I had a conversation with Uwe Gemballa today!!
10-08-2003, 07:14 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
I had a conversation with Uwe Gemballa today!!
I had reached out to Uwe (pronounced oovay) Gemballa recently and he returned my call today. We talked for almost an hour and discussed a multitude of things. What a pleasure!!
We talked bodyparts, engine power, engine cooling, suspension, design philosophy, etc., etc.
I felt honored in a way that he took the time out of his busy schedule to talk to me. When I say busy schedule, I am not kidding!! He arrives at work at 7:30am and it was 11:00pm when he just called me. He has constant communication with his worldwide distribution network.
One of the most interesting discussions was with regard to his intercooler. Here is a picture:
Essentially, this is the reason for his patented rear opening shown here on my car:
The stock intercoolers are left in place but instead of the cooled intake air going directly into the intake, it goes through a third top mounted intercooler. According to his tests and ultimately, his philosophy, the cooled air from the stock setup has a chance to heat up again as it passes by the engine in the hot engine compartment. This air is supplementally cooled by the Gemballa IC to get the intake charge air temperature as low as possible. The rear vent is the escape path for closed engine compartment heated air.
Another discussion concerned the oil cooling capacity of the engine. He said the stock setup uses a relatively small heat exchanger. He further recommended that any HP increases above 550 should be accompanied by a supplementary oil cooler. He, arguably, said the reason the car does not have a oil temp gage is because it is pretty high and Porsche didn't want to alarm customers. I guess this is in comparison to the air cooled cars???
The wide body kit adds 4 inches to the rear track. New wheels with new wheel offsets in combination with spacers are required to accommodate it. It can only be done in Germany to their specs.
He was very well spoken with excellent English considering he is of German heritage.
All in all, I was very happy to talk to him and understand some of their design philosophies more thoroughly.
We talked bodyparts, engine power, engine cooling, suspension, design philosophy, etc., etc.
I felt honored in a way that he took the time out of his busy schedule to talk to me. When I say busy schedule, I am not kidding!! He arrives at work at 7:30am and it was 11:00pm when he just called me. He has constant communication with his worldwide distribution network.
One of the most interesting discussions was with regard to his intercooler. Here is a picture:
Essentially, this is the reason for his patented rear opening shown here on my car:
The stock intercoolers are left in place but instead of the cooled intake air going directly into the intake, it goes through a third top mounted intercooler. According to his tests and ultimately, his philosophy, the cooled air from the stock setup has a chance to heat up again as it passes by the engine in the hot engine compartment. This air is supplementally cooled by the Gemballa IC to get the intake charge air temperature as low as possible. The rear vent is the escape path for closed engine compartment heated air.
Another discussion concerned the oil cooling capacity of the engine. He said the stock setup uses a relatively small heat exchanger. He further recommended that any HP increases above 550 should be accompanied by a supplementary oil cooler. He, arguably, said the reason the car does not have a oil temp gage is because it is pretty high and Porsche didn't want to alarm customers. I guess this is in comparison to the air cooled cars???
The wide body kit adds 4 inches to the rear track. New wheels with new wheel offsets in combination with spacers are required to accommodate it. It can only be done in Germany to their specs.
He was very well spoken with excellent English considering he is of German heritage.
All in all, I was very happy to talk to him and understand some of their design philosophies more thoroughly.
10-08-2003, 10:47 PM
#2
Nordschleife Master
It must have been cool having a conversation with a guy like Uwe... Someone who eats, sleeps and breathes Porsche... I luv his stuff...
OT, I'm a bit jealous of the fact that you turbo guys have so much you can do with your motors...What a great obsession to have, albeit expensive$$$....
OT, I'm a bit jealous of the fact that you turbo guys have so much you can do with your motors...What a great obsession to have, albeit expensive$$$....
10-09-2003, 12:01 AM
#3
That's awesome Ken. I respect Uwe Gemballa tremendously because he is a died-in-the-wool type of businessman, if you show him the money he'll do anything and everything you want done to your car, even if he himself doesn't like it.
10-09-2003, 10:53 AM
#6
Three Wheelin'
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Originally posted by ZAMIRZ
That's awesome Ken. I respect Uwe Gemballa tremendously because he is a died-in-the-wool type of businessman, if you show him the money he'll do anything and everything you want done to your car, even if he himself doesn't like it.
That's awesome Ken. I respect Uwe Gemballa tremendously because he is a died-in-the-wool type of businessman, if you show him the money he'll do anything and everything you want done to your car, even if he himself doesn't like it.
