My 2019 718 Cayman GTS PDK

[Fudgie]

Hi Brian, glad to read your back in the driving seat, the GTS looks great and I hope you enjoy many miles of fun over the coming months and years. Looking forward to continuing to read your informative and well written posts even though I'm no longer a 718 owner. I'm taking a break sports cars for various reasons but will be back in something 'interesting' in the near future, whether its a Porsche or not remains to be seen... In the mean time I've opt'd for a competitor to you Abarth as my daily driver come weekend toy, its a Works 210 with dealer fit upgraded ecu and 'naughty' switchable exhaust valve

 

[Brian_Innes]

Thank you for your support for my scribblings Fudgie.

As a former MINI JCW owner, the earlier supercharged version also 210 bhp, I know you will enjoy your new daily driver. It'll be a lot comfier than my Koni suspended Abarth which is akin to riding in a box cart.

The switchable exhaust will keep you amused as will the "cheekiness of the MINI brand.

Enjoy!

Brian

 

[Brian_Innes]

Following a DVLA enforced lay-up in my garage for the past 2 weeks, it was pure joy to get my 718 CGTS back on the roads I love today.

I was meeting friends from Aberdeen at the village of Tomintoul, high up on the A939 Old Military Road. It is a fabulous drive from my home town on the Moray Coast. Traffic was light, the scenery magnificent, and the 718 CGTS in its element. The route is narrow in places but has enough room to pass other cars with care. Lardy 911's are held back on this route due to the wider footprint. Whether 987, 981, or 718, this is Cayman and Boxster country pure and simple.

Those PCGB members who are planning a drive on the A939 north or south will not be disappointed. A quick photo below to give you the idea.

Brian

 

[Fudgie]

Thanks Brian, the MINI is going well and I’ve already added 3k on the clock, it’s quite comfy and cruises well on the m-way whilst being sharp on my local Cotswold A & B roads, so another good all rounder like the 718. The fruity exhaust sounds great, especially on downshift blips but can drone on the m-way although fine with the valve closed.

 

[Markjp]

Hi Brian, glad you have got your licence back and are able to enjoy your Cayman on those beautiful Highland roads again.

I am tantalisingly close to owning my first ever Porsche, a new standard Cayman. My car was ready to leave the factory last Thursday 18th April and arrived in the UK around this Thursday 25th, but my OPC doesn't yet have a delivery date to themselves.

I am really hoping that I can take delivery next Saturday at the latest.

Do you think that might be possible from your recent experience with your new Cayman GTS back in January?

Getting quite impatient now to get my hands on the Cayman, its been a long process from initial interest at my local OPC last September, to placing an order in January.

Mark

 

[Brian_Innes]

Mark,

I recognise your impatience to get your hands on your new car. Hopefully your OPC will get an early transporter slot and get your car PDI completed in time for Saturday's handover. I still recall the excitement of the occasion.

Good luck with your new 718 Cayman. You have had a very long wait.

Brian

 

[Wollemi]

So glad to hear that you have got your licence back and and cars are insured again, and gold that you are out enjoying your lovely red car once more.

 

[Andrew718]

Brian, cracking news about your licence! I had speeding indiscretion at the turn if the century, where I surrendered my licence (for the 3 points) to the Met Police. They claimed they sent it to the DVLA, DVLA claimed they never received it, and it went round and round in circles! In the end I had to pay for a replacement licence myself that I never lost!

Just offering some hope to Markjp, my wife ordered a standard Cayman last May (!) it arrived at the dealer Friday, we checked it out Saturday, we collect this Saturday. Its going to be a long week!

I am tantalisingly close to owning my first ever Porsche, a new standard Cayman. My car was ready to leave the factory last Thursday 18th April and arrived in the UK around this Thursday 25th, but my OPC doesn't yet have a delivery date to themselves.

I am really hoping that I can take delivery next Saturday at the latest.

Mark

 

[Brian_Innes]

DVLA Letter of Apology regarding time taken to process licence renewal.

Today, a written reply from DVLA regarding my formal complaint arrived in the post. This followed a lengthy phone call yesterday with a lady from the clerks office.

No great surprises, no grovelling apology, no goodwill gesture offered, despite prompting.

All I got was an apology of sorts, for the extraordinary delay in processing my licence renewal application, peppered with the usual civil service bullshit, sorry platitudes, a few of which I quote below.

"I sympathise with the circumstances and difficulties you have experienced". I addition, I am sorry that you are unhappy with the service you have received from us and for the length of time our enquiries have taken"

"...we are working hard to find new ways of improving the time taken to deal with cases. Additional caseworkers have been employed and new processes introduced to speed up the time required to receive the necessary information.

"...we are reviewing our current processes introduced to improve customer waiting times. We are also considering online and IT solutions to improve access and decision making where possible".

In other words, sorry you were inconvenienced. Tough shit.

I've decided not to waste any more energy above and beyond the considerable anxiety this long delay caused me, by contesting the DVLA response. My subsequent licence renewal in 3 years time is a long way off. I shall be wiser and more "locked and loaded" next time around.

On a happier note, today I met up at GT Tyres, Forres, with thread contributor Turbo Jonny who purchased my rear P-Zero N1 tyres which came off my previous 718 CS. Good to chat, and also to hear how much he enjoyed the drive north to the Moray Coast on the Old Military Road. Brilliant weather also helped.

Brian

 

[Markjp]

Brian, cracking news about your licence! I had speeding indiscretion at the turn if the century, where I surrendered my licence (for the 3 points) to the Met Police. They claimed they sent it to the DVLA, DVLA claimed they never received it, and it went round and round in circles! In the end I had to pay for a replacement licence myself that I never lost!

Just offering some hope to Markjp, my wife ordered a standard Cayman last May (!) it arrived at the dealer Friday, we checked it out Saturday, we collect this Saturday. Its going to be a long week!

I am tantalisingly close to owning my first ever Porsche, a new standard Cayman. My car was ready to leave the factory last Thursday 18th April and arrived in the UK around this Thursday 25th, but my OPC doesn't yet have a delivery date to themselves.

I am really hoping that I can take delivery next Saturday at the latest.

Mark

Good news! just received an email from my OPC to say my Cayman is arriving tomorrow and I can take delivery Thursday afternoon or Friday.

Well happy now []

Andrew assume your wife placed her order just as the order books closed re: the new emissions. Is it a manual like mine? The order book only re-opened very late December for the manual transmission I think.

 

[Brian_Innes]

Those following my 718 Cayman thread will recall I removed the BMC cotton air filter from my previous 718 CS before trade-in. Over the winter I cleaned the used air filter with the appropriate cleaning kit and applied fresh oiling spray. Important not to overdo the oiling on cotton filters, as excess oil can contaminate various sensitive airflow sensors within the induction system. Use the oil spry sparingly and allow the filter element to dry thoroughly before refitting.

I shall be thinking about accessing the 718 CGTS engine compartment later this year to replace the OE air filter with the more efficient BMC unit. Not a job I am particularly looking forward to. Porsche have made it an unnecessarily complicated and risky maintenance job to replace the air filter element. All those fragile plastic trim pieces to remove before you even get to the engine cover. If only they had retained the 987 Cayman engine access procedure things would be a lot simpler.

Brian

 

[pgk188]

Hi Brian, I'm sure you've been asked this before. Do you think/believe the BMC air filter offers much in the way of improvement to the car?

 

[ralphmusic]

Hi Brian, I'm sure you've been asked this before. Do you think/believe the BMC air filter offers much in the way of improvement to the car?

I have these fitted to my tuned 981 3.8L Cayman and it added 5PS at the top end on the dyno. The engine is an air pump so within (ECU) reason, the more air the better. Day to day usage? - not for 981 normally aspirated. Also a good idea to change filters more regularly than Porsche schedule.

 

[Brian_Innes]

Hi Brian, I'm sure you've been asked this before. Do you think/believe the BMC air filter offers much in the way of improvement to the car?

Completely agree with your comments Ralph.

It's often forgotten an IC engine is a sophisticated air pump. Any device that improves airflow is a GOOD THING.

Regarding tangible performance improvements when fitting a cotton air filter, when you're talking of 350bhp engines, it's fanciful to suggest any difference in overall performance. What you may notice however, is a sharper engine response when blipping the throttle at rest.

Brian

 

[turbo jonny]

Hi Brian , back home now , great meeting up with you yesterday.

Been to Scotland quite a few times but never had the delights of Nairnshire before.

Next time will be in the Spyder though !

 

[Brian_Innes]

Thanks Jonny, good to meet up with you at GT Tyres for a chat on Porsche topics.

Yes, bring your 987 Spyder next time. Ideal roads, spectacular scenery, and usually the weather is not bad either.

Brian

 

[Brian_Innes]

May Bank Holiday

My plan to travel south to Pitlochry and Perth via the Snow Road last Saturday certainly lived up to its name. The Arctic airstream blowing from the north brought heavy snow showers to the high passes along the route. The worst of the snow was at the Lecht ski centre on the A939 south of Tomintoul. This was my first opportunity to test the GTS in truly wintry conditions, and also to see how the Michelin PS4S tyres performed. You will see from the attached photo that the road at the summit of the Lecht had quite an accumulation of deep slushy snow. With the PDK set in Normal, manual shift mode the GTS took it all in its stride. Never once causing any concern of not making it to the top of the hill.

I can now fully endorse the opinion of the PCGB forum's ubiquitous Mr D regarding the PS4S on snow. Like the tyre's superior performance in the wet, the PS4S is also amazingly good on snow. Driving off from the position of my car shown on the photo, I simply engaged 1st gear and drove away. Short-shifting up through the gears to keep traction at maximum. The low down torque of the flat-4, together with properly set up wheel alignment geometry also played its part in keeping my GTS on the straight and narrow in such conditions. The PCCB ceramic brakes also performed exceptionally well, the pedal feel is just superb under all conditions. By the time I had reached the upper snowy slopes the brakes were up to optimum operating temperature, so no snatching or ABS pulsing was evident at all in these wintry conditions.

The purpose of my trip south was to attend a joint R1 and R2 event at Spotless Detailing, Perth. A short report will follow later.

Brian

 

[Motorhead]

I should think that your GTS was in need of a bit of "Spotless Detailing" after a drive like that Brian..!

Good to hear that it transported you there and back in safety, despite the unseasonally bleak conditions.

Jeff

 

[Brian_Innes]

May bank Holiday Continued.....

My journey south to Perth for the Spotless Detailing event was much less wintry thankfully. The Glenshee section from Braemar to Pitlochry was clear of snow altogether. Traffic was generally light, mainly coming in the opposite direction and notable for the convoys of motorcyclists heading north. In my experience, motorcyclists, even in groups are rarely a problem. Of more concern was the careless lack of anticipation and attention of some drivers on one of the narrow cross-country routes I chose, the B950 Kirkmichael - Pitlochry road. This is a good road, with an excellent surface, with white lines painted at each side along the grass verges. The road however, does have numerous crests, blind bends, and narrow bridges with unseen approaches. On two occasions I met vehicles coming in the opposite direction at the aforementioned blind spots, driven by people completely lacking in basic rudimentary anticipatory skills. For my part, I approached such hazards cautiously, reducing my speed so that I could stop within the distance I could see to be clear. Not so, a charging white van man, and a chattering young woman in a SUV. Big stops essential by in both cases to avoid a head-on collision. They were travelling too fast for the restricted visibility on offer. We in low sports cars are often cast as the villains when rural road collisions occur. In my long experience on such roads, the Porsche driver is usually the innocent party.

Spotless Detailing owner Callum and his team put on a good show at the event on Sunday. There were display cars in the form of a 2004 McLaren F1, a delicious 991.2 GT2 RS, and the new 992 Carrera S. There was also a race driving simulator provided for the amusement of the many guests. The chosen track was Knockhill, and the car was a 991 Carrera Cup race car. Each competitor had 5 minutes track time to post a best lap. Race driving simulators, at least the ones available for fun, are not at all like the real thing. You have absolutely no feeling of braking or cornering forces. It is therefore impossible to judge the transition between grip and spin. The foot pedals are also completely numb. The brake pedal in particular is devoid of any feeling whatsoever, making modulation of the braking effort when approaching a corner at high speed very difficult to judge. Having said that I had a go, posting the fastest lap for a short while before it was well and truly trounced by a well practiced member of Callum's staff. I can't help myself thinking that maybe purchasing a Playstation home amusement race car simulator for fun is not such a bad idea for the winter months. When my track driving time comes to a close, and I hang up my safety helmet for good, the Playstation experience may keep the candle burning for a little while longer.

A few photos follow from my May Bank Holiday weekend.

Brian

 

[Brian_Innes]

Glenshee south of Braemar