Porsche’s 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance

The Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier in the summer didn’t only see the launch of the Porsche 963, but also a technology demonstrator that might well have very significant relevance for the future.

Porsche unveiled their Mission R concept around a year ago and now the tech that forms the core of that vehicle is out in the wild aboard the 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance, demonstrated at Goodwood by Richard Lietz.

Mission R was unveiled at the 2021 IAA Mobility Conference in Munich, the concept showing a potential fully-electric GT racing car for customer motorsport in the future.

The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance serves as a test vehicle. Like the Mission R, the all-wheel-drive racer uses the chassis of the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport model. The entire electric motor and battery technology also comes from the IAA conceptual study, which in ‘qualification’ mode translates to a maximum output of 735 kW (1,000 PS) and more.

In simulated racing, a steady 450 kW (612 PS) is available for 30 minutes, i.e. the duration of a Carrera Cup race.

In terms of lap times and top speed, the 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance is on par with the performance of the current 992-generation 911 GT3 Cup.

“With the Mission R, we’ve shown how Porsche envisages sustainable customer motor racing in the future. The 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance now demonstrates that this vision works impressively on the racetrack,” states Matthias Scholz, GT racing vehicle project manager. “We’re very excited about the response because a one-make cup with electric racing cars would be an important addition to our existing customer racing programme.”

As with the Mission R, the fully-electric drive train of the 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance is based on a permanently excited synchronous machine (PESM) on the front and rear axles. Together, they turn the racing car into an all-wheel-drive and can deliver a peak output of up to 800 kW (1,088 PS).

The direct oil cooling of the e-motors and battery pack developed by Porsche counteracts thermally induced derating. “The integration of oil cooling has significantly impacted the vehicle concept,” explains Björn Förster, GT4 ePerformance project manager. “With experts in the fields of aerodynamics and thermodynamics as well as high-voltage and bodywork specialists, the development team created an architecture to tap the full potential of the battery cells for the first time, since there is no thermal derating. In this way, the power output in racing mode remains constant for half an hour.” Thanks to 900-volt technology, the state of charge (SoC) of the battery at full charging capacity jumps from 5 to 80 per cent in about 15 minutes.

The 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance is 14 centimetres wider than a 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport. About 6,000 parts were designed from scratch. The body is made of natural fibre composite materials, among others, with the production intended to generate fewer emissions than the production of comparable synthetic materials. Recycled carbon fibres are also used for testing purposes.

Compared to the 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport, the flared fenders allow more room for the wider 18-inch Michelin tyres, these too are manufactured with a high proportion of renewable materials.

The GT4 ePerformance Tour #race2zero

Two 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance demo vehicles will travel through various European countries before heading to North America in early 2023. The world tour concludes in the Asia-Pacific region, where the all-electric racing car will tour until mid-2024. In line with the sustainability strategy of the entire “race2zero” project, transportation has been logistically optimised and will be done entirely by ship, train and truck.

“The 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance blazes a trail to Porsche customer racing with electrically-powered racing cars. As a first step, we will unveil this concept to our global partners,” says Oliver Schwab, Project Manager Sales of the 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance. “With drivers, teams, organisers, authorities and other interested parties, we’re also gathering ideas for Porsche racing formats in the future.”

The significance of this concept and its development should not be underestimated.

Porsche is looking to the future and electrification of their motorsport products is a clear focus.  There is simply no product more globally significant in racing than the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, more than 30 one-make Series and Championships and some 4,400+ cars built for those Series.  If Porsche decides to dip a toe in the water on a switch from ICE to EV that would be a game-changer.

Watch this space!