racing 986 Boxster Turbo Kit.

When Porsche introduced the Cayman in 2006, one thing was abundantly clear: Porsche had muzzled its midship coupe to prevent cannibalizing 911 sales. Despite a more favorable weight distribution and an unflappable chassis, the Cayman lacked the power to exploit its excellent underpinnings, even in “S” guise. So like its Boxster sibling, the Cayman was destined to play second fiddle to Porsche’s iconic rear-engine flagship. From a business perspective, Porsche’s decision made sense. For enthusiasts, it was yet another bitter pill from Zuffenhausen.

When the Cayman underwent a refresh, there was always hope that a turbocharged variant would be included in the line-up. Predictably, that never happened. So the Cayman continued to stand on the lower/middle rung of the Porsche ladder, offering less power and a lower price than the 911. The Cayman could dance. It just needed an extra bit of oomph.

That’s where Mike Levitas comes in. Mike is the brains behind TPCRacing of Jessup, MD. Born of a family of automotive tinkerers, Mike spent most of his formative years learning about turbos and turning that knowledge to race cars – fast, reliable race cars that won championships. Like most other Porsche enthusiasts, Mike thought the Cayman could use more power. Turbocharged power. But unlike most of the marque’s devotees, Mike made it happen.

Levitas began producing race cars back in the late Eightes, and over the course of the next decade and a half he managed the turbocharger programs for the Nissan 300ZX, Mazda RX7, Lotus Esprit and Consulier GTPs in the IMSA Supercar Series. Mike’s background and advanced aeronautical training eventually led him to build some of the best Porsche race cars around. Porsche Club racing, Motorola Cup action, and a brief dip into Mercedes sedans eventually led him to the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series.

In 2000, TPCRacing began racing under its own banner, racking up more than 20 class wins (including one at Daytona in 2006) and an unprecedented 1-2-3-4 sweep of the driver’s championship. The team was so dominant that the lead car during that championship season never missed a podium. With all of that race history as a test bed, TPC thought it was time to offer some of its accumulated wisdom to the masses.

TPCRacing is now known as one of the premier outlets for readying your Porsche for track duty. Turbochargers, suspension upgrades and computer reflashing are all available to professional and club racers. And for those who’d like a little more performance out of their daily drivers, TPCRacing has you covered in spades. While most of the company’s work is devoted to 911s, TPC thought the Cayman needed a little something extra as well. They picked up a Guards Red 2006 Porsche Cayman S a couple of years ago and went to work. The result is the TPCRacing Cayman S Turbo Kit. Producing around 485 horsepower, it’s packing more ponies than – until recently – nearly any vehicle in Porsche’s lineup, save the GT2. And that’s only with 5.5-pounds of boost. With such a low amount of pressure, the turbo kit puts barely any additional stress on the stock internals of the 3.4-liter flat-six.

TPCRacing sells its Cayman Turbo Kit (with intercooler) for a buck less than ten grand. It includes nearly everything needed for installation: a cat-back exhaust, turbocharger, liquid-to-air intercooler, new intake plenum, all brackets/plumbing/fitting/hardware/clamps, upgraded injectors and custom silicone piping. The ECU needs to be shipped to TPC for reprogramming, but anyone with a fair amount of mechanical aptitude can do the installation. The total tab for our tester was about $12,000 according to the owner. Of course, he also went nuts with suspension, brakes, wheels, tires and body mods that more than doubled that figure.

A few extra bits are recommended by TPC, although they’re not included in the kit. Pop for a set of GT3 spark plugs as well as the factory Porsche front-center radiator and associated ducting and brackets, and it will add around $750 to the tab. Tiptronic cars can skip that last item, as they’re already equipped with the front-center radiator. The downside for Tiptronic owners is that the installation requires modifications to the transmission mounting brackets as well as relocating the transmission oil cooler.

TPC is also working on a non-intercooled Turbo Kit that eliminates the need for the liquid-to-air intercooler as well as the front center radiator and all the additional plumbing and water pump. Boost levels are a bit lower, but so is the price – an estimated $7,490.

We got a chance to sample the full-on intercooled turbo kit and, needless to say, it’s like no Cayman we’ve met before. It’s a mid-engine Jekyll and Hyde. In normal commuter duty the TPC drives exactly like any other Cayman on the road. That’s to say it has near perfect handling, with some of the best brakes and most precise steering ever engineered into a road-going vehicle. But dip into that throttle a bit deeper and… whoosh! As if a giant hand dropped down from the sky and gave you a gentle shove, you’re hurtled along into extra-legal speeds in seconds.

There’s no drama, only a throatier roar from the exhaust that fades as the RPMs drop. Although not quite as transparent as the factory turbo setup in the 997 Turbo, it feels just as fast. The power is available at seemingly any RPM too. There’s a progressive feel rather than the expected lag and burst of traditional tuner turbos – further proof that Mike and his crew know more than a thing or two about balancing linear performance and potent thrust.

Our seat time was all too brief, but it was more than enlightening. Levitas is a manic bit of energy, equal parts mad scientist and grassroots racer. Two of his customers, David and Kevin, happened to be computer engineers and even they were hard pressed to keep up with Mike’s constant stream of technical babbling. The one thing they definitely picked up is Mike’s passion for his work and ability to build an impeccably well-thought out and professional turbo kit.

Our sentiments and disappointments were echoed by several of Mike’s customers. While most would prefer a factory Cayman Turbo, Porsche didn’t build one. That left the door wide open for tuners and TPC happily stepped in to fill the void. For around $12,000 over the price of a Cayman, customers can have a unique, track-friendly daily-driver that’s ready to trounce its rear-engine grandfather, while still costing less and retaining its reliability. That’s a 400-hp formula we can get behind. Now we just need to start trolling Craigslist for used Caymans…

Story and Photos by: Frank Filipponio

Get the full Autoblog story here.

Check out the TPCRacing Cayman Turbo Kit here.

The fastest car I have ever driven is, without a doubt, the Switzer P800 variant of Porsche’s 911 GT2, as reviewed here. The folks at TPC have a roughly similar tuning package that retains the Porsche variable-geometry turbochargers, claimed to produce 775 horsepower and rather amusingly called the “775 Blitzkrieg”. This past September, I had the opportunity to take a ride with TPC’s founder Mike Levitas in the prototype Blitzkrieg. It’s awfully quick, if perhaps not quite as violently impressive as Switzer’s car. However, since TPC was unwilling to let us drive the Blitzkrieg, and since TTAC is unwilling to follow the lead of EVO, Top Gear, and pretty much every other print rag in the free world by writing-up a ride-along as a road test, that’s where we have to let the matter rest. It seems like a good car and if you have money to burn, give TPC a call to find out for yourself.

Luckily for us, TPC customer Joseph Lakowicz was on hand and he positively insisted that I drive his Meteor Grey 997 TT Tiptronic, tuned by TPC to produce approximately six hundred horsepower. Faced with this opportunity to pedal yet another ten-second car on the public roads, I did what any of TTAC’s readers would have done: I took the TPC Tip TT (that’s a mouthful) to visit my childhood home in Columbia, Maryland. I expected that we might be challenged at stoplights by machinery as diverse as the Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX350, and that we would smoke those mothers. This expectation was not entirely fulfilled, as you will see.

It’s been a while since I lived in the little house on Tower Top Court in Columbia’s Long Reach Village. In fact, it’s been more than twenty-six years. One might think that Porsche’s “PCM” navigation system would be capable of finding a three-decade-old home on the East Coast, but in the end Joe and I had to resort to using my BlackBerry’s Google Maps application. “I really don’t mess with the navigation… it doesn’t seem very good,” Joe opined, and he is correct. PCM is a mess and you could get better navigation in a twenty-grand Ford Fusion, or by selecting the very cheapest Garmin GPS at your local Best Buy.

Once the BlackBerry pointed us in the proper direction, however, we were able to head that way with nothing less than utter ferocity. This four-wheel-drive Turbo launches from a stoplight as if it were departing the USS Nimitz on the hook of a steam catapult. Like all pre-PDK 997 Turbos, this is a five-speed, torque-converter gearbox without launch control, so one merely steps on the brake and dials up about 2500 rpm. Releasing the brake will chirp all four corners, flash the traction light, and render the traffic on both sides invisible.

Given that the Tiptronic offers a dilatory, uncooperative sort of steering-wheel manual control, one might be tempted to make one’s own shifts during these stoplight blasts. My second attempt at doing so caused the grey Turbo to select neutral instead of second gear, forcing me to coast to the side of the road as the aforementioned Highlanders and RX350s cruised triumphantly by. Nothing short of restarting the car would permit it to select a forward gear again. It turns out that the 997Turbo is too smart to let you grenade the transmission with excessive force during a shift, surely a reassurance to anybody contemplating pumping-up their own Porsche with this kind of thrust. Best to leave it in “D” and enjoy a completely no-hassle trip into the ten-second zone.

After more than 24,000 satisfactory miles, Joe swears by the concept of the Tiptronic Turbo. I’m not so sure, but there is some massive satisfaction to be had from driving something so disturbingly quick and yet so completely tractable. In the stop-and-go traffic that characterizes Columbia’s main roads, the TPC tune is utterly unnoticeable. This Turbo is as friendly as a Camry while crawling at five miles per hour, and if the navigation is garbage, the hand-sewn cocoa leather dashboard is first-rate enough to soften the annoyance.

Let a hole in traffic appear, no matter how slight, and the big Porsche rips through it with a slurred downshift and a lag-free punch in the back. It is quiet, tractable, and faster than a 997 Cup Car in a straight line. This on-road supremacy is the fulfilled promise of the 1974 Turbo Carrera model, made reality after thirty-some years. Track junkies and back-road blasters will find more satisfaction in a GT3 or — whisper it — a Cayman S. The stock Turbo suffers from being a little slower than a GT-R or Z06, but TPC neatly rectifies this problem at a price considerably below what Porsche would charge.

I arrived at my childhood home to find it much smaller, and much humbler, than I remembered. A quick check of recent real estate sales, however, showed that it was worth more than four hundred grand. This Turbo is similarly deceptive. Subtle to a fault, easy to drive, it can still do the business like almost nothing else. The child in me likes it, as does the adult.

Jack Baruth

Get the full story here!

CLICK HERE for more info on the TPCRacing 775Blitzkrieg

As a child, I owned something called the Lego “Expert Builder Car”. It was a fascinating product. From one box of a thousand or so Lego pieces, it was possible to build many different kinds of cars, up to and including a two-seat roadster with a working transmission. Top-notch fun, and if Lego eventually took it off the market in favor of less advanced kits focusing on Star Wars, Disneyworld, and (possibly) Twilight then we have only the abject failure of the American educational system to blame.

Porsche has a Lego set as well. The same basic set of components is used to create everything from a $45,000 Boxster to a $230,000 GT2. If you think it costs five times as much to make a GT2 as it does a Boxster, you’re probably an outstanding candidate for one of those $11,000 Hublot watches that uses an el-cheapo ETA mechanism to actually tell time. Nope, it’s mostly additional profit at the top of the pyramid. Porsche protects their oh-so-exclusive product ladder by refusing to assemble their Legos into toys like, say, a turbocharged Cayman.

If one listens to Porsche spokespeople, they have many reasons why a turbo Cayman wouldn’t be possible, feasible, or reasonable. These reasons are quite convincing, and they are repeated ad infinitum. Eventually the strong impression is created that a turbo Cayman would be a feat equal to, say, the Manhattan Project. Which makes it all the more interesting that there’s a guy in a shed who builds them for ten grand.

Well, TPC’s Mike Levitas isn’t exactly a guy in a shed. He’s a former Rolex-GT-at-Daytona winner with an extensive engineering background, and he’s devoted a lot of thought to his pressurized Caymans. For $9,995 plus installation, he will put nearly five hundred horsepower behind the seats of Porsche’s factory-crippled hardtop Boxster.

I recently had the opportunity to drive a rather well-sorted TPC Cayman S Turbo at the company’s headquarters outside Washington, DC. In the name of “balance” — something Levitas can wax rather poetic about, given the opportunity — this car was set up for approximately 380 horsepower at 5psi or so of boost and modified with a variety of JRZ and TPC suspension items.

Outside of a racetrack, it’s difficult to get even a standard Cayman 2.7 to its limits, but I was able to verify in a few short triple-digit blasts that TPC’s power numbers seem very legit. This car has pull to match a GT3 and shame a 997S, delivered across a very broad torque curve. If anything, it feels stronger than a GT3 until the very end of the rev range. Naturally, TPC will happily reprofile your boost curve if you want that top-end hit for road course work or midnight street racing.

The rest of the TPC mods also seem reasonably successful. It’s not difficult to imagine that this car would run in nearly a dead heat with a brand-new GT3 around most road courses. Ride quality is no worse than what you would find in said GT3 and pothole compliance appears to be excellent. The (anonymous by request) owner of this particular example uses it as a daily driver and a stealthy, confusion-causing trackday toy. You could do the same.

And you could do it cheaply, relatively speaking. Early 3.4-liter Caymans are now crossing auction blocks for forty grand. A $25,000 check to TPC would nearly duplicate our tester, so it is perfectly possible to obtain Z06-matching performance for the price of a lightly-used Z06. Or you could look it as GT3 lap times for half price. Porsche Cars North America would no doubt prefer you didn’t.

Which brings us to one tiny problem with this lovely mid-engined coupe. The watercooled Porsche engines produced from 1997 to 2008 are famously fragile, even without turbocharging. Porsche kept its split-case race-style engine for the Turbo, GT3, and GT2 until the recent arrival of its completely re-engineered waterboxer. There is no way that this particular Lego set will be as durable as, say, a 2001 996 Turbo. Perhaps this was the reason Porsche never turbocharged the car, although it doesn’t explain why there’s no new-generation Cayman Turbo. Oh well. TPC states that they have yet to experience a turbo Cayman or turbo Boxster failure, which may be reassuring enough for most buyers.

As the price of Porsche’s 911 Carrera sneaks ever closer to $100,000 in even mildly-equipped form, it might be time for the German fiscal adventurists to admit that their core product is becoming rather irrelevant. A factory Cayman Turbo would offer performance just shy of the Nissan GT-R and Z06 Corvette for similar money. That’s a formula that has worked for Porsche in the past (see: 1986 Porsche 944 Turbo) and it could work again. Heck, it might just create a new generation of Porsche fans. If the men from Weissach want some help assembling their Legos, I suspect TPC would be happy to take their call.

By: Jack Baruth

See the TTAC article here

I know there’s a wide array of feelings in regard to naming one’s car and/or applying a gender to it. Personally I’ve never been able to find a suitable name for mine. It just seems weird to me, to personify a machine with a name. But I do imagine my Cayman S is female. Considering the amazing curves and sexy hips that Porsche has provided, it’s hard for me to imagine it any other way. A feminine identity also matches the personality of the car. The Cayman is strong, but not brutal. It’s flexible and capable of carving turns the way a skilled ballerina works a dance floor. It’s light on its feet with agility, stamina and endurance. It’s undeniable to me. The Cayman is definitely female. My Cayman S has always been a docile and easy going female. This weekend I met one that was bipolar. I rode in a Cayman S that was equipped with a TPC Turbo kit, and believe me when I tell you, that car was seriously pissed off.

At the controls was none other than Mike Levitas, owner of TPC Racing and winning Grand Am race team owner/driver. At first he showed me how normal and docile the TPC Cayman S could be. We proceeded up a small incline as though we were driving to work or running an errand. He showed me how quiet the exhaust note was, how normal the car felt when driven easily. From the passenger seat it didn’t feel any different than any other Cayman except for the fact that it sounded a little different. The tone was deep and muted. As the car’s creator, Mike knew just how to push her buttons. He dropped the go pedal and the car instantly bursts into a rage and lost its temper. It screamed out loud and protested by lighting up the rear wheels. Mike held on as the powertrain tried to rip its way through the rest of the car. The tail hung out 5 degrees or so and I could feel the back tires delivering a perfectly smooth power slide. The pavement was screaming for mercy as the tires abused it into submission, but Mike didn’t back off. He taunted her for a few seconds longer, which results in some rather stunning acelleration.

I’ve been in a few very powerful cars, and I expected the Turbo charged CS to be strong. I didn’t expect 5 psi of boost to do that….! The car was as fast as some late model 996/997 Turbos I’d been in, but far more raw and visceral. Where a modern day 911 Turbo delivers a smooth rush of torque without drama, the TPC Turbo Cayman S reminded me more of a mid 80’s 911 Turbo, only with a lot more power. At some point the car crosses a line that would make most drivers suddenly doubt their abilities. It delivers brute force acceleration that forces you to pay real close attention to gear selection and steering angle.

I asked Mike if the car had an LSD inside, and he told me that he did in fact install a custom Guard Transmission LSD. He began telling me all about clutch packs, acceleration/deceleration ratios, foot pounds, and so on. He went super geek on me, which I love, and which also confirmed to me that Mike knows the Cayman platform like few people I’ve met.

We also had a chance to speak about suspension. That’s when Mike’s Race experience becomes really clear. I haven’t met anyone who’s displayed more knowledge about the Cayman’s suspension and how it should be setup. In a few short minutes he spit out all sorts of knowledge about alignment, differentials, spring rates, roll bars, and so on. This guy instantly earned my respect. I wish I lived closer to TPC because I’d love to pick his brain more. If you live close by, consider yourself lucky and do yourself a favor; stop by and meet Mike for yourself. I think you’ll come to a similar conclusion.

You guys know I’m a skeptic. I put a lot of thought into every mod I try, and I’d be the first to tell you that every mod brings drawbacks. In regard to Turbo kits, I’ve always worried about reliability and longevity. There’s a lot of added heat and mechanical stress to deal with when you boost an engine’s torque output by 50%. Mike told me they’ve delivered more than a few Turbo kits (I was actually stunned by the number). Many of these cars are used extensively on the track, which is the ultimate proving ground because of the frequent long durations of full throttle. That suggests to me that the Cayman engine is stronger than I had previously thought. Perhaps more time is needed to convince guys like me. But let me tell you this. If you’d like to have one bad *** Cayman, if you’d like a Cayman that’s bipolar and has a short temper, if you appreciate being scared when the pedal meets the carpet, then you might like a TPC Turbo Cayman S. But proceed with caution and bring a permission slip from your wife. My visit to TPC ended up costing me a $1,000.

First off, thanks to Mike Levitas for helping me and SO many others on track this weekend. He’s incredibly generous with his time and knowledge. For two days he was jumping in and out of cars in every run group. GT3 Cup cars to Subaru wagons, Black drivers to Green drivers, didn’t matter to him, only that you wanted to learn. Congrats to Harr for his promotion! Awesome driving! We missed you Sunday.

My mistake was riding with Mike the 1st session of the 1st day. I hadn’t been to VIR before and should have gotten familar with the track before I asked him to ride with me. But it was still awesome.

JRZ’s……WOW! It’s hard to describe and I am not technical enough to explain the results, so here’s how it FELT.

One benefit of having Mike in the 1st session was having him setup a baseline for my JRZ’s. I immediately felt better control of the car. The rear end was putting down power without even a slightest hint of coming loose. I had some mild understeer so we made a couple of front rebound adjustments. The change, to my surprise, was easy to feel. It actually caused understeer in some corners that didn’t have it before; Mike predicted it before we made the change. So we changed it back but this time adjusted the compression. Understeer became very minimal but now the car was doing something I hadn’t really felt before, it was sliding (with just a slight lift), i.e. evenly sliding/rotating with little effort. It’s hard to explain but the car was super tight and planted but at the same time could be tossed around VERY controllably with throttle and brake modulation. This was huge for this track. The technical sections require you to roatate and point the car in order to keep your speed up.

This ability to slide the car was different for me. Previously I had to be somewhat aggressive to rotate the car. After just a couple of session with this setup I had awesome control with little effort. This lack of effort quickly built my confidence and reduced my fear when I pushed the edge of adhesion.

Thanks to some great instruction in Potomac PCA, rotation is something that I had been working on, so either I just figured it out or the JRZ’s made it A LOT easier. In any case, the car is extremely stable in & out of corners, stable at speed, stable over rumble, stable under braking and very controllable.

On the street? Not as bad as I thought they would be. I borrowed a trailer for the 5 1/2 hour drive to VIR, so I haven’t driven long distances with them on. But crusing around town they’re a bit harsh but not unbearable.

I had some buyer’s remorse going into this weekend thinking I wouldn’t be able to really appreciate these shocks at my experience level. Now I couldn’t be happier (of course it helps to have a pro driver on hand to setup your car). If you’re building a track car I would highly recommend these shocks.

First a little background….

In the past 2.5 years, I went through a series of cars after selling my much loved E46 M3(track prepped on Motons). E46M3 => 996Turbo => E60M5 => 997C2S => …

I currently own a 2006 Cayman S (manual), purchased from the dealership as a CPO vehicle early in 2008, 100% stock at the time. The wheels/tires combination were recently replaced with factory (Carrera Classics) 19’s wrapped in Continentals. The car came equipped with every option in the book minus the PCCB option.

Stock to RS350

The car was dyno-ed before the RS350 kit to obtain a baseline, and put down a respectable 277rwhp and 254rwtq. (refer to the RS350 review thread for specifics). With the RS350 kit, the car put down 300rwhp with significant gains in the mid range, completely removing the “dip” early in the RPM range that the car suffered from in stock form, and dyno-ed at 300rwhp and 264rwtq.

summary from the RS350 review – “the car pushes you forward like a 996TT down low, and extremely very eager to rev to redline like the 997C2S up top.”

RS350 to TPC TURBO

The TPC Turbo kit arrived and few weeks later, the installation was underway. The entire installation time took from start to finish, just over 2 weeks. Yesterday, I took delivery of my new car. The reason why I say I took delivery of my NEW car, is because that’s exactly, a completely different beast. An absolute ANIMAL trapped inside a “hard top boxter’s” shell.

Initial Impression

Without looking underneath the car, or have the engine cover off, there’s no sign of change to the car. The car idles like stock, drives like stock, feels like stock and handles like stock. I put the same junky 91 octane gas in the tank, I putt the car around town, and commute in and out of traffic.

That’s of course, only until the car hits operating temperature and you put your lead foot to the floor. Between 3.5k to 4k RPM, the car takes on a whole new persona. The first hint of force induction comes in with the high pitch whine of the turbo creeping up from behind. At 4k, the RPM needle starts to pick up speed and like a volume knob being dialed up, the turbo whine gets louder. While you’re busy admiring the symphony happening behind your right ear, you’re pegging redline. But wait, that wasn’t in 1st gear, that was third. The freakin’ car just revved to redline in third gear like it did in first… clutch in, shift, and the wastegate gives you a reminder that it’s ready to go again.

If that doesn’t paint the picture of awesomeness in your head, I dunno how else to describe it.

In its current 91 octane setup, the car is no slouch. Easily faster than my previous 996Turbo. How fast? Scary fast, like the first time i floored the V10 M5. Surprisingly, the car has plenty of traction, even with the slim 265 width Continentals in the rear, I didn’t have problems easing off the line and immediately stomping on the gas. Instead of chirping tires between shifts, the car snaps your head back with each succession.

Exhaust Sound

When Mike and TPC said there’s no drone in the exhaust, they REALLY mean it! In fact, around town while driving conservatively, it’s quieter than my Milltek, and very similar to the noise pitch of the Porsche Sports Exhaust. It’s extremely pleasant for my commute cruising 65-70mph in 6th gear and have absolutely no drone whatsoever.

Get on it and above 4000rpm, the exhaust note climbs, perfectly matching the sound of the Turbo as it spools up. It gives you the bark you need without drowning out just about the coolest sound you can hear inside a car. At its peak, I would guess that it’s a little bit louder than the Milltek exhaust it replaced, but definitely not enough to piss off any neighbors.

What next?

Once the initial test and check period is over and my underbody panels are reinstalled along with oil change, data logged via Durametric will be sent back to Mike @ TPC to further refine the 91 octane tune. All you California Cayman owners itching the pull the trigger, you now have the perfect excuse. A trustworthy, highly competent installer (check out the installation thread), and perfected 91 octane tune will be readily available.

My butt dyno is reading conservatively under 400rwhp with a bit more after Mike works his magic. I originally planned to dyno the car this weekend, I think I will push it back until after Mike gets a chance to check out the Durametric logs.

I will post in this thread overlay graphs and dyno charts as they are done along with video comparisons when available.

Special Thanks

TPC Racing

I would like to thank Tom/Casey/Josh/Mike (not in any particular order) from TPC for the incredible support they’ve provided over the course of the installation process. We’re not talking about a company that ships you a box and you’re on your own. These are a bunch of guys that loves cars, races cars, and wants to share their enjoyment with everyone else.

EuroAutoSpot, San Diego (www.euroautosport.com)

I honestly can’t thank Shane/Chris/Bobby/Linh over at EuroAutoSpot enough for the amount of care and attention that went into the install. For anyone reading this, you HAVE TO check out the Installation Thread. Shane literally prevented my car from burning to the ground with absolutely no chance in hell anyone would cover the damage. This is the same guy that’s worked on maybe 5 porsches EVER, with his first go at the Cayman being this Turbo install. Since they’re not a sponsor on the board, I don’t want to seem like I’m giving them free advertising, so if anyone is interested in getting this kit installed in California or nearby states, contact me in private and I’ll get you in touch with them.

As always…

I’m not a mechanic, not a race car driver, and don’t do this for a living. But like you all, I’m an enthusiast first, and would be more than happy to take anyone out for a spin in the car, or answer any questions you may have about the TPC kit, the RS350 kit, or just anything in general. I’d like to extend that same invitation to anyone that may be out of state, or not in San Diego, CA but happen to be in town. I’m sure TPC would be happy to sell you the kit, and EuroAutoSpot would be happy to schedule you in for the install, but even if you have no intentions on making the upgrade to your own car and just want to go for a spin, let me know.

Anyone with a stock Cayman, or have some sort of performance modification you’re interested in comparing to the standard TPC kit, please feel free to get in touch with me.