"Mezger Lives On"
07-17-2013 | 06:19 PM
#32
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 15,358
Likes: 183
From: Tampa
07-19-2013 | 04:39 PM
#34
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 768
Likes: 0
If the 9A1 is really ready today for motorsports, why would they need to spend millions on a short term investment?
Answer:
1. Today GT regulations DO NOT require using a production based engine in their race cars. Only the general engine architecture has to match and it is has limits for engine displacement and restrictor plates. Why would you run a production engine if you can run something better?
2. Porsche is not the only manufacturer that races a completely different engine than what is in their street cars. GM, for example, has been campaigning the C5R and C6R that use LS engines that have not a single part in common with any of the production LSx engines. Even the oiling system in the LS7 engine in the Z06 does not have a single part in common with the C5R/C6R engine.
3. Porsche last year bought 2 spare years worth of Mezger engine blocks to mitigate risk for the racing program. They of course made a decision to immediately continue to run Mezger engines in 991 Cups and RSRs.
4. Porsche already owns another year of Mezger blocks. So maybe the "millions" refers to scrapping these blocks? Well, no! If this were even a possibility, Porsche would not have made the decision to begin with to buy the Mezger blocks to begin with.
5. So what do the "millions" refer to? The engine development cost of creating a racing variant of a 9A1 engine. Bottom line, if the 9A1 was really ready for racing they should be able to drop it in with a restrictor plate and no other changes. Hmmm.... The "short term investment" is referring to the 9A1 not being expected to have a long life span. The M96 lasted 10 years in the 911. The 9A1 has already been in the 911 for almost 5 years, hence it is about time for Porsche to start working on the next gen production engines.
6. Citing the Continental GS series is really irrelevant to this discussion. This is just a non-manufacturer production street car series. Those Carreras get to complete against M3s, Vantage V8s, Camaros (SS) and Mustangs (BOSS). Think about it? They should easily in a showroom stock format as they have the best power to weight by far of any of the competitors. Despite the advantages, the Astons, Camaros and M3s have all taken first place on the podiums this year. More performance oriented cars like Ferraris (458s), GTRs and even street based GT3s are not eligiable to be run in this series. Saying the 9A1 has a racing "pedigree" from this is like saying the M96 is a great racing engine because they consistently win the spec Boxster class.
Answer:
1. Today GT regulations DO NOT require using a production based engine in their race cars. Only the general engine architecture has to match and it is has limits for engine displacement and restrictor plates. Why would you run a production engine if you can run something better?
2. Porsche is not the only manufacturer that races a completely different engine than what is in their street cars. GM, for example, has been campaigning the C5R and C6R that use LS engines that have not a single part in common with any of the production LSx engines. Even the oiling system in the LS7 engine in the Z06 does not have a single part in common with the C5R/C6R engine.
3. Porsche last year bought 2 spare years worth of Mezger engine blocks to mitigate risk for the racing program. They of course made a decision to immediately continue to run Mezger engines in 991 Cups and RSRs.
4. Porsche already owns another year of Mezger blocks. So maybe the "millions" refers to scrapping these blocks? Well, no! If this were even a possibility, Porsche would not have made the decision to begin with to buy the Mezger blocks to begin with.
5. So what do the "millions" refer to? The engine development cost of creating a racing variant of a 9A1 engine. Bottom line, if the 9A1 was really ready for racing they should be able to drop it in with a restrictor plate and no other changes. Hmmm.... The "short term investment" is referring to the 9A1 not being expected to have a long life span. The M96 lasted 10 years in the 911. The 9A1 has already been in the 911 for almost 5 years, hence it is about time for Porsche to start working on the next gen production engines.
6. Citing the Continental GS series is really irrelevant to this discussion. This is just a non-manufacturer production street car series. Those Carreras get to complete against M3s, Vantage V8s, Camaros (SS) and Mustangs (BOSS). Think about it? They should easily in a showroom stock format as they have the best power to weight by far of any of the competitors. Despite the advantages, the Astons, Camaros and M3s have all taken first place on the podiums this year. More performance oriented cars like Ferraris (458s), GTRs and even street based GT3s are not eligiable to be run in this series. Saying the 9A1 has a racing "pedigree" from this is like saying the M96 is a great racing engine because they consistently win the spec Boxster class.
07-19-2013 | 04:44 PM
#35
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 768
Likes: 0
You really hate the 9A1 don't you...always bashing it. 
Anyway...your GT3 engine is no closer to a race engine that the 9A1...like you said only the block is used. At least the 9A1 X51 as is comes from Porsche has raced in a national series, won races and a championship. If you think the Rolex Grand Am GS series doesn't count I'd love to hear you explain that to John Tecce of BGB Motorsports. He is on these forums if you'd like to try that...I'll get my drink and popcorn ready.
Anyway...your GT3 engine is no closer to a race engine that the 9A1...like you said only the block is used. At least the 9A1 X51 as is comes from Porsche has raced in a national series, won races and a championship. If you think the Rolex Grand Am GS series doesn't count I'd love to hear you explain that to John Tecce of BGB Motorsports. He is on these forums if you'd like to try that...I'll get my drink and popcorn ready.and the 9A1 your talking about isnt even the 991 Gt3 engine..in fact on could even argue now, the 997 GTS engine is even better then the 991 GT3 engine..it won something..the 991 Gt3 engine not yet...and who knows if this will ever happen..
07-19-2013 | 07:39 PM
#36
Nordschleife Master
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 5,166
Likes: 123
From: Loveland, CO
Yes..but how many victories has this 9A1 engine had besides this one?- and how had the other one (just recently it won the 2013 Le Mans)..
and the 9A1 your talking about isnt even the 991 Gt3 engine..in fact on could even argue now, the 997 GTS engine is even better then the 991 GT3 engine..it won something..the 991 Gt3 engine not yet...and who knows if this will ever happen..
and the 9A1 your talking about isnt even the 991 Gt3 engine..in fact on could even argue now, the 997 GTS engine is even better then the 991 GT3 engine..it won something..the 991 Gt3 engine not yet...and who knows if this will ever happen..
07-19-2013 | 11:28 PM
#37
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 15,358
Likes: 183
From: Tampa
Yes..but how many victories has this 9A1 engine had besides this one?- and how had the other one (just recently it won the 2013 Le Mans)..
and the 9A1 your talking about isnt even the 991 Gt3 engine..in fact on could even argue now, the 997 GTS engine is even better then the 991 GT3 engine..it won something..the 991 Gt3 engine not yet...and who knows if this will ever happen..
and the 9A1 your talking about isnt even the 991 Gt3 engine..in fact on could even argue now, the 997 GTS engine is even better then the 991 GT3 engine..it won something..the 991 Gt3 engine not yet...and who knows if this will ever happen..
Will be interesting to see how and if the new version of this engine in the 991GT3 does in the Porsche Cup type of series and if it shows up in any other sanctioning racing venues.
