When a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six is placed amidships immediately behind your seat, as it is in the 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS, a full-face helmet does little to dampen the 9000-rpm screech.
As we feed in the power leaving a slow curve, then slam through the gears on our approach to charging headlong into a banked sweeper at Streets of Willow Springs racetrack, we start to wish we’d also worn earplugs (but not really, because it beautiful noises may well be worth hearing aids in retirement).
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It exemplifies what a Porsche engineer told us flatly: “Whenever the GT4 RS engineering team came to a development crossroads, we made a point of always picking the route of top performance.” To say the least, it’s apparent.
It all starts with the engine. This isn’t a tweaked version of the Cayman GT4’s larger and de-turbocharged 911 engine. Instead, the GT4 RS is powered by the same 911 GT3 Cup–derived engine that powers the lauded 911 GT3, but it has been turned around and installed behind the rear liftgate glass, thus putting it within the passenger compartment.
This high-revving, naturally aspirated, dry-sump flat-six produces 493 horsepower at 8400 rpm and 331 pound-feet of torque at 6750 revs in the GT4 RS.
It’s worth noting that the identical engine produces 502 horsepower and 346 pound-feet in the GT3, raising the question of whether the discrepancy is the product of an exhaust packing constraint due to the midship engine location or a case of retaining the 911 GT3’s on-paper advantage.
Similarly, the RS’s seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission gearing is more aggressive than the Cayman GT4’s, instead of employing the GT3’s closely spaced gears, with seventh gear topping out at just 0.84:1 rather than a lazier 0.71:1. Aside from that, the Cayman GT4 RS is more aggressive than the GT4 in terms of final-drive gearing, having a shorter 4.17:1 rear-end gearing vs the GT4’s higher 3.89:1 final drive.
As a result, the GT4 RS has a reported peak speed of 196 mph in seventh gear. Porsche also claims a 3.2-second 60-mph pace and an 11.3-second quarter-mile time, although such figures are often sandbagged by Porsche. What we do know for certain is that traveling at 70 mph on the open road results in a stressful 3050-rpm thrum.
As if that wasn’t enough, the engineering team did away with the Cayman’s useless rear quarter windows in favor of high-mounted engine air intakes.
The ducting runs a few inches below your skull, so as you boot the throttle, you can certainly feel the throbbing shriek as the atmosphere is ingested toward the ravenously gulping flat-six six’s separate throttle butterflies.
This performance-enhancing intake arrangement not only improves the acoustic experience in the GT4 RS’s cabin but also allows the whole body side scoops, which were previously separated, to be dedicated to cooling this mad beast.
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