This custom Cayman celebrates Porsche’s involvement in this legendary Mexican road race.
Back in 1953, two Porsche 550s were entered in the Carrera Panamericana road race. And 70 years later, the German automaker has decided to celebrate this feat here with a rather special version of its Cayman.
Dubbed the ‘Legend of Panemericana’, this rather special edition of Porsche’s hardcore Cayman GT4 RS is limited to only two units. And these two custom ‘Sonderwunsch’ sports cars was intended not only to pay homage to the 550s that participated on this legendary Mexican road race all those years ago, but is also to celebrate the German automaker’s partnership with watchmaker TAG Heuer.
Although the partnership between Porsche and TAG Heuer did not blossom till the mid-80s (with the likes of the TAG Turbo Porsche engine in F1), there is nevertheless a connecting thread that entwines the two companies together with the Carrera Panamericana. It was after all exactly 60 years ago that Jack Heuer presented a chronograph wristwatch specifically for racing drivers of this legendary road race, called TAG Heuer Carrera Chronograph.
So given this interesting historical tid-bit, it should be unsurprising to note that the star car of the two special edition Caymans created (with the racing number 154) will feature a custom-designed TAG Heuer stopwatch module in the centre console. The left clock is a mechanical three-hand clock displays the time has the typical Heuer Carrera Design and has a power reserve of eight days, while next to the clock is a stopwatch with a scale that helps the driver to maintain the average speed often prescribed for rallies.
Now the reason why only one Cayman gets this extra feature is because the car bearing the racing number 154 will actually be participating in this year’s Carrera Panamericana race, with American actor Patrick Dempsey behind the wheel for the first and second stages no less. The second car created for this special edition however will instead live a presumably more cushy life, given that its fate is to be auctioned off ‘for a good cause in Mexico’ in early 2024 after both cars have finished their display stint at Rennsport Reunion 7.
In any case, those who are perhaps interested in bidding on the Cayman bearing the racing number 152 will be glad to know that the absence of the custom stopwatch module is about the only big thing that is missing relative to its race-prepped counterpart. Both of these bespoke GT4 RS for instance will still feature custom tricoloured cross-stitching in the colours of the Mexican flag and the TAG Heuer logo on the steering wheel rim and the dashboard, in addition to a stylised Carrera Panemericana logo being embroidered on the Guards Red leather sports seats.
The TAG Heuer logo also makes an appearance embossed on the armrest between the seats, as well as in the middle of the bonnet, on the side blades of the rear wing and even on the wheel hub covers of the central lock wheels. The Pegasus motif on the front-left wing (of racing number 152) and alternatively on the rear-left wheel arch (of racing number 154) meanwhile is there as an homage to the 550 Spyders that Porsche previously entered in the Carrera Panamericana, which were incidentally was one of the first racing cars with advertising from sponsors.
Finished in a Silver Grey Metallic that Porsche has recently developed to celebrate the centenary of Le Mans, there are unfortunately to be no tangible performance upgrades made to this pair of custom Caymans. Though given that the GT4 RS is already as hardcore Caymans come, there probably wasn’t really all that much that needed doing to it before sending #154 to one of the most gruelling road races in the world.
