Daniel muses the future of his Cayman S after a hefty shunt. First things first though, let’s get the old girl back on the road first.
| Driver's Log | |
|---|---|
| Date acquired: | July 2008 |
| Total kilometres: | 92,159 |
| Kilometres this month: | 2054 |
| Costs this month: | $0 |
| L/100km this month: | N/A |
For those of you concerned over my well being after last month’s parking effort, you’ll be pleased to know that apart from some bruises and superficial burns to my nose and left wrist from the airbag, I was otherwise perfectly fine. It’s the first time I’ve had the (dis)pleasure of munching down on an airbag and although it’s not something I wish to repeat, I’d rather have that than nothing should I decide to pirouette off the highway again. Unlike your regular rear end bump, the deceleration I had from 80kph to a dead stop was almost instant, and the fact I walked away feeling little else than sorry for myself drives home what remarkable bits of kit the seatbelts and airbags are.
It’s also worth noting that the front of the car also did its part in protecting me. Not for the first time have I been astounded by how well Porsches do in crashes, and it is all really quite cosmetic at a glance. I’m currently waiting to hear what course the insurance company will take with it. Initial speculation suggests it could be repaired, but with the rear hatch being out of whack after the bump, it could be another story.
Since the nose job I’ve been thinking on possible silver linings to come from this wet slippery cloud. What I’ve come up with was the possibility of a GT3 style front bumper for more front end downforce, or maybe carbon fibre fenders and bumper for weight reduction. Both options have crossed my mind previously, but ruled out on cost at the time, so now would probably be the time to do it.
There was a by-product of this thought process that caught me by complete surprise though. It got me thinking what else can I really do on the car without going crazy on the piggy bank? That’s where I’m stumped, because I’m at that point where any further modifications are going to be very costly, so, and this sounds strange as I write it, is it time to change the Cayman? I’ve not suffered any head trauma from the crash, honest. I love the looks and the way the Cayman drives, but it’s got to the point where it’s hard to make any great gains in performance, and thus lap times without major investment. Obviously the Cayman doesn’t have enough power otherwise I’d have made a proper mess of her and done so in true heroic (read idiotic) style, so something with a little more oomph is in order, just so I do things right in future. From an economics point of view, maybe a better investment would be a 997 GT3 for what I need. Well, want. More power and factory-ready for the track are aspects that seem to suit my requirements better today compared to those of six years ago.
First things first though. I need to get the old girl sorted and then we’ll see what the future holds.
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