MileHigh911

I completely agree with what you are saying, and Porsche has built a balanced car. But, there are compromises in all car designs. To keep the 911 shape, Porsche inherently fights rear lift at speed. So Porsche has found ways to minimize rear lift with all of it's 911 models (for each of their intended purposes). My old 09 C2S was great grand touring car, DD, and good on the track, but I knew that it was a mechanical grip car, and it was light in the back during high speed corners due to it's shape and minimal rear aero. If one were to believe Porsche has designed this GT3 to have CUP car rear downforce levels for high speed (>135 mph) cornering near maximum mechanical grip....then I would disagree. Because it is a street car, they make compromises, and one was to not have a big rear wing in this car, as it is not a race car. Porsche has designed it for what the intended uses are, and recognizing the limits of it's design can easily be seen by looking at what Porsche does to it's more race like GT3RS, as well as it's true race cars (CUP, RSR). To just say they built a "balanced car" is too general of a statement. Look at all of the hypercars, and notice they have active Aero bits and pieces. They are in a higher $$$ market, and truly have been designed to be self adjustable at different driven speeds. FastLane tracks at Sebring, which is a high speed track..... so his testing for more rear downforce should not just be ripped on for unbalancing this car's aero. That Crawford wing has different downforce settings..... who knows what FastLane's final downforce settings will be. On other tracks, it may be complete overkill, and need to be set for less rear aero, etc, etc

CAlexio

Looking forward to fastlane's feedback after Sebring

FastLaneTurbo

A36Pilot: "FastLaneTurbo, thank you and God Bless."

Thank you for those thoughts A36Pilot. BTW, I've been flying A-36s continuously since 1975.
Great Airplane! Arguably the best airplane Beech ever built IMHO

CAlexio: "Looking forward to fastlane's feedback after Sebring"

CAlexio, I tested the new Wing extensively at Sebring last Sunday with Chin Motorsports specifically to determine if the additional rear Downforce disturbed the "Balance" of the GT3's Aero or increased
understeer in slow or fast turns. I could detect no difference in understeer in any of Sebring's 17 turns.

Of course the GT3's rear wheel steering also helps to improve turn-in. Understeer usually can be simply compensated for by adjusting the Front and/or Rear Roll Bars to compensate as required, or even adding Flics to the Front. Lowering the front of the car or increasing the Splitter Size is often done on race cars but
that compromises road behavior on a street car. I'm satisfied with the present Aero balance without doing anything further. Understeer is far easier for the driver to deal with than Snap Oversteer which is the cause of so many wrecked cars, on track and off.
In summary the GT3 maintained its track balance beautifully with the additional rear downforce while
chopping off at least 2 Seconds in lap time by permitting higher cornering speeds. It yielded a more "planted" rear end thus reducing any tendency for Snap Oversteer.
An added bonus was that the previous "tail-wagging" under heavy high-speed braking, i.e. coming into
T17 at close to 150 MPH, was now gone with the more planted rear. Coincidentally, a good friend and Ex-Student of mine showed up at the track with a new 2015 GT3 and we spent several laps nose to tail,
alternating the lead and passing through traffic together so he could observe my car with the new Wing and I his car with the stock Wing. Both cars performed and handled flawlessly. Have a great Holiday Season.

FastLaneTurbo

The Gold is actually machine turned 22KT real gold,
But You are correct on both scores.

I've removed the Red and G

old Stripes from the pillars so you can see the interface between the original GT3 pillars and the 5.5 inch matching add-on Crawford Pillars and Brakelights.





This is the naked Crawford Wing





A closer View of the Crawford Wing





Close-Up View of the Crawford Mounting Interface. Wing is easily removable 1n 5-10 Minutes by removing the 2 Screws under the Rubber Plugs on Each Side.





Crawford Wing Mount and Brakelight.<br/>Adjacent Car is The Blue Max, a customized and Tuned 650 HP BMW with Supercharger.

FastLaneTurbo

I loved my GT2 also. Mine was from the first group of Race GT2s made in 1995 so not an Evo GT2. Hans Stuck and I had cars from the same batch and Mike Colluci Racing (MCR) took care of both of us so we spent many days together testing at Sebring. I just told Mike to do to my car whatever he did to Stuck's and I was good to go. Photo of my GT2 was with Crawford's new huge Wing testing for the Rolex 24 Hour Race in 1996. I drove a friend's RSR the next year in the 1997 Rolex. While the RSR didn't have the GT2's Turbo Torque Blast, it was highly reliable and an easy, delightful car to drive that finished the 24 Hour Race with Zero problems. Can't count all the times I've kicked myself for selling my GT2, but the $100K Bills for Engine and Tranny OH after 30-50 Racing hours got to me after 10 years.
Seeing the prices now on all the great vintage cars I sold for peanuts, I realize the German Proverb had it right: "We get too Soon Old and Too Late Smart"

CAlexio

What a clean job.. Love those upright tail lights.. Must look sinister at night.

fastmd

Looks much better without the decals on the wing. Could you post pics of the car from the front and side? Would like to get a better idea of how the wing looks from those angles.

montoya

Wow, the attention to detail close up looks really good. For the money, as I said, this is the performance bargain of the year. I also agree with others here that the "aero balance" on our GT3's at least in the .2 versions was really in stock form "aero inbalance". Competitively time trialing my last GT3 in stock aero trim had me up against the limit with the stock wing, to the point where unbalance in high speed braking and cornering was were where I was loosing all my time to my competition. My only option was a cup style rear wing. Crude or less than perfect imations with deck and wing were in the $5K range, while OE was closer or over $10K unless you found a hand me down. This, I'm sure has all the downforce you need and I'm sure equal or better than a cup wing. Unfortunately, the classification of the 991 GT3 with more power will most likely put it into TT1 category with NASA, unless you balast up, but I think the rules limit that. Too bad, because with this wing, you could clean up in the TT2 category where I was with the .2 GT3 (I still won my share of events though even without the cup wing, although I would have been crushed at a national event!).

Porsche-Suchtig

All good points. I overlooked the fact that -- if adjustable -- the Crawford wing couldl allow you to fine tune the rear downforce for different tracks/drivers. It may be that in it's low downforce setting it is similar to the factory wing. Therefore, on tracks where lower rear downforce is needed you might be able to approximate the factory settings and on tracks where higher rear downforce is a benefit, you might be able to put in a little more wing and not upset the overall balance.

I still think for the best effect you'd need to also redesign the front splitter. But your points are good and they do a better job of looking at the overall potential of the product.

P.S. I kind of like the look. Reminds me of some of the wings I've seen on some air cooled race cars. Gives it a little bit of a retro look.

FastLaneTurbo

Hi Trakcar. I'm a big fan of yours and have spent many hours watching every Track Video you post. I also recommend to my students that they do the same.
I especially tell them to watch your steering inputs and listen to the Engine sound, and timing of your shifts and braking as a lesson from a highly skilled driver. Novice or expert, we can all learn from each other, so I appreciate your many posts setting good examples for the rest of us.

I also start out as you do at the rear of the car with Max Wing Angle (usually about 10%) If I plant the rear end down first, I know the car is less likely to
Snap Oversteer on me and any understeer introduced is more easily handled, first with tire pressures, then with roll bar settings, and, if really excessive, with Adjusting Camber, Toe and adding Front Flics, and Larger Splitters. I had to do all of that with my GT2, but surprisingly, the GT3's handling remained neutral so I don't plan any further changes for HPDEs. Nice Driving! Keep those Videos coming!!!

FastLaneTurbo

Hi fastmd, Glad to post the additional photos you requested below.







Side View of 991 GT3 with Crawford Wing





Right Front and Side with Crawford Wing





More of the Front View with Crawford Wing





Front View with Crawford Wing





Another Closer View from Front Fender

Please note the Striping SCHEME is similar to the 4.0 GT3RS only using different colors which I prefer. I just don't get the criticism of its looks. IMHO the Crawford Wing and its custom Pillars and Brakelights are FAR better integrated into the GT3 design than the Porsche solution of thin metal stampings supporting the RS wing. From the "Spy Photos" of the new RS Wing, the lower height is still not optimized for maximum performance (as is the GT3 Cup Wing) and it still blocks rear
vision. Presumably, this may be to meet certification standards in some area of the world. But not being part of the Cars and Coffee crowd, to me the most beautiful part of the Crawford Wing is not in its appearance at all, but in the lower lap times it makes possible.

fastmd

Thank you! I think most people who don't know the car would probably think it is stock. I like the functionality and easy removal. I am seriously considering for track days.

SnoBdrAK

It's a subtle difference, but it looks much more integrated without the striping on the pillars, and much better looking aesthetically as well (IMO).

rm21

thanks for posting the additional photos. i think it looks quite good without the stickers and for two seconds, i'm seriously considering it. i'm going to check with my east coast race shop and see what they think before pulling the trigger.

MileHigh911

Looks great!! If you wanted to add the gold and red accent to the wing, then it may look best on the end pieces on the sides!?!??!?!
And once your rims are all chipped up, they need the same color as the red striping.