SamFromTX

Doubt they would let this happen. A Cayman GT4 may outperform a Carrera GTS but I would be shocked (and actually pissed) if PAG lets it outperform the GT3.

GrantG

MY 2017 in 2016. I meant soon after GT4 intro...

SamFromTX

Seriously? Don't do that!

MileHigh911

Agree with you SAM!!! I still don't understand why the motoring world doesn't see the benefit of the low CofG rear engine 911. They just keep propagating the old 911 stories, and say Porsche has engineered the danger out of it. It just amazes me. You will hear that the 911 is "efficient" with it's use of power, but never that it "could" be an advantage to have the rear engine. Remember that article in one of the magazines, comparing the Cayman and the Gt3? To me, the front engine design is the worst design, and if you ever wanted to test that, drive a rear wheel drive, front engine car when there is limited friction, i.e., winter. The mid-engine and rear engine come very close to one another, yet they must be driven differently to find the limits. The design difficulty with mid-engine is the need for a long wheelbase. What other sports car is still rocking a sub-100 inch wheelbase? Of course, for every upside, there is a downside. So, lift-off oversteer at the limit..., instability with the short wheelbase for high speed corners, and more importantly.....with a small flat 6 there will be a HP ceiling for N/A. And I think we are near it.....

TrackFan

They could always make the N/A bigger. How about a GT3 4.5?

Macca

I tend to agree with Milehigh. Actually in the 991 gen the engine is increasingly becoming more "mid" than "rear"!

Id really like to be wrong, but I would bet a lunch on the fact that the GT4 will not have a headline HP above 400 and will likely infact be below (Im guessing 385-395 bhp). This is assuming is an atmo engine and that "4" doesnt have hidden connotations!

GreenLantern

I'll take it.

TrackFan

No kidding. Who here wouldn't?

MileHigh911

I thought I read somewhere that the 4.0 L was pushing the material limits for displacement. There just isn't much room there, and one still needs it to be reliable. Stroking it to 4.1L like SW can do is possible.

The next big performance gains need to come with lighter materials if keeping a N/A engine. I think the RS will have some.

Then comes hybrids and turbos with inertia wheels to keep boost spooled.

ipse dixit

What about a turbocharging system like the Ferrari Variable Boost Management on the new California T?

Artificially capping the maximum boost depending on the gear selected. So that the car pulls with the same longitudinal g force, in a linear NA-manner as you row through the gears ...?

MayorAdamWest

While I love the platform, own a 991S, and want a GT3, we can't just pretend that the 911 platform is doing amazing in motorsports. They're in 2nd behind Chevy in IMSA (and would be lower if not for some failures on the other cars), and had a pretty poor showing at Le Mans, only coming in 3rd in the GTE Pro. I don't know if there are other reasons, but it does seem like Porsche is not dominant like it once was.

TrackFan

It had to happen. Not many designs have lasted as long as the 911.

I'm amazed it lasted this long, and how much better it is now.

GrantG

I think we'll see a GT3 with an NA motor that big or even larger sometime, but it'll be in the form of a Flat-8. The Flat-6 starts to get impractical at those large displacements with a high-rev concept (reciprocating masses get too large to be responsive and reliable).

TrackFan

I was thinking that after I posted. Just dreaming.

GreenLantern

I'd like to see that on the 991 GT2/RS.