Cal Club Autocross Forums

Steve Ekstrand wrote:I thought all Turbos were S but not all S were turbo.

But I don't really know Porsches very well. My only experience with them was my scrapped together salvaged '70 914 in HS. It did "rule" the canyons though... It was just the flipping out of gear thing at full throttle and 115mph in a sweeper that I didn't like about the car.

In my trade-show-addled brain, I might have it wrong, so I'd have to look it up. There are more Cayennes then there should be.

I imagine my Tribute is not legal now. I did autocross it right after I bought it just to check out the handling, including with a full compliment of passengers. Handled quite well. And on my daily drive on Ortega Hwy when not on the motorcycle, the tribute works real well. I'm often out running or on the tail of someone in a "sports car".

Rick Brown wrote:I imagine my Tribute is not legal now. I did autocross it right after I bought it just to check out the handling, including with a full compliment of passengers. Handled quite well. And on my daily drive on Ortega Hwy when not on the motorcycle, the tribute works real well. I'm often out running or on the tail of someone in a "sports car".

A bit o' trivia: The Mazda Tribute/Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner are all based on the Mazda 626 platform.

The Dodge Caliber shares a platform with the Evo X

;)

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:

Tadd Ekstrand wrote:

Steve Ekstrand wrote:Hey? Is a Cayenne S okay to run? I'd sure think so. I don't know the options or standard features, but this one has the sport mode that drops right height. Its damn sporty. And fast. And in my mind totally safe. But would it fall under some silly blanket SUV ban???

Its for a potential low probability Ladies School student.

Steve
She actually has the Cayenne Turbo..

Turbo or Turbo S? I know that sounds like a weird question, but the two models exist.

Sorry forgot to clarify. It is just the turbo.

Bob Beamesderfer wrote:

Steve Ekstrand wrote:I thought all Turbos were S but not all S were turbo.

But I don't really know Porsches very well. My only experience with them was my scrapped together salvaged '70 914 in HS. It did "rule" the canyons though... It was just the flipping out of gear thing at full throttle and 115mph in a sweeper that I didn't like about the car.

In my trade-show-addled brain, I might have it wrong, so I'd have to look it up. There are more Cayennes then there should be.

The only differnece I can tell between the Cayanne Turbo and the Turbo S is 50 horses. (Turbo has 500 and Turbo S has 550) And the price tag of course. They also just came out with a Cayanne GTS which is a stick shift version of the car.

I am a European car buff... Especially BMWs

Wow... They have two versions above a Pepper Turbo?? Like Bob said... They have too many models.

I think 500hp is enough.... Especially with the driving gene running through that family...

I still say the other daughter should come out... There's got to be some running car in the family she hasn't totaled...

There is always the rental option.....
I finished 2nd in SM with this one---

I remember getting on my favorite onramp in the corvette and having an SUV behind me that I wasn't getting away from. It was confusing until I figured out that it was the Cayenne

Many a Sports Car got surprised on Angeles Crest by the Hemi Durango with 285 Kumho's. And David Avard spanks plenty with his Jeep GC with the little 4.7 cammer.

Michael Palero wrote:[Hey, what's wrong with the Audi Roll-a-saurus Quattro?? That Audi is pure gold!

You mean, other than being three feet off the apex cone?

Steve Ekstrand wrote:There is always the rental option.....
I finished 2nd in SM with this one---

Thats the car she rolled...

So is it a no on the Cayanne then?

Tadd Ekstrand wrote:
The only differnece I can tell between the Cayanne Turbo and the Turbo S is 50 horses. (Turbo has 500 and Turbo S has 550) And the price tag of course. They also just came out with a Cayanne GTS which is a stick shift version of the car.

I am a European car buff... Especially BMWs

The GTS looks like it will have better road manners than the other Cayennes. When I was at ABT, we tested a standard model and even with it lowered it wallowed a lot. The x5, OTOH, handles quite well on pavement. Oddly enough, so does the Touareg, which is on the same platform as the Cayenne. Touareg was also found to be a very good off-road vehicle.

Steve Ekstrand wrote:Many a Sports Car got surprised on Angeles Crest by the Hemi Durango with 285 Kumho's. And David Avard spanks plenty with his Jeep GC with the little 4.7 cammer.

I got surprised by that Hemi Durango with 285 Kumho's on Kansas' only windy road (the one to Club Orleans), and I was driving my STX car!

Discussion on the SCCA message board, SSS forum (I believe only available to SSS's) about cars going up on two wheels ... and what to do about it. I believe the decision was to make sure the driver was informed, as opposed to not letting him run anymore ... if he was an experienced driver. One of the cars in question was a Honda FIT. We've had a number of them run with us. I drove one. Didn't seem to want to go up on two wheels, at least not running R's.

The Cayenne is a Porsche. My gaffer friend drives his very hard and always talks about how incredible the handling is. I don't feel it should be excluded.

What seems to be a potentially dangerous situation is people running with very low tire pressures. I'm surprised we haven't had an incident where a tire has come off and dug the rim in. We had one person last year, almost down to his front rim. I noticed it while taking photos. By the time I got to the grid to warn the person, someone else had noticed it and
warned him.

Mako Koiwai wrote:
The Cayenne is a Porsche. I don't feel it should be excluded.

That should be a good enough reason right there. I would be interested in hearing the justification by the safety steward who decided to let an excluded vehicle run if there was an incident, and I am not talking about a roll, just any incident. "Why was ____ vehicle participating at this event?", "Uh, well, ummm." I am sure the people in the risk management department care about who knows who and how good they are, or how good you think it handles.

It is amazing to me that a few people are willing to raise the risk level of any event by allowing vehicles that are excluded. The real scary part is many of the people who think it is OK wear a SSS hat some of the time, I guess they only wear it when it does not effect their friends who want to run.

It seems we let certain vehicles run that in hindsight seem like they should have been excluded. Excluding a Cayenne just because it's a "SUV" doesn't seem to make sense. SUV's use to be or some are built on truck chassis. I don't believe Porsche makes a truck.

It's easy to be overly cautious.

Its my girlfriends Mom who wants to do the ladies school. She lets me drive the Cayanne Turbo all the time. I have taken it to a empty parking lot a couple of times and opened it up. With it on its lowest setting and with sport mode on it handles extremely well and do not see it being a roll over risk.

Tadd Ekstrand wrote:Its my girlfriends Mom who wants to do the ladies school. She lets me drive the Cayanne Turbo all the time. I have taken it to a empty parking lot a couple of times and opened it up. With it on its lowest setting and with sport mode on it handles extremely well and do not see it being a roll over risk.

I would guess most people don't think of a Mini as a roll over risk, but it has happened. We can't eliminate risk, but we can minimize our exposure by following the rules we have been given. If you don't agree, write a letter and try to get it classed.

Mako Koiwai wrote:It seems we let certain vehicles run that in hindsight seem like they should have been excluded. Excluding a Cayenne just because it's a "SUV" doesn't seem to make sense. SUV's use to be or some are built on truck chassis. I don't believe Porsche makes a truck.

It's easy to be overly cautious.

Most of the vehicles people think of as SUVs aren't body-on-frame. The largest ones are. All of the smaller ones except the Jeep Wrangler are unit-body.

Remember that the Cayenne Turbo lowers itself in sport mode. I don't know how much but it makes a difference. And they do a lot to keep weight low in those cars, so though the roof line is high, I'm not sure the CG is really that high.

I'd rather run a fresh Cayenne Turbo on street tires than a worn out 318ti on R compounds. One's legal, one isn't??? Sounds like something incredible stupid has happened in SCCA land.

And if the giant sucking sound that is the SSC really wants a 1.30 SSF standard then it looks like we had a good percentage of our Stock class competitors in Topeka running rogue outlaw cars that endanger our sport. Might as well start at the top.

Steve Ekstrand wrote:Remember that the Cayenne Turbo lowers itself in sport mode. I don't know how much but it makes a difference. And they do a lot to keep weight low in those cars, so though the roof line is high, I'm not sure the CG is really that high.

I'd rather run a fresh Cayenne Turbo on street tires than a worn out 318ti on R compounds. One's legal, one isn't??? Sounds like something incredible stupid has happened in SCCA land.

And if the giant sucking sound that is the SSC really wants a 1.30 SSF standard then it looks like we had a good percentage of our Stock class competitors in Topeka running rogue outlaw cars that endanger our sport. Might as well start at the top.

When it is lowered its not that much taller then an Subaru. It drops I would say around 4 inches. I remember my first EVO school and there was an old old station wagon in the school. Funny to watch but nowhere near safe. Its a Porsche it is made to drive hard.

A 4" drop puts the Cayenne in the same SSF land as a G35, 135, Cobalt SS, STI..... And better than the VW's.

The Cayenne Turbo is illegal not because its unsafe, but because the SCCA can't manage to pass a rule that can differentiate between a 4wd Tahoe and a Porsche. Sad.

Maybe people are scared that an "SUV" might beat them???????

2009 Cayenne Turbo:

Wheels and Tyres:
Standard 8 J x 18 on 255/55 R 18
Optional 9 J x 19 on 275/45 R 19
Optional 9 J x 20 on 275/40 R 20
Optional 10 J x 21 on 295/35 R 21

Weight: Unladen, DIN 2355 kg (5193 lb)
Max permissible 3080 kg (6791 lb)
Roofload 100 kg (220 lb)
(with Porsche roof transport system)
Max trailer load 3500 kg (7718 lb)

Dimensions:
Length 4795 mm (188.8")
Width 1928 mm (75.9")
Height 1694 mm (66.7")
Wheelbase 2855 mm (112.4")
Track front 1647 mm (64.8")
rear 1662 mm (65.4")
Max ground clearance 215 mm (8.5") (standard ride hight)
271 mm (10.7") (special offroad level)

A lightweight vehicle it ain't.