It's no secret that Porsche's 911 dominates the American Le Mans Series GT2 Class. Given their supremacy, you could almost say that the German marque owns the series, setting performance and reliability standards so high that any car other than a 911 is immediately classified as an hapless underdog. But the lap times they are a changin’. Sure, a Porsche has won a place on the podium at every race so far this season. Yes, they’ve scooped first place at half of those races. But a new breed of competition is finally giving the current 996 GT3 RSR a real run for the money. To review…
In 2004, a Ferrari broke Porsche’s GT2 supremacy by winning one race. In the 2005 season, team Panoz managed to repeat the feat to take the sole non-Porsche victory. The rest of the season volleyed between the Alex Job’s factory-supported 911 and the Petersen White Lighting “near factory supported” 911’s. All in all, Stuttgart’s finest won seven all-Porsche podiums and nine Porsche wins (out of ten races). Oh, and every top five championship team hailed from Stuttgart.
Porsche’s preeminence forced GT2 race fans to stake their allegiance on a racing team, rather than a car manufacturer. They chose their loyalties according to car color, driver nationality or whether or not a team was a privateer or factory supported. Fast forward to 2006 and it’s a whole new world. There hasn’t been a single 1-2-3 Porsche finish this season. In fact, Porsche is only batting .500; the mighty 911 has dropped three races to other manufacturers. Their biggest defeat: Panoz beating them to the checkered flag at both Sebring and Le Mans.
At the same time, the Ferrari F430 has become the class of the field. With a 4.0-liter V8 cranking out significantly more horsepower and torque than its F360 predecessor, with a new, stiffer chassis delivering a huge increase in torsional rigidity, with more highly evolved aerodynamics creating a huge increase in downforce, it's the one to watch.
Although the season didn’t start so well for the Italians, the team has since sorted the make’s famed reliability issues and eluded the bad luck that plagued their early efforts. In Portland, the Fezza came from dead last at the start to finishing first by a 20-second margin. The car also destroyed the competition at Salt Lake to take first place. That’s a far cry from the old F360, which only accounted for one victory during its entire stint in the series.
All in all, the lack of a new more competitive Porsche model in the GT2 class has created one of the best racing seasons in years. With the allowance of the GT2S class (which allows sedan-based cars to compete in the races but not for championship points), BMW has returned to the series. Lexus is about to make its debut with the new IS350 GT2. There have been a few races with three makes on the podium and five different teams taking the top spot. Better competition has made for great racing. And yet…
With its long history of class dominance, it’s no surprise that there’s still a Porsche team leading the American Le Mans Series GT2 point’s race. It’s also no shock that the out-gunned manufacturer is evolving its entry. The 997 GT3 RSR is based on the current gen 997 chassis, combined with a few pieces from the outgoing 996 GT3 RSR. Porsche has taken an unconventional step in the new car’s design: adding weight to enter a heavier class.
As the extra ballast can be placed anywhere in the car, the boffins at Porsche can now lower their car’s center of gravity and further refine the rear-engined machine’s handling. The move also frees the automaker to use wider wheels. To contain the new wider wheels, the car’s rear structure has been sourced from the Carrera 4 (which is now 50mm wider per side). The new chassis is ten percent stiffer than its predecessor. The new engine’s 3.8-liter displacement delivers 30 more horsepower than the 996’ 3.6-liter six, for a total of 485hp.
The 997 GT3 RSR made it racing debut at the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa. Despite the Jekyll and Hyde reliability of the RS Spyder, the new car finished 1-2 in their respective class.
The prospect of Porsche’s return to total supremacy must be giving GT2 race organizers nightmares. To their eternal credit, the sport’s governing body is not contemplating any sort of “equalizing” regulations to hamper the 911’s. It’s gloves-off racing like it should be. Even so, fans have mixed feelings. While the Porsches have established a large and loyal fan base, even the most die-hard supporter must secretly wish for more competitive racing. Will they have it? Watch this space.
I saw Porsche testing the new 997 GT3 RSR on their test track in Weissach about eight months ago. Time will tell how well it will do in the series, but from what I saw, it’s one hell of a car.
Lucky you.
I don’t know how Porsche always does it. I mean, the engine’s displacement is below the Ferrari’s, it has two cylinders less than the Ferrari, the engine is in the wrong place and still the new GT3 RSR seems to be the next dominator.
Those engineers must be from another planet or something…
doesn’t the F430 have a 4.3 litre V8?
/end pedant/
The F430 GT has a 4.0-liter V8 that is derived from the 4.3-liter in the street car.
3.8-liter vs. 4.0-liter isn't much of a difference. As far as the engines location I wish Porsche would get over it and campaign a 3.8-liter Cayman.
More on that later.
Ryan,
I too wish Porsche would just get over it with and put the 911 where it belongs – in the museum of ideas that overstayed their welcome 40 years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, 911s sell. 911s win races.
But that doesn’t change the laws of physics.
The rear engine layout is highly optimized, but simply outmoded tech. From the vacuum-tube based computers that are part of the US Air Traffic Control System (to this very day!) to domestic air-cooled V-Twin motorcycles that have less specific output than most lawnmower engines – with enough wasted engineering time and money -you really can polish a turd. At least for a while.
The problem is the smell always has to be dealt with. Each year, Porsche engineers waste countless tens of thousands of hours wringing the next 2% increase out of the 911. If Porsche powers up the Cayman (and puts far less into the effort) the 911 uber-Beetle will get beaten like a narc discovered in a Hell’s Angels clubhouse.
There is still an old guard at Porsche that would have kept the 911 air-cooled if they could have. (Scary, huh?) Thankfully, emissions standards killed that off. Crash regs will eventually make the is-this-still-1940? engine location a memory.
Just not soon enough.
The customers (majority) who buy a 911 to say they have a Porsche won’t even notice that the engine has been moved forward. Most couldn’t tell the wastegate from the oil filter anyway. The lamenters will quickly get over it when they start cranking out faster laps with a car that simply is more inherently balanced and mass-centralized. The rest of the folks who just love the 911 ‘look’ won’t notice any change either.
As long as some (really) old school types are near enough the top at Porsche, and the 911 continues to sell in in present config, there is little hope for change until safety regs force it.
The sad reality of Porsche corporate internal politics- it keeps the more modern products with more potential (914, 928, 968, Boxster,Cayman) from getting their due. Each and every one developmentally shortchanged so as not to show that the emporer 911 has been nekkid as a jaybird for 30 years.
By the way, I love Porsches. I own a couple. I have driven many dozens over the years. But just like every Porsche engineer I have had the pleasure of getting hammered with, I know the 911 layout really sucks.
Woh woh woh!
"I too wish Porsche would just get over it with and put the 911 where it belongs – in the museum of ideas that overstayed their welcome 40 years ago."
I never wished for this and never would. The 911 is the only everyday supercar and one fine example of amazing engineering. Yes, it has become way too portly and cushy but that is where the Cayman steps in. What many people haven't realized and Porsche won't admit is the instead of the 911 being killed by the 928 it has morphed into one.
The 911 is our against all odds wonder-kid. Lets not start a rally for its demise.
Don’t remember the exact quote or who said or wrote it, but the classic line about the 911 is that it’s a bad idea that Porsche has been trying to fix ever since it was introduced–huge rear tires, Weissach axle, etc. etc.
And yeah, I own one…
As a lifelong Porsche-phile I have never been a fan of the 911 I’ve always thought of the 911 as a very temporal and niche model that should never have extended beyond the 60s.
I really do not understand why they would chain themselves to such a model when they’ve had the 550, the beauty of the 904(my dream car), the technological and engineering achievements of the 928(my current car and love), etc… Not only is the 911 being kept alive but they’re also spreading the ugly across the entire range instead of just letting other models evolve on their own. I’ll just stop here since this subject always irritates me.
I also hope Porsche’s race towards the mass market doesn’t result in over exertion and expose any defects.
P.S. for you nouveau riche in your 911s who look down your nose at my 928 just remember, mine was the top model.
Oh, ok.
Well Ido wish for it. The 911 is simply a relic. Sure, it has become more of a grand tourer, it’s also faster than ever it ever was.
Against all odds wonder kid? Well, if you throw a ton of resources at almost anything you can make it go above and beyond. And? An uprated Cayman would be/is far better.
The point is simple. Rear-engine has absolutely no useful application on a street car. It’s a stone-age engineering joke.
Porsche (and everybody else’s) engineers tell you this everyday indirectly – how many new rea-engine cars have their been in the last 40 years? Perhaps one or two from the Sov-Bloc? See any new rear-engine Porsche’s? It’s simply a lousy platform with a ton of workarounds.
To hear it directly, just find yourself with Porsche engineers in an environment with plenty of alcohol and no chance of getting attributed.
The 911 is, and has been for the last 20+ years, a relic. I’m embarassed as a Porschephile that they still have that thing. I want all my Porsches to be as cutting edge and gifted as possible. Keep the uber-Beetle look if they must, but put the engine somewhere functional.
Everyday supercar? Sure, they generally start. But they require so much R&M to keep them going you’ll disabuse yourself of that notion in rather short order if you ever own one. Good luck going even 100K in any 911 without at least one “$10K surprise” beyond the regular excessive maint.
No thanks. I like my Porsches modern and as optimized as possible. That to me is what Porsche is all about. Modern has nothing to do with the 911. Didn’t in 1976. Really an anachronism now.
You wont see the 911 depart anytime soon. it is an icon, everyone know what it is. If in conversation you say “The Turbo” every one knows what you mean. Rear engine-RWD is not a bad layout. There has been plenty of articles about why its good. The weight transfer during acceleration and breaking is optimized. I can perfectly remember a 911 vs Corvette article that explained why the 911 can go just as fast with less power.
If the car was as ancient as everyone is trying to say then why do so many racing teams use them? if there is something better out there more teams would be running them. How many Ferrari/Aston/Panoz privateer teams are there, not to many. All the teams know these cars are inferior to the performance/reliability/technology of the 911. Teams are there to win races and keep the sponsors happy…if another car could do that they would be running it, plain and simple.
How far would $10k get you on a F430 or a Gallardo and where do you suggest to keep a briefcase or hang your dry cleaning or heaven forbid pick up your young children?
By your definition of an everyday super car the NSX or Supra would be ideal due to reliability and maintenance costs alone. Last time I checked if you can afford an Enzo, the $25K brake job is your last worry. I would argue most new 911 owners can afford to maintain one. If you cannot you shouldn't buy one and especially shouldn't complain about it. You buy your ticket, you take your ride.
also…Porsche has been at the top of nearly every reliability survey I have seen in recant years so im not sure where this notion of horrid maintenance comes from. My father has a 944 that has had little more then the sunroof motor crap out and a batterie die during the long winter
To yournamehere:
You do understand basic physics, yes? You do understand why every review (no matter how sycophantic it might be) of every 911 since day one has referred to the desire of the car to spin itself around 180 degrees if you brake too hard or lift off the gas abruptly during a corner. With the engine hanging off the back, shifting weight to the front wheels is kind of like trying to balance a broomstick on your hand.
Go back and read any competent tester’s views on the Cayman. To a man they say that, with more power, the Cayman would be able to eat the 911 for breakfast. The simple truth is that the 911 is in it’s twilight years. It’s had a hell of a run, but physics is catching up with it.
“Rear engine-RWD is not a bad layout. There has been plenty of articles about why its good. The weight transfer during acceleration and breaking is optimized. I can perfectly remember a 911 vs Corvette article that explained why the 911 can go just as fast with less power.”
It’s not a bad layout, it’s a horrible layout. The only possible beneficial application of rear engine layout might be on a sandrail. Vehicles meant to run on a hard surface will handle better with a more centralized mass. This is simple physics.
Once again, don’t get me wrong. The 911 performs incredibly well despite it’s inherent weaknesses. The problem is Porsche engineers are forced to keep making the 911 work as opposed to developing a much more modern platform. Those modern platforms will be far more dominant than the 911 could ever dream of being once the ‘old guard’ finally gets out of the way and either lets the 911 get fixed, or finally retired.
I’m sure yournamehere’s father has a pretty darn reliable 944. It’s not a 911, it’s a Porsche.
Ryan, the 911 is simply too heavily compromised to be reliable. The engines seldom cover 80K without a rebuild. There’s more ways to drop $10K just keeping your 911 running than we have room for in this blog.
On the other hand, 928 (the first in-house Porsche) 944, 951, 968, Boxster, and Cayenne mostly clock 100K miles with nary a hiccup. Why? Superior basic design concepts. The only thing that keeps/kept any of those cars from eclipsing the sad old uber-Beetle is Porsche management itself.
Pickup some enthusiast mags and read the 911 guys asking about their latest major failure on their under 50K mile car. The last couple of years of 911 have been much better, but they still suffer issues that simply don’t happen on the modern cars in the Porsche line.
For practicality, a tuned Cayenne Turbo will get you from point A to anywhere with 15 times the stuff you could ever squeeze in a 911. It’ll also get you there way faster, because it is just a skosh stealthier.
F430 and Gallardos have a different je ne sais quoi than a Twin. There’s a boatload of folks who drive ~$100-120K cars. It seems to me $180-220K playtoys are in a different sandbox.
My point is regardless of whether one can afford to throw $10K here and there, Porsche has proven that it does not need to be that way.
I know Porsche can do better than the 911. I wish they would get on to allowing to happen.
The real question here should be the GT3 RSR's reliability. Not arguing about hearsay.
OK, back on topic.
In a race context, the GT3 RSR is pretty darn reliable compared to what it is up against. Beyond that, so much of race car reliablity is in the set-up that until others figure out the ‘right’ setup, they will not fare as well as they could.
As long as no other company throws the resources that Porsche (and the privateers) have into their car, Porsche will be alright on the track for a while longer.
As to hearsay, Porsche engineers will never say anything directly bad about the 911 when they think it might get back to the wrong people. Especially to a journo. However, I’ve found in life, how much you hear of what really happens in the world depends a lot on who you know.
I see some strange comments here.
The only not so modern thing about the 911 is the position of it’s engine. This is the same engineering you find in all Porsches except Carrera GT.
How is the 911’s rear engine less reliable than the one in Cayman just because of the different position ?
And the 997’s engine is placed far more to the front of the car , compared to the 1963 model.
As somebody mentioned – when someone says Turbo ,everybody knows it’s a Porsche, and when someone says Porsche , everybody think about 911.
911 Reliability? Ask the man who owns one: 84K miles in less than 3 years, a dozen track weekends a year (driven at a constant 6500 RPM scream, in the words of an advanced instructor, “the hardest I have ever seen a stock 911 driven”), ski weekends in NM, driven daily to work and on weekends everywhere…and NO expensive issues (dang few issues of any kind), doesn’t use a drop of oil even during the track weekends.
And let’s talk maintenance engineering: EASY! Have done all my own maintenance on a dozen or more cars over 25 years, and this one is the easiest to work on by far.
Yes, that rear engine takes a bit more work to drive fast than other cars do, but once you get that rhythm you’re faster than virtually anything else, even guys who bring in well over 400 horses to big tracks like the Texas World Speedway road course. (One reason: That rear engine you guys are decrying means you can throttle steer the 911 much more effectively than virtually anything else. It just takes a bit of practice.)
AND, that rear engine leaves plenty of room for luggage so you can take the lady of your life on a looong romantic weekend or even two-week vacation.
If this is outmoded engineering, gimme more of it!
OMG!! – I haven’t read so much ignoran BS since my last journey to the ‘which is better Ford or Chevy’ website.
GBH – if the 911 is such a ‘relic’ and it, in your words, still sells and wins races. What does this say about the rest of the automotive industry? What have they been doing for the last 40 years? Because apparently, they still haven’t figured out how to beat it?!? I think you’d be best to curl up with your physics book while the rest of us thrash around the track with perm-a-grin in our 911s.
Your broad general comments are, in a word, irritating. You’d be a fool to sit here and argue that there is a ‘best or worst’ layout for an automobile. They all have short comings. The fact that Porsche have taken the least likely layout and made it into the most successful and one of the most recognized cars in the world is commendable to say the least. They took a chance and it has paid off for 40 yrs and counting.
I’ve had many porsches from 928s/944 turbo/non-turbos/356s/912 and a half dozen 911s. They were/are all fantastic cars the most reliable so far have been the 356/912 and 911. 1983 SC with 185k miles has cost roughly $1500 in the last 20yrs!!and that is normal wear items brakes and clutch. 912 has approx 500K miles on it hasn’t cost $10K yet. Yes, original owners of both and yes I maintain them myself.
There’s more to building cars than theory and my hats off to any manufacturer that has the b@!!$ to take a chance and the know how to make it work.
Brgds, Peter