I think we should all take a step back for a minute.

Until we know the cause of this unfortunate incident, best not to speculate what Porsche may or may not do.

Just because the engine failed on the track, doesn't necessarily mean the engine failed because it was tracked.

To the OP, hope it all works out for you.

 

I absolutely think Porsche will and should cover this loss, based on their current policy. All that other talk in the other thread was just speculation about whether they are legally required to do so (projecting into the future). I think the OP will be taken care of

 

The GT3s sold to the public are not race cars nor are their engines race engines. Likely not built to the same exact spec or tolerances.

If a race engine should be refreshed at certain intervals we know street track engines aren't immune from the the same forces and stresses. I suspect PAG under estimated the hours these cars would be exposed to "race" type use and didn't provide appropriate service information and owners not seeing it didn't think it necessary or think of it as they are not "racing" or knowledgable enough as average consumers who wouldn't know.

As only a small % are letting go and it seems limited to high use track cars it makes sense..at least to me. You refresh to avoid "kaboom". It's the main reason.

 

Just looking at the photo's, I was given a suggestion no oil fire. No traces of oil dripping from the back of the car on the ground. Thought it could be coil failure or divert-er valve breaking from Exhaust. Logs will tell what happened and when. Damage looks like local fire and probably from surrounding plastic and other combustible parts. Smoke doesn't look like an oil fire and you would be able to put oil fire out with water hose.

 

Well, this might change your opinion on that...

 

^ Wow, just wow! ( In a not-happy-tone )

 

Gives new meaning to the term scorched earth.

 

Actually, I think 996 and 997 Cup motors are virtually identical to the road car GT3 motors - not built any differently, afaik.

And I have the same impression of the 991.2 Cup motor.

 

I read in the press release that the new RSR motor has a simpler non variocam upper end since the race motor does not need the lower end boost in torque variocam provides. Not sure if that is also true for the 991 cup engines. Is does mean going forward the race and GT engines will be different.

Looking at that video, I would say great job of high stress driving and keeping the oil off the track and the car in control. Excellent!

 

I don't think the Cup has that valvetrain like the RSR. The RSR motors are usually very extreme compared to Cup motors with much higher redline and individual throttles for each cylinder, etc. Typical rebuild interval for RSR has been 40 hours or fewer. RSR usually costs several times as much as Cup too...

Cup motors are usually very similar to street, but RSR never has been.

 

Yup. There's oil in them thare hills.

Sheesh!

Sorry to see that. Man!

 

I read this complete thread with fascination. First and foremost I am so sorry for the OP. What a devastating loss and of course the uncertainty on who is liable. I tend to agree with most here that there is something wrong with the engine. My 2015 GT3 was a smoker. Everytime I started it, it would smoke so much that it took 30 minutes to air out the garage. Dealer said it was normal and I could not accept that answer. As much as I loved the car, I traded it in for a Huracan after 11 months cause it just did not feel right. Imagine that...trading in a german car for an Italian because you are worried about reliability. Times sure have changed. Once again....deeply sorry about the loss.

 

i'm not aware of any cup motors (not sure on latest 991) that have used variocam. they are ALL fixed valve trains, run higher compressions, etc. There are a lot of other differences too. The case halves on the 997 RSR motors have different oiling setups for example. Race motors are optimized for running at full tilt massive redline max performance. Street motors are optimized for a balance of power, reliability, and drivability. Very different.

 

The failure sucks, but if that was the only damage after an oil fire you were lucky. Normally oil fires result in complete loss.

Any diagnosis of failure yet?

 

That's my point Spyrex. The GT3 engine is NOT a race engine as it doubles for street duty. Different tolerances, materials etc....

The 9000 rpm redline was likely a bit ambitious and my bet is PAG didn't anticipate the extent to which owners would be repeatedly tracking these things at 9000 rpms.

Considering the miniscule % of engines that actually failed compared to the number out there the motor is still impressive on top of which PAG is standing behind the failures. Plus we don't know if all the failures were for the same reason.

Porsche does not have a corner on the market as far as mechanical issues related to high stress use related to track use.

Out of all cars I see repeatedly tracked over an over again by their owners year after year Porsche's are far and away leading the pack followed by Vette owners. From what I have seen anyway.

Likely explains the drop to max 8800 for the RS along with longer stroke.