Gordon Kirby

The most successful by far of Roger Penske’s three race teams this year has been his ALMS team. The pair of yellow Penske Porsche RS Spyders have taken this year’s American Le Mans Series by storm, repeatedly thrashing the previously all-conquering factory Audi R10 turbo diesels as well as the trio of new factory-backed Acura teams. Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas scored the Penske/Porsche team’s sixth win in a row at Elkhart Lake last weekend and the team is looking to record its seventh successive win at Mosport next weekend on a track which should be much more suited to the LMP2 Porsches than Elkhart Lake.

In this space back in March I took a close look at the winter development program which transformed the RS Spyder from a solid contender in its first year to a pace-setting, regular race winner in its second season. If you want to review that work take a look at the March 12th posting of ‘The Way It Is’ wherein Penske engineer Nigel Beresford delineated the development program which has brought this year’s successes. Much of the improvement comes from an intensive aerodynamic development program orchestrated by Michael Pfadenhauer, a German aerodynamicist who was hired by Porsche from Audi two years ago, but engine performance and fuel efficiency have been equally important.

Calling on the expertise of its own Design Studio, Porsche has introduced a limited-edition Cayman S “Porsche Design Edition 1”.

In addition to riding ten millimeters lower than the standard Cayman, the limited-edition Cayman S takes on the 19-inch turbo wheels with 235/35 ZR 19 tires at the front and 265/35 ZR 19 tires at the rear.

Something that Porsche doesn't talk about in their press release is the addition of the exterior graphics on the car. Were these added merely as part of the cars introduction or are the graphics standard "equipment"? Ridestory touched on Porsche styling recently when the new 911 GT2 was introduced.

Two accidents plagued leg 10 of the Transsyberia Rally, bringing the 7,000 kilometer race to a halt.

Drivers from both the Colombian and Australian teams didn't see a 2 meter deep ditch, sending Christian Pfeil-Schneider, Neil Hopkins and Paul Watson to the hospital with minor injuries.