OldGuy

This is the 2nd class win in a row for ferrari. I hope these wins have Porsche get alittle bit more aggressive with the MkII GT-3 design.

ZAPmobile

Porsche did not loss the race on the track, they lost it in the pits. On the last round of pit stops the Ferrari got out a little quicker.

SpeedGeek

It bothers me that Porsche may be seeing the limits of what it can do with a rear-engine, 6-cylinder n/a design. I would hate to see the 911 become something else, but the competition isn't getting any slower...

OldGuy

Speed, I think there is still room in there for a 3.8 etc etc

mooty

i "heard" that porsche cannot do > 4.0 on flat six. i am no engineer so i dont know.

but if DFI, higher compression, higher rpm and 3.8L is all they got for the 911, then porsche will be history in no time. as GT3 gets to 3.8L, f cars and z06 can also increase displacement, compression and DFI. and ferrari has already got the paddle shifting thing down cold. and at 4.3L their V8 has a lot more potential now then our flat six....

like i said before, i am VERY INTERESTED to see what porsche has AFTER the 3.8L, DFI, PDK... as those technology can only get porsche to par, far from being a leading contender..

and you all know i am a p car die hard.

SpeedGeek

I think even 4L may not be possible. I'm not sure, but it probably has to do with the difficulty of accelerating / decelerating such large pistons at really high rpm.

I'm hoping those rather brainy German engineers will figure out how to put a flat-8 back there for the 998. Of course, with all the green politics happening right now, it's possible things will change completely one way or another. Ferrari is certainly talking about lighter and smaller rather than bigger and more powerful.

Spyderidol

The current RSR is already a 3.8L

h-bo

I also like to think that everything could change because of green politics forcing some truly revolutionary design rather than simple developments of proven models. i am confident porsche has the brains to do something spectacular. i hope ferrari is serious about small and light... it could get really excited about cars again.

mooty

i know. but street cars are only at 3.6.
the 3.8 RSR aren't doing so hot right now in ALMS.

Spyderidol

Yes , it does seem that they are not doing so well at first glance.
If however, we examine their performance more closely, we see the following:

They took Pole at St. Pete and at Long Beach (new track record)
At Long Beach they had the two fastest race lap times.
The quickest RS was almost 0.5 seconds quicker than the second Porsche and the quickest Ferrari.

The 997 are really not doing well in the "other" series (FIA GT and LMS) but they have only had their first race in each of these series, so hopefully they'll get better.

porschemeister

ALMS equates the performance by weight, restrictor size etc. The RSR has been restricted power wise with two 29.5 mm restrictors! There is still room, put they are at the mercy of IMSA the sanctioning body. They don't want to make changes on the fly based on one race.

The Porsche was consitently faster than the 430 (Patrick Pielet mainly) so from IMSA's perspective there is need to adjust anything. Have a look at the qualifying times.

Porsche elected to go with 14" rear tires (with weight penalty) to offset the disadvantage of the rear engine.

Watch out, you will see Porsche in the winners circle again soon.

GT2 racing cannot be left uncontrolled, otherwise you will have cost explosion which will kill the race teams.

The race was lost because Flying Lizard elected to change all four tires at the last pit stop. If they would have changed the rears ony (which is all what was needed) they would have come out of the pits 7 sec faster.

SpeedGeek

When you think about it, the 911 is pretty amazing. The Ferraris are made of aluminum, they are mid-engined, and they have very smart electronic differentials. The 911 is like a Flintstones car in comparison. Disregarding engine performance, do you guys think the 911's chassis design can stay competitive?

MJones

MEXICO CITY GT Podium

1. Pontiac GXP-R
2. Pontiac GXP-R
3. Porsche GT3 Cup

GP of Miami

1. GXP-R
2. GT3 Cup
2. GXP-R

Daytona 24 Hr

!. Mazda RX8
2. GT3 Cup
3. GT3 Cup

fc-racer

Just imagine a small displacement flat-8 howling at 8,500rpm; we can dream right?

mooty

yes, with you in ALMS next year, i'll bet some money on p for sure
not dissing p cars and i KNOW the qual time and saw the pit mistake (of course hindsight is 100%) and understand how p lost or rather gave away the trophy. but the point is p now see a LOT more competition when they were once miles ahead of everyone. we didn't see any corvettes or reliable ferraris or bmw's anywhere close to 911's in the 70's 80's. i dont want to just see porsche win, i want to see them blow their opponents out the water.