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| THE NEW AND THE OLD: Above is the March 83G-Porsche in which Sarel van der Merwe, Tony Martin and Graham Duxbury won the Daytona in 1984. Below is the very similar Porsche GT car.
PHOTOS:Porsche-Classic Car You
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IN 1984, South Africa’s Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner became famous
across the U.S. after an all-South African team won the 24-hours Daytona race in
a March 83G-Porsche.
Ever since then local endurance race fans have been keeping an eye
on the German brand’s performance in other endurance races, and our national
soccer and rugby coaches can only wish for a track record achieved by Porsche
this year.
The Porsche teams — again — took home all the silverware from
around the world, from winning Le Mans in France; the manufacturers’ world
championship in Shanghai and the drivers’ world championship in the FIA World
Endurance Championship (WEC) at last weekend’s finale in Bahrain.
With Audi having announced it will pull out of endurance racing to
focus on the new Formula E, the coast is now also clear for its VW stablemate to
record a third consecutive clean sweep around world endurance tracks.
While its VW stablemate focuses on race-testing full electric
motors, Porsche will instead focus on racing its hybrids.
Next year’s teams
In the 2017 season, the factory is expected to
run the new 911 RSR at 19 outings, which equates to more than 140 hours of
racing.
Two factory-entry Porsches will tackle the FIA World Endurance
Championship (WEC) including the 24 Hours of Le Mans as well as the American
Imsa Weathertech Championship.
The new racer will celebrate its debut under the toughest
conditions at the Imsa season opener in Daytona on January 28-29.
“We’re very well prepared for this,” says Marco Ujhasi, head of GT
Works Sport.
“Since its first rollout in Weissach in March this year we’ve
covered 35 000 test kilometres on racetracks in Europe and North America —
that’s more than in the development of any other Porsche GT racer.”
All-new GT planned
The company said in a statement it will tackle
next year’s racing season with a completely re-developed GT racer.
The new 911 RSR makes full use of the breadth of
the Le Mans 24 Hours GT regulations and, in addition to systematic lightweight
design, features an ultra-modern, flat-six unit positioned in front of the rear
axle.
The four-litre, extremely light aggregate
features direct fuel injection as well as a rigid valve drive and is
characterised by outstanding efficiency.
The new 911 RSR will make its debut at the
Daytona 24-hour race in January 2017. “This is the biggest evolution by now in
the history of our top GT model,” says head of Porsche Motorsport Dr
Frank-Steffen Walliser in a statement. “For the 911 RSR, we deliberately focused
on a particularly modern and light normally-aspirated engine, as this gave our
engineers immense latitude in developing the vehicle,” explains Dr Walliser.
“Apart from that, in principle, the LM-GTE regulations stipulate the absolute
equality of various drive concepts, as the torque characteristics of turbo and
normally aspirated engines are aligned.”
Depending on the size of the restricter, the new
naturally-aspirated unit delivers around 375 kW. Shift paddles on the steering
wheel actuate the sequential six-speed gearbox with a magnesium housing, which
delivers power to the the foot-wide (31 cm) rear wheels.
Collision avoidance systems
While the normal process is for technology to be
race-tested and then be deployed into street cars sold to mere mortal commuters,
next year will see the process reversed as safety tech will for the first time
be used in a Porsche GT race car.
The tech features state-of-the-art assistance systems, as the new
911 RSR is equipped with the radar-supported “Collision Avoid System”. Now in
the dark, faster LMP prototypes are detected early enough, therefore preventing
accidents. But note, airbags still do not feature in race cars.
Instead, a new safety cage concept and a rigidly-mounted racing
seat enhance driver safety. With the seat fixed to the chassis, the pedalry can
now be moved and adjusted to fit the driver.
The new 911 RSR’s serviceability has also been significantly
improved. Entire elements of the carbon-fibre body can be exchanged completely
in a very short time thanks to clever quick-release fasteners. Moreover, changes
to the suspension set-up can be performed much more quickly and easily.
With the look of the body wrapping, the 911 RSR is striking out in
a new direction. For the first time, the GT racer bears the new factory design
that has further developed the clear and dynamic design language of Porsche
Motorsport.
From a bird’s-eye view, a hint of the Porsche emblem silhouette can
be seen. The basic colours remain white, red and black.
