Man-o'-War

Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey Racing HIGHS: A clinic on proper steering response, 9000 rpm of sonic glory, more grip is good. LOWS: A mirror full of wing, upgrades useful only on track, quiet only when it's off.

- Austin Irwin

AN ORANGE-COLORED SUNRISE, a 1.9-mile road course all to ourselves, and a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Manthey to race around it. It's the type of scene typically interrupted by an alarm clock. We took the most aggressive version of Porsche's mid-engine two-seater to Grattan Raceway near Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the same reason you eat breakfast cereal with a spoon: because it's the right thing to do.

The kit from Manthey (pronounced mahn-tie) takes an extreme track weapon right to the lunatic fringe. Manthey fits a larger wing and canards on the front bumper. The additional carbon-fiber pieces reduce weight slightly but contribute 372 pounds of downforce at 124 mph (an increase of 196 pounds). The wing's extra force is so great, it requires bonding reinforcements to the hatch and body. Manthey also includes four-way manually adjustable dampers (replacing the standard electronically controlled units), offers 20 percent stiffer front springs, and dials in lots of camber.