[SM_ATL]

I can not resist writing journals about my cars.
This could well be the first post of my journal about my (nearly) new Graphite Blue 718 Cayman provided I started it in the appropriate section of the forum ?

Once upon a time, or more precisel, on June 5th 2019, I took part with my pristine 2006 Cayman S to what should have been a nice, relaxed and sunny trackday at Spa Francorchamps like many times before.





It so happened that teams of the Peugeot 308 Pro Cup had been authorised to train and share the track with us, which turned out to be a very poor decision from the organiser or track managers. The Peugeots were behaving in a way too aggressive manner and did not respect the trackday etiquette at all.

I was gently passing an old BMW 6-Series in the Raidillon -passing in the Raidillon is nothing special with a bit of experience- when an @sshole Peugeot driver attempted to pass me at the same time driving outside the normal limits of the track. He was not going fast enough and instead of tapping the brakes and waiting a few seconds to pass me safely, he kept going, then realised he was going to end up in the grass, steered right and hit me. Fortunately (?) I had my GoPro mounted at the front of the car to understand what happened. I was paying attention to the car I was passing and not checking in my left rear view mirror what the Peugeot was trying to do at the same time. Here is a slow motion video of the crash. I was still at almost 100mph when I got hit and spun multiple times, hitting the BMW (looking at the video, it looks like I am rolling over, but it is only the GoPro getting loose and flying up in the air).

The good news is that nobody got hurt, the airbags deployed in both the BMW and my car and we walked out of the wrecks without a scratch despite the fact that we did not have bucket seats with harnesses or a HANS device. The Cayman on the other hand was damaged beyond repair as you can see from the following pics. The front suspension was destroyed, the chassis was bent etc. Even if it could be fixed, it would have cost 2 or 3 times the value of the car...







I always use a track insurance coverage and we came to an OK resolution, getting the value of the car back minus the agreed deductible.

I do not feel emotional about the whole thing. There is a saying that goes like "if you track it, be ready to wreck it"... I have experienced it and can only agree with this statement. You might be the best driver in the world -which I am certainly not-, there are always other guys around you who can screw up. The Peugeot driver definitely did and these guys had nothing to do with the rest of us in Spa that day. Next time I register for a trackday, I will make sure only 100% amateurs are participating... Lesson learnt

This is how I got on the market for a new ride...

I love 911s but Belgian taxes are a bit of a deterrent and I chose to go for a more modest weekend car. Also, I wanted to go for a used -but modern- car and a base 718 seemed the most logical and rational decision. Graphite Blue was my colour of choice and with this in mind, I started to go through German listings of used 718 (lot more choice and much cheaper than in Belgium).
I found one from 2017 with only 22,000 km not too far in Köln and picked it up a few weeks ago. The car has a few comfort or fancy features but no PASM neither PSE which turns out to be OK even though I had good experience with these options on some of my previous Porsches. Transmission is PDK which I like; since the 991/981 generation, I find it just as good as a manual, but I understand that some stay faithful to a MT.

Here is a first pic of my new toy.

Many adventures to come, the scene is now set ?

 

[Miami Blue]

Wow.. Terrible judgment call by the Peugot driver. I am glad no one was hurt. I assume the Peugot was able to continue?

What a shame that the damage to you and the BMW was so extensive. There is a teachable moment here for others who track their cars in terms of insurance and being the beneficiary of other's mistakes on the track!

On the flip side, your 718 looks fantastic! Welcome to the club!

 

[Silversword]

Unbelievable. I'd have been very tempted to go full 'Nelson Piquet mode' on that Peugeot driver...

Hopefully your new car brings no such bad luck and gives you many many enjoyable hours of driving and stories with happier endings.

 

[SM_ATL]

Stripes and Decals...

I found the original 987 a bit 'tall' and like the 911R-style side stripes I had on my previous Cayman R. I had the same made for my 987S and thought it could also be a good addition to my 718.

I contacted Kyle @ KIstudios who has done a great job for my other cars and ordered the stripes (following his advice) in silver :

In spite of Kyle's good job with the decals, I ended up not liking the final result. It looked too busy, there was not a good enough match between the rims and the silver colour of the decals and the stripes were not parallel enough to the ground. Ok, I am splitting hair...

I went back to the OEM "718 Cayman" lettering that adds a little something with being too much 'in your face'.

Not much of major modifications in sight, but I developed a taste for staying closer to OEM (who am I to claim that I could do better than Porsche engineers...) and Belgian law does not allow to change a lot of things!

 

[SM_ATL]

New Engine!

I posted this in another section, but the Journal would not be complete if I did not mention what happened to my engine a few weeks ago...

After I got the car, I rapidly started to put miles on it and after about 1,000 miles I started to notice a kind of rattling noise around 3,000 RPM that kept getting louder. It definitely was not there when I bought the car and everything still seemed to be OK (oil level, no warning of any kind, power output OK...).
Convinced it could not be anything too bad, I still went to my local Porsche dealership. They also thought that some minor part of piece of trim had come loose around the engine and kept the car for further investigation. It turned out that nothing had come loose but checking the oil and oil filter, they found small metal flakes ?. They could not offer any explanation so as to what had gone wrong (oil level was OK, oil pump was fine). Fortunately the car was still under original Porsche warranty for a couple of weeks and Porsche Germany immediately shipped a new engine to the dealership to be installed at no cost.

I am now breaking in my new engine properly and have been extremely happy with Porsche' service but am still perplexed at what actually happened. Anyway, the car is now 'as good as new' and I might as well stop asking myself questions and just enjoy it... well after breaking it in ?

 

[GTS18BGTS]

It should tell you something when they knew where to look. What would make them check the oil and filter for a rattle, if they didn't already know what to look for and of this occurring in other cars? Their actuaries calculated this happening prior to warranty expiration was a risk worth taking vs the expense and exposure of a recall. Not particularly comforting.

 

[Treemagnet]

It should tell you something when they knew where to look... ...Their actuaries calculated this happening prior to warranty expiration was a risk worth taking vs the expense and exposure of a recall. Not particularly comforting.

No, not for any of us ?

 

[SM_ATL]

OK... fake aluminum, useless and visible 2 minutes per week at best... but beauty is in the eye of the beholder

 

[alf_17]

OK... fake aluminum, useless and visible 2 minutes per week at best... but beauty is in the eye of the beholder

View attachment 23886

I am a fan, I have the same on my Boxster