Which GT3 wings can be used on a 996?
 

Does anyone know which GT3 wings and engine lids (rear decklids) can be used with our cars? (996.2 in my case.)

The potential issue is that to use a GT3 wing, one has to use a GT3 engine lid. And to use a GT3 engine lid, one has to be able to connect the air intake and ventilation parts attached to the underside of our engine lids to the right spot on the GT3 engine lid, which could be problematic, because GT3 engines have air intakes on the right side and Carrera engines have them on the left.

I’m hoping, however, that with the 996.1 and possibly 996.2 GT3 engine lids, this can be done with little/no modification.

Any advice on how/whether this is possible would be greatly appreciated – thanks!

P.S. Yes, I know that the identical Porsche aerokit wings address this, but they are not really identical. They are fiberglass, not carbon. And yes, the weight difference is infintessimally small, and if it were at the front of the car, I would not care. But I readily confess to having deep psychological issues with putting any extra weight above and behind my engine … .

If the wing is creating any down force, isn't that the same thing?

Nope. Physical mass and aerodynamic downforce both put extra pressure on the tires, but only mass adds to the inertia which the tires have to fight to control.

It's like trailbraking. This increases front grip because it put more weight on the front tires without increasing the front-end inertia.

Anyone know which wings (if any) work, and what is necessary to make them work (if anything)?

I have an opportunity to buy a 996.1 GT3 wing now, at a reasonable price, and I need to decide soon.

Thanks!

deep psychological issues huh?




Buy the entire .2 kit or don't waste your time.

Which fits the car, works at high speed, looks good, etc. Alas it adds a few kilos. Fairly trivial, and if lap times are my objective, the aerodynamic benefits will certainly outweigh the, well, weight.

But I'm prepared to spend a fair amount of money to lighten my car, and I could go for a ducktail which saves 6 or 7 kilos even after painting, rather than a wing which adds a few. Not the lap time optimizing choice, but that's not my number one objective. So a real GT3 wing which has a very close to neutral effect on weight looks a lot better to me than an aerokit which definitely adds a few kilos more.

You see, very deep ;- )

Anyway, I'm hoping that I can either take some of the hardware on the underside of the Carrera engine lid (the top of the air intake and the cooling fan) and attach it to the GT3 engine lid in the same way, or take the hardware from the GT3 engine lid and attach it to the reverse side. Or perhaps an aftermarket wing supplier who copied the GT3 wing makes parts which can be used to attach the Carrera hardware to the underside of their exact copy of the GT3 engine cover ... .

I just refound a post by Torontoworker who weighed both aerokit and GT3 wings:

"complete [Carrera 2] wing and lid - 26.4 lbs. The GT3 wing and lid - 14.2 lbs."

Given that, I'm too averse to adding rear weight to go with the aerokit.

However, there is some ambiguity about what is being compared to what. Torontoworker's GT3 wing is actually a "clone", though he mentioned inspecting some genuine GT3 wings, so I''m not sure whether 14.2 is his clone or the OEM GT3 wing. Also, I've no idea whether he is referring to the MkI aerokit and GT3, or the MkII. (Presumably not the RS, since there is no directly comparable aerokit. And I'm guessing not MkI GT3 as I found for sale a MkI wing and decklid which weigh 9.3 kg (~20.5 lbs) painted, unless one of the two is not OEM, or the paint adds a lot of weight.) I'm not even sure what car he has. Probably a 996.1 (3.4 liter), though all relevant pictures seem to have disappeared from the thread. At least I can't see them :-(

Further learnings: In the same thread, Torontoworker (https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...termarket.html ) said he had successfully installed a GT3 wing (or rather an extremely good carbon (fiber) copy) on his 996 with only mild modification. On the other hand, whatever he did (no photos), it sounds hard to do well.

And based on this thread (with good photos),
https://rennlist.com/forums/996-foru...-02-996-a.html
well, I just can't imagine how one could put a MkII GT3 wing on a Carrera short of cutting a big hole in it for the air intake, so I'm assuming Torontoworker used either a MkI GT3 wing or a GT3RS wing.