Porsche is known to be more German than most Germans. So that being said, they tend to go the extra mile in terms of testing out their cars. And by extra 'mile', they precisely drove it for 3,100 miles (5000km). You may think "sure, most manufacturers go further than that". Indeed you are correct but did we mention that Porsche did the whole 5000km at 300km/h while only stopping for fuel?
This just comes to show that Porsche's testing is so thorough, that they answered a question nobody asked. However, it must be said that this engine is based on the drivetrain of the 911 GT3 R that was tried and tested in endurance racing, the same engine in fact is also used 'unchanged' from the new 911 GT3 Cup. As it was built for endurance, Porsche really knew that it was capable of handling such a feat.
How Was It Possible?
Through science? Well sure, kinda. But actually Porsche actually brought their GT3 to the Nardo Ring in Italy. The 12.5km track that manufacturers send their supercars to find out how fast it could actually go. You know that big circular test track that can literally be seen from space?
Since Porsche owns the track anyways, they decided to put it to use by driving the GT3 at a constant speed of 300km/h until it reached the 5000km mark in just 16 hours while only stopping for fuel. As the engine is from a racecar, Porsche wanted to know if the 502hp, naturally aspirated engine would be durable and long-lasting enough for the road.
“In total, the engine in the new GT3 ran for more than 22,000 hours on the test rig. During testing, we repeatedly simulated typical circuit profiles and ran the engine at full throttle for a very high proportion of the time,” According to Thomas Mader, the Project Manager for GT Road Car Engines at Porsche.
Aerodynamics Helped Too!
The new GT3 already features the wing that closely resembles the one on the back of the GT3 Cup. Crafted to carve air through sophisticated aerodynamics, the swan neck rear wing works in tandem with the diffuser that came straight out of the 911 RSR. Both the wing and diffuser can be manually set to significantly increase the aerodynamic pressure for high cornering speeds and now with a double wishbone front axle layout.
“We developed the aerodynamics of the new 911 GT3 in around 700 simulations. We spent more than 160 hours fine-tuning the car in the wind tunnel. The new 911 GT3 generates 50 percent more downforce than its predecessor at 200 km/h just in the ex-works setting. In the setting with maximum downforce, the increase is as much as over 150 percent,” said aerodynamics engineer Mathias Roll.
Despite having a wider body and more features, the GT3 weighs practically the same as the previous generation. However with the added power, the car will now launch from 0-100km/h in just 3.4 seconds with a top speed of 320 km/h (318 km/h with PDK). During testing on the fearsome Nurburgring Nordschleife, the new GT3 managed to achieve a 6:59.927 laptime around the 20.8km track. That is over 17 seconds faster than it's predecessor.
Written by | Danial Malek
Porsche is known to be more German than most Germans. So that being said, they tend to go the extra mile in terms of testing out their cars. And by extra 'mile', they precisely drove it for 3,100 miles (5000km). You may think "sure, most manufacturers go further than that". Indeed you are correct but did we mention that Porsche did the whole 5000km at 300km/h while only stopping for fuel?
This just comes to show that Porsche's testing is so thorough, that they answered a question nobody asked. However, it must be said that this engine is based on the drivetrain of the 911 GT3 R that was tried and tested in endurance racing, the same engine in fact is also used 'unchanged' from the new 911 GT3 Cup. As it was built for endurance, Porsche really knew that it was capable of handling such a feat.
