They made the decision a year ago in Bahrain, which was before the performance advantage of the 488 and GT were shown in the first half of the season (both IMSA and WEC). BOP has changed race after race so it's difficult to anticipate what will happen in 2017; of course, Porsche is famously cheap and would be loathe to develop a turbo engine unless absolutely necessary to the letter of the rules.

Now three threads on this topic. Mods: how about combining?

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3-...t-is-this.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3-...-2016-a-2.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/991-gt3-...ced-in-la.html

So they didn't take advantage of the rules package as well as Ford and Ferrari? And with Porsche moving towards Turbo power down the road you would think they would have developed for that?

Very interesting to consider a more mid-engine 992 GT3, RS, etc.

I've been driving 911's since the 80's but the car should have gone mid engine when the 996 was introduced . I guess somebody uses the worthless back seats , but I'd prefer an engine there instead .

I am both surprised and disappointed that Porsche failed to capitalize on the full extent of the rules in GTE/GTLM.

Recall FSW crying in the press conference after Le Mans qualifying this year; let's see how effectively Porsche sandbags and plays the political game versus Ford and Ferrari.

If take Walliser at face value then we shouldn't get our hopes up....

"The actual rules in GTE allow to optimize the position of the engine,” Walliser told Sportscar365. “No production car with this layout is planned and no waiver was granted.”

Porsche’s decision to move the engine forward provides an improved weight balance, something the rear-engined 911s have recently struggled with, particularly with the arrival of the mid-engined GTE cars in recent years.

While the turbocharged Fords and Ferraris dominated this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the decision to remain with a normally aspirated engine was made well before that, according to Walliser.

“We finally opted for a normally aspirated engine exactly one year ago,” Walliser said. “The final go was a meeting between Dr. Blume [Porsche CEO] and myself in Bahrain."

Guys, they literally say in the OPs attached press release why they stuck with NA:

"For the 911 RSR, we deliberately focussed on a particularly modern and light nor- mally-aspirated engine, as this gave our engineers immense latitude in developing the vehicle,� explains Dr Walliser. “Apart from that, in principle, the LM-GTE regula- tions stipulate the absolute equality of various drive concepts, as the torque charac- teristics of turbo and normally aspirated engines are aligned.�

The basic answer is BOP let's them stick with NA.

This is good info gents. I try like hell to find good Motorsports info and follow quite a few sites but never seem to get good insider/behind the scenes poop...

Agree that a mid engine 992 911 isn't super likely, however the GT cars are the ones that would benefit the most from this as people track them at the limit, and since the GT cars lack rear seats, (compared to regular Carrera models), it would be easier to move the engine forward in the GT models.

From Sportscar365
"However, Walliser doesn’t see it as a disadvantage, thanks to variable boost levels for turbocharged engines implemented by the FIA, ACO and IMSA that now provides a near-identical power curve for both normally aspirated and turbocharged engines".

Still believe Porsche will be disadvantaged by lack of torque with a 6cyl vs turbos and 8cyl engines. Don't understand how torque can be regulated between different engine displacement and NA/turbos.

The mid-engine architecture IS better for mechanical balance, but the aero effect of the diffuser was likely a MUCH bigger design rule to follow.

As for NA vs. Turbo, I'm going to imagine just shifting the powertrain around consumed a lot of engineering; developing and packaging a turbo engine would have been 2-3x the parallel effort and to be competitive, and to have homologation and development time, easier to adapt the (known) NA

Purely speculative, but if you've look in/on/under a 488 or Ford GT, the amount of plumbing and cooling is extreme. I'm oversimplifying, but the 488 is a new engine/evolution of the 458, and the Ford GT was in development (including the engine running a full year plus in DP) for several years. Of note, a big change in the 488 is the gearbox is now transverse (X-Trac) - primary reason was to but a bigger/more effective diffuser and under tray in there....

I went to Weissach last monday.

Saw the new RSR in the carbon, and the steel.

For Loess who says "it's not a 911"- it is still very much a 911 in terms of the shape of the greenhouse and the chassis being somewhat utilitarian vs the Ford GT prototype.

The advantage that Porsche has always been able to manage BOP around is their strength in braking and traction exiting a corner. Hopefully this move towards mid-engined set up will allow them to use the rear diffuser's EXTREME downforce to get better corner entry speeds without sacrificing drag effects by running a huge rear wing. Also by having more aggregate downforce, the car should be better on the tires vs the previous versions thereby making the brakes more effective again.

The main difference on this chassis vs any street car is that they assemble it with a lot more crash-worthy reinforcements around the A-pillar and bottom of the doors. The engine placement means that the rear section of the bare chassis is almost completely unrecognizable. But- from 30 feet away it still looks like 911 chassis always have.


up until my visit I was 100000% convinced they would go turbo, and that this car would be based on the GT2 type variants.

I was wrong about that, but am only convinced BECAUSE I spoke at length with FSW and he explained why RSR engines are so good, and always have been...and it made a lot of sense.

NA FTW!!! :rockon: It will be the best sounding car on the track for sure! And to me : no sound no race. It's one of the reasons I don't watch F1 anymore. That and the stupid regulations that make races boring...

That's a tasty post right there CJ. Can you elaborate on:

"I spoke at length with FSW and he explained why RSR engines are so good"?