GOING NOWHERE FAST

PORSCHE'S FAMOUS GT DIVISION CREATED THE 718 CAYMAN GT4 RS, SO WE NATURALLY PIT IT AGAINST ONE OF SOCAL'S FINEST DEAD-END ROADS. MORE EVIDENCE THAT IT ISN'T THE DESTINATION, IT'S THE JOURNEY.

- DAN EDMUNDS

THE SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS ARE STILL GROWING. As the Pacific and North American tectonic plates crush and grind against one another, the mountains that border Los Angeles continue to creep upwards faster than gravity can pull them down. This creates major headaches for engineers who would dare attempt to build a road through ever-changing terrain. In the case of California's Highway 39, the result is a spectacular mountain road that goes nowhere, which turns out to be a perfect place to test another engineering marvel, the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS.

Built-in the late 1950s, the northern reaches of Highway 39 appear to be intact on most maps, apparently connecting the town of Azusa with the famed Angeles Crest Highway at a summit T-junction. But that hasn't truly been the case since 1978, when a massive mud and rock slide inundated a section of road at Snow Spring. The road now ends at a locked gate adjacent to a spectacular overlook 6.2 miles shy of the Crest.

Heading north out of Azusa, 39 wanders past one final housing tract, then bends over a bridge until it slices through a gap in the rock that feels like Turn One, the point where the canyon walls soar, the road gets truly sinuous, and the fun begins as we downshift into attack mode. Almost immediately the shrill note of the GT4 RS's mid-mounted 4.0-liter flat-six reverberates off the canyon walls as we pass the first of many "Falling Rock” signs and, quite regularly, small crumbs of former mountain that must be accounted for as we sight our line through the onrushing corners.

Priced from $144,050, if you're lucky enough to secure one, the GT4 RS undercuts the 911 GT3 by nearly $20,000. Sure, you can nudge it close to $200,000 if you get frisky with the options sheet, but that's par for the course in Porscheland. What you get for your dollars is a Cayman with the heart and soul of a 911 GT3.