2006 Porsche Cayman S Road & Track Test

A Lot More than a Boxster Coupe

Yes, it's time again for a revised list of New Year's resolutions: 1) Go to the gym three times per week. 2) Eat healthier, with more

New Year's resolutions anyone? (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

fruits and vegetables and less sugar. 3) Be kinder and more loving to my family. 4) Be kinder and more loving to myself, and show this love by buying a new Porsche. Hmmm... that last one might just be possible to keep - OK the last two.

I think I'll make mine a Cayman S. OK, I'm still undecided, as the 911 Carrera S stole my heart away when I drove it on the racetrack earlier this year, but the new two-seat coupe is amazingly agile and the track I tested it out on recently is about as fine as any I've ever sampled.

I went way down south for the Cayman S launch, way down to Alabama. When I first got the call to go I couldn't figure out why I'd be going to Birmingham,

As part of the Barber Motorsport Park complex, owner George Barber has put together the world's largest motorcycle museum that features a six-story glass elevator at its centre, complemented by four "PEZ" dispenser-like racks of motorcycles stacked to the ceiling at each corner. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)

having never gone there on a ride and drive before, but upon arriving, the warmer weather would have been reason enough. Of course, there was another even more important reason. This was a Porsche event, after all, and few that I've been on haven't included time on a racecourse. This one would take us out to Barber Motorsport Park, home of the world's largest motorcycle collection, the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, which also includes some pretty impressive cars, I might add, such as one of the best Lotus collections I've ever seen off to the right of the entrance, John Surtees' (the only man to ever win a World Drivers' Championship on two and four wheels) Moto GP (FIM Grand Prix) winning MV Agusta and F1 championship Ferrari off to the left, a host of classic Porsches (one of which was the new Cayman S), an assortment of Le Mans cars and other oddities in the clearly visible basement, plus a pretty little Ferrari 246 "Dino" upstairs (or more like up the circular ramp surrounding the car-sized six-story glass elevator complemented by four "PEZ" dispenser-like racks of motorcycles stacked to the ceiling at each corner - yes, it's like the Guggenheim, NYC dedicated to bikes). Fittingly, at least to this event, George Barber raced, modified, and maintained Porsches in the '60s, accumulating 63 first-place wins.