In one of my retirement lives I was a Volkswagen salesman. I recall the company publishing in sales literature that the Scirroco spoiler added something like 20 pounds of downforce (at what speed i don't remember) when deployed. Any facts or speculation around here on similar data for the Cayman? It's an expensive gimmick if it doesn't do anything.

I have no data for the Cayman, but in Paul Frere's book on the development of the 911 he presents data for many different spoilers, dams, and combinations, including retractable unitssimilar tothe CS installation. The results are very significant, and illustrate the difficulties encountered in optimizing performance.


Marty

Just a correction, I think you're thinking about the Corrado. The Scirocco never had a wing that moved.

I owned both at one point or another.

Ed1,


Here's an excerpt from the Product Information guide on the CS:

<p align="left">6.2 Extendable rear wing

<p align="left">The aerodynamically optimized rear contour also provides for an optimum air flow over the rear wing, which effectively
<p align="left">reduces the vehicle’s drag and rear-axle lift. At top speed, the lift at the rear axle is reduced by approx. 30 kg/ 66.1 lbs..
<p align="left">The optimized contour and extension height of the rear wing, which represent a unique feature on this class of vehicle,
<p align="left">ensures that the wing functions at the optimum aerodynamic operating point and that the desired rear-axle lift is combined with minimized drag.
Fig. 47: Rear view with extended rear wing, Cayman S

Aaron---Thankyou. Of course you are right. My first senior moment. And I owned a 75 Scirocco (but never happened to sell a Corrado) so do know the difference.


Aflau---And thankyou. Good info. My memory (already proven faulty) says the 20 lb figure for the Corrado was at some reasonable cruise speed and certainly not at top speed.


Thanks again, gentlemen. Ed

It's a bit disappointing that Porsche didn't design the Cayman such that it actually generates downforce as it goes faster. They did so with the GT3. The lotus exige also does this. With our spoilers, we are reducing lift, but not enough to generate downforce.