Porsche’s 718 Cayman GT4 Racecar Has a 6cyl Engine

This year, Porsche will show us a new Cayman GT4, the first with the ‘718’ prefix in front of its name. Given the old GT4 has a truly wonderful, turbo-free flat-six engine in it – and all the 718s we’ve seen so far, um, don’t – there’s been some concerns about what form it’ll take.

We might be able to cast our worries aside, though. This is the 718 GT4 Clubsport racecar, a precursor to the road-going version. And it not only has a 3.8-litre flat-six in it, but one with 40bhp more than its predecessor: a potent 420bhp.

It comes mated exclusively to a six-speed PDK paddleshift gearbox in this Clubsport, but the road car will no doubt come with a manual when it arrives, given that was such a hallmark of the old GT4.

There are naturally lots of motorsport touches – a proper harnessed bucket seat, a welded-in roll cage, lightweight suspension components from the more senior 911 GT3 Cup car – and something else rather more unique to the Clubsport. Namely, some organic materials.

Yep, the doors and rear wing are made of something called ‘natural-fibre composite material’, by-products of agriculture (such as hemp) that apparently have similar weight and strength properties to carbon fibre.