Elephant Bart

We've shot a video demonstrating the front axle lift system on the new GT3. The system raises the front end by 30mm to avoid scraping the front spoiler.

It takes less than two seconds to raise.




The system works by forcing compressed air into the lower cavity of the strut. See the pneumatic hose fitted (red arrow) to the bottom of the strut body. The damper is inserted into the strut inverted (rod is facing downwards). The cavity created between the bottom of the strut and the shock body allows the assembly to act as a pneumatic cylinder. Pretty crafty work from Porsche.


If you missed our GT3 suspension overview, check it out here

http://www.elephantracing.com/tool-box/specs/991/GT3/991-gt3-suspension-overview.htm

0Q991

Thanks so much and keep the videos / info coming! Great dissection.

2 seconds is incredibly fast / convenient.

SamFromTX

Great video and illustration. Thanks.

neanicu

Nice!

0Q991

Was the system on the 997 this fast?! This seems very fast.

igirl

Thanks for the video!

I have that option on my 991 GT3 and it works pretty well and fast (faster than my previous Gallardo LP560-4).

Mike in CA

Great demo Bart! It not only accurately shows the speed of the lift but the fact that it has the capacity to re-lift repeatedly in a short time frame.

I know people say they don't need it, and more power to them if they can do without, but they clearly live in a different world than I do as I find it constantly useful and sometimes absolutely necessary.

Zulu Alpha

Very nice Bart! Is this the exact same system as on the previous GT3? if not how does it differ?

As I understand, the previous system would fail often according to some...

sk0t

Thanks Bart!

Elephant Bart

Thanks for the good words. I think the system is a must for the GT3, the front overhang is substantial. We would have hard time getting this car out of our own driveway without it.

We were able to use the lift about 5 times before it needed recharging. But it only took few moments to fill back up. You can actually hear the compressor running in the background.

Apparently the whole system only adds about 6kg to the car.

CAlexio

You'd think that they could make it raise another half inch or so. While I don't dispute the absolute necessity of this system for the gt3, it feel like they could have done so much more with it.. Don't lambos and other systems seem to provide much more lift?

Mike in CA

I don't know about how much lift is provided in other systems. I'm guessing here, but for Porsche, maybe in part it was a trade off between being able to get more lift when using the system statically and having less lift but being able to actually drive the car with the lift raised.

Although the manual states 30mph as the cutoff point before the system automatically lowers, I can raise the lift and it will stay raised at speeds up to 39mph. On several occasions this had allowed me to travel really bumpy, irregular back roads (which we have a lot of up here) at a decent clip without fear of bottoming the nose or underbody fairings on dips.

Jimmy-D

I recently was in a 2014 Gallardo and I may be wrong, but I could swear it lifted over 3 inches. I thought it was quite significant and convenient. I thought that may be Porsche should of given it more lift - but time will tell but when is it overkill??

ipse dixit

Great info.

Thank you for taking the time.

CAlexio

Good balance point mike, but yea, I've seen some lambos which look like they are positively on stilts when their front is raised.. And you know what they say ab San Francisco... Every inch counts!

Actually, I made that up while thinking about my drastically inclined driveway :-)