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Porsche planning Cayman GT4 racer

To say that Porsche is big in racing is like saying that Warren Buffett dabbles in mergers and acquisitions. But while it fields the 919 Hybrid at Le Mans and in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the bulk of its racing activities are undertaken by private teams that buy customer racecars from the factory. Those in turn are largely based on the 911, but the latest intel from the motor racing world indicates that Zuffenhausen is planning a more accessible customer race car.
The new, more affordable competition car is to be based on the Cayman and built to GT4 specifications, slotting in below the 911-based GT3 Cup, GT3 R and RSR. Autosport reports that Porsche has already developed a prototype and will shortly commence testing. Details are scarce at the moment, but the Cayman GT4 would seem to compete against the likes of the Aston Martin Vantage N24, Nissan 370Z Nismo GT4 and Maserati GranTurismo MC. It will also likely help Porsche foster enthusiasm for a potential road version that's already been spotted undergoing testing. Previous GT4 racing conversions of the Cayman, like the one pictured above, were carried out by third-party racing constructors not recognized by the factory.
Porsche may not be the only one showing interest in the category, however. BMW is said to similarly be considering a GT4-spec version of its M235i Racing model to compete in the same class, taking the place of the defunct M3 GT4 as the Bavarian marque's entry-level customer racing car.

40+ cars that barely avoid the gas guzzler tax

The Gas Guzzler schedule, with mpg ratings and charges that haven't changed since 1991, lays out which fuel-swillers owe what to Uncle Sam.
I started thinking about the "Gas Guzzler Tax" - considerably less well known as The Energy Tax Act of 1978 - when I was driving Dodge's new Challenger SRT Hellcat last week. Unsurprisingly for a car that can burn 1.5 gallons of gas per minute at max tilt, theoretically able to empty a full tank of premium in about 13 minutes, the Hellcat will be subject to the Gas Guzzler Tax schedule when it goes on sale.

Porsche already considering even more hardcore Cayman GT4 RS?

We're not sure what kind of person would look at the new Porsche Cayman GT4 and say "that's not enough," but we're sure they're out there. And to satisfy just such a customer, Porsche could very well offer a GT4 RS version in the future. "This is just the beginning of the era. I would be interested in doing a Cayman GT4 RS version, but at the moment we didn't even talk about such a thing. If the customers call for something like this we could think about it." These are the words of Andreas Preuninger, speaking with Evo at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show this week. As head of Porsche's GT line, Preuninger and his team are responsible for creating hardcore track models like the 911 GT3, the new 911 GT3 RS and – for the first time – the new Cayman GT4. Clearly buoyed by the early success of the GT4, Prenuninger is already looking towards the next step. Considering that the existing model already packs a 3.8-liter flat six with 385 horsepower and the manual transmissions so many GT3 fans miss, we're not sure how much more they could get out of the Cayman – but we'll sure enjoy watching them try.