NateOZ

The GT3 R Hybrid 2.0 was 2866 lbs vs 2645 lbs in the non hybrid 997 GT3 R. I believe most of that weight went into the front and you picked up an additional 100hp as the engine was still a 4.0L. This was back in 2011 which might as well have been 50 years ago in hybrid technology terms.

It would be interesting to understand what you can downsize the rear engine to and add the weight in the front through hybrid to get to the regulation 500 hp. The final weight distribution might be close to optimal then.

Z356

Yes...keep your eyes on the emerging new ACO-FIA regulations. That will tell you the direction that everyone, including Porsche, will be taking!

Nate...they have run out of paying customers for the 911 RSR vehicles because the cars are not that competitive! Remember 'Flying Lizard', TRG and countless other racing teams throughout the world that would show up every year at LeMans to compete with a Porsche? I was there as recently as 2011 & experienced this:



No more! Last week it was just the Porsche factory team, Patrick Dempsey's Proton team with factory driver Patrick Long...and a newcomer Taiwanese squad! C'est tout!





***************

For the record:

http://autoweek.com/article/alms/kev...orsche-success

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103755

***************
The 2011 911 gt3 R was an interesting experiment. I saw it 'race' against itself at Laguna Seca in 2011...since there were literarily no other competitors in its category!











http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars...3-r-hybrid-20/

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

.

brake dust

Great post as always! Missed your September post on the changing of the Porsche GT Motorsport Director position. It's very interesting - could the timing be a coincidence? Or the announcement of the 9a1 engine in the GT3R a couple of moths ago? I don't think so!

Yes...keep your eyes on the emerging new ACO-FIA regulations. That will tell you the direction that everyone, including Porsche, will be taking!

They are already here! Look at the new Ford GT for the new direction!! The ACO and FIA announced that the new class GTP would have increased performance/lap time over the FIA GT3 class of cars. GTP will be for the manufacturers and GT3 for customer racing. Could we end up seeing GT3 spec cars at Le Mans?

NateOZ

I don't know if they ran out of customers or just lost the plot on pricing. At nearly $1m for the RSR I think they lost the plot, the GT3 R is too expensive imo. It's pretty tough to go past the C7.R based on upfront cost and running cost alone, let alone the Le Mans win to add to it...

GreenLantern

Yup. Same.

Just in time

If the cars were competitive or dominating there will always be privateers willing to pay for them. I was told this year by one of the German head honchos (Hatz?) that the 918 and 919 had sucked up the engineering talent at Porsche The last last couple of years and that is why the RSR had fallen behind. I did hear that Flying Lizzard is going back to Porsche.

Just in time

A quick look at the little info out there related to the new regs makes interesting reading. It seems there will be tighter control of purpose built racing chassis like Corvette into more production based cars. That should be good for Porsche. I don't know about the rear diffusers although that may give Porsche the windows to in effect create a car where some of the weight is more forward creating a more mid engine type balance. Any thoughts?

NateOZ

Potentially could help with the weight distribution - but I'm not sure where they can cut 50 lbs while adding some weight forward on the diffuser.

I think the C7.R and C7 share the same chassis, but different power units and transmissions. C8 is supposed to be a mid engined Corvette so Porsche clearly has to figure out what they need to do. Seems a big leap to abandon the 911 right now, but not outside the realms of possibilities. I really don't follow the WEC that closely, I'm an avid F1 follower so a lot of this is based on limited knowledge of just reading random articles.

Just in time

If I were Porsche I would consider keeping the 991 racing actively and maybe that is what the R is all about. The question would be how about the RSR? Porsche is already committed to LMP1 and to the 991R. Could they get into a third category with an entirely new car? I would like to see the economics. Since the manufacturer action is is in GTE Posche needs to decide which way to go. I think though whichever way they go they really want to be competitive.

I think they can squeeze another 20 hp and shed 50 lbs. particularly with FI and the use of composites. At the end of the day though with BPOP on the table car drivability and reliability will wind up being as important as ever.

brake dust

The GT3R will be for customer racing only. Believe that Porsche will continue in the new GTP class. Porsche is in the business of GT racing.

JasonAndreas

Each iteration of the RSR has had the engine moved forward a little bit at a time from its location in the road car. This will probably continue until they reach the optimum position. Which won't be completely mid-engined.

eilig

Ditto here.