TRAKCAR

LOL, Larry can I buy you beer to show me around the Ring in the 991RS when I do Euro delivery and then buy it from me? I figure Atlas grey is my fave color but I can do smurf blue as well

Macca

Good point Larry. Could be just pure speculation by Ian. My inside tops ran out with the GT3, I know nothing about the RS variant. I think this will be an exciting development to watch. My guess is technology in one form or another (composites?) will become the focus.

fbirch

Interesting review; thanks to Macca for posting the link. Did anyone take note of the following statement, which the author included in his RWS discussion?

Should the on-board sensors identify that you are drifting the car intentionally it <ed: ”it” being RWS, as I read the statement> will help you here too, making showboating even easier.

The above quote makes it sound as if RWS steering logic is adaptive – in other words, it doesn’t just steer the back wheels straightforwardly based on vehicle speed and front wheel steering angle alone; it changes its steering logic in response to the slip angle of the car, and whether or not it “believes” you want the slip angle. If so, it suggests that RWS may be linked to the stability control system, and if so, interventional, supplying corrective reactions in response to driver inputs that would otherwise upset the balance of the car.

This is the first indication I’ve seen that RWS contains this kind of adaptively interventional functionality. It would be interesting to learn if this is really the case or not, and if so, can the system be switched to a mode where it doesn’t function that way.

Macca

I agree this is counter to what we have read in two other articles and needs come clarification. Its my belief the RWS is returned to 0 degrees if the yaw sensors detect slippage at high G. Maybe Ian got this bit wrong?

fbirch

Macca, I recall one prior article where the author stated that RWS deactivated with stability control, also implying some linkage between the two systems. At the time, we all agreed he got it wrong. Maybe this new bit is also wrong, but it would be nice to get a definitive clarification from Porsche one way or the other. If, as you state, the RWS control computer is indeed wired to receive input signals from yaw sensors, it at least opens the possibility that there may be some SC functionality programmed into the RWS algorithms.

This made me think that tuners may one day play around with RWS algorithms the way they play with ECU tunes today. I can envision a bunch of track rats looking at plots of lap data with RWS angles overlaid on the data and thinking, “If only the RWS kicked in an extra 0.25 degrees coming in to T12, I could take it flat out and knock 2 seconds off my lap times.” And then Sharkwerks or some other shop will offer a RWS reflash which does just that. Maybe a whole library of RWS “tunes” to suit all tastes and track peculiarities. Lots of possibilities in this brave new world, and I don’t look forward to any of them! I have enough trouble trying to find a good alignment and a decent set of r-comps for my poor old 996 GT3.

Macca

Fbirch. Just love your email. Eloquent and I agree in total although I actually look forward to the ability to tune the car with a laptop rather than the expensive and painful way I have in the past with Motec, cams, injectors, shocks, springs. With a simple GPS hook up the car would remember exactly what the settings are as soon as you got on the track LOL!