Z356

Today Sunday Sept 27th at around 1:30 PM Andreas Preuninger, head of the GT program at PAG & Porsche Motorsports,
gave a talk at the PCA Hospitality Tent at Laguna Seca as part of the Rennsport V event. There were several Rennlisters
present (e.g. Zellamsee, Dunlopnick, etc), so I ask others present to add your interpretation of what we all heard at this
meeting for the purpose to represent accurately what he actually told us...which I think was significant!

Here are the highlights of Andreas Preuninger remarks as I remember it:





1) Natural aspirated engines will continue for all the gt3 & gt4 products into the foreseeable future.

2) There will not be a PDK version of the Cayman GT4 in this generation. The current GT4 is scheduled to continue for the
duration of at least the MY2016 model year (so production until late Spring 2016 for sure). Reports to the effect that PDK
would be offered soon on the GT4 were posted here on Rennlist and Andreas Preuninger went out of this way to say that
he was not quoted correctly when words to that effect were attributed to him. I think he was referring to this thread:

https://rennlist.com/forums/gt4/8909...-weissach.html

Thus I want to make sure we correctly report what he told us today at the PCA tent!

3) The success of the GT4 in a manual version has helped make the case that there is a market demand for that type of
transmission in the GT product line. And he hinted that the next base gt3 might well have a manual transmission as an
alternative (option) to PDK. That manual transmission option might come as early as the .2 991 gt3, but that is only
speculation on my part.

4) There will NOT be a manual offered on any future version of the gt3 RS. That is considered by Porsche as a track-oriented
product whose mission is best served by a PDK transmission.

5) He hinted that there will be a .2 991 GT2 version coming...so there will be a turbo engine soon again in the Porsche gt
product line (like it was in the 997 era)!

6) The .2 991 gt3 and gt3 RS will not be as different (or improved, if you preferred that word) from the current versions. The
gains in performance will be less that from the .1 997 to the .2 997 because the already great advances made in the current
version. Expect more differentiation to come in the interior (design & materials) to separate the gt models from the series
production .2 991s.

You have heard me say this before. Andreas Preuninger is one of the most eloquent speakers at Porsche today. He commands
the subject matter of these discussion and...the audience that listens to his presentations. He inspires confidence in the products
that he is affiliated him and I consider him one of the truly bright lights at the company...and one of the best I have ever seen &
heard in my many years affiliated with Porsche as a loyal customer.

Hopefully I will add and modify as I try to recall more details from Andreas talk this afternoon. But I wanted to start our
conversation on this important subject which I think will be of interest to the readers of this forum!

Saludos,
Eduardo
Carmel

WSH

Great recap....but check pt. #4--do you mean no manual for the RS?

ipse dixit

Thanks for the report Eduardo.

Wondering if the VW emissions issue came up in the conversation?

In any event, appreciate the report.

hlvg

Yup, it was great to hear it from "the man" himself.
Note that you have a typo in point #4 "There will NOT be a PDK offered on any future version of the gt3 RS". I believe you meant there will not be a manual transmission.
Like he explained, the RS is all about lap time and the PDK is simply superior now.

<3mph

He also stated no GT4 RS, at least this generation, due to constraints in engineering demands. Also confirmed that the overwhelming demand for an engaging model like the GT4 was rather underestimated, hence the additional production now. But said unfortunately no more 991.1 RS due to materials and vendor limitations (eg magnesium roof). I agree he handled even the difficult questions and audience member very deftly. He definitely gave the impression that he needed to guard his responses but came off as genuine and personable. A great talk!

R.Deacon

Thanks , Eduardo as always such a wealth of input here to RL folks; great news for NA motored GT cars

hlvg

He also mentioned that they were ramping up production of the GT4 but only a bit because not all their suppliers can do so.

Finally, when asked about the GT4 manual recommending a 2000 mi break-in he said something akin to: "people driving their GT4 or GT3 straight from the dealership to the track are hurting their cars". He then explained his own recommendation (admitting 2000 was a bit too much):
- For the first 500 km (300 mi), never go over 5,000 rpm
- Then increase the max rpm by 500 increments every 200 mi (not 100% sure on that distance), which should get you to 1,300 mi or so.

gmaki

I was there as well. Sitting right near the rear bumper. I even got my GT4 manual signed by AP!

My take on what he said was:

1. No PDK on 981 gen GT4.
2. No GT4 RS (again at least of 981).
3. Worldwide GT4 production originally intended to be 1600. Now will be 2500 - 3000. And that will be it until next gen
4. GT2 will happen (although that was communicated by insinuation and not directly)
5. If you own a GT3 or RS, AP says follow a break in procedure! Maybe not as slow as the manual says, but low revs for first 750 mi or so, and then increment them up after. Really he thinks any Porsche engine should be broken in, but especially high rpm motors.
6. AP dislikes black wheels, even though 50% of people select them (My data says 44% but I imagine his is better than mine.)

And most importantly there will be no 911 GTL with an overdrive transmission, In case you were wondering HAHAHA!

Alan C.

Hopefully AP is not myopic.

allans

< 3mph : NO MORE 991.1RS ?????

poofyo101

^what he said

CAlexio

i was THAT annoying guy who stopped him and asked "would you mind a selfie?".. and he responded "I hate selfies".. total deadpan. I was instantly feeling badly but he then joked "but my friend here can take a picture of us"... nice guy. wish I could have bombarded him with questions but the next fan was already hounding him...

so I moved on to this guy who absolutely begged me for a picture... jk

CAlexio

did AP say anything about the manual transmission gt3 mystery machine?

mrsullivan

surprised if no more 991.1 RS means literally no more... Different than what I heard from pcna

MEM82

Thanks for the news! Perhaps there will be a gt4 rs in 981.2 form (my wishful thinking).