Video: Strict discipline. The new 911 GT3 RS 4.0

Video: Strict discipline. The new 911 GT3 RS 4.0
500hp Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0
A rare look into Audi’s R18 TDI V6 engine

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 12:39 PM PDT

Andreas Preuninger

Video after the jump!

Join Andreas Preuninger, Head of GT Cars, as he details out the new 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Just listen to the naturally aspirated 4.0L push out the 500hp tunes!

Power, efficiency, performance. We have risen in every discipline. Our ambition was high, but the result clearly illustrates why we build sports cars – because there is only one direction: forwards.

Video: Falken Tire’s 12 Hours of Sebring recap

500hp Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 08:54 AM PDT

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

30+ images in the gallery after the jump!

The leaks have been coming over the past few weeks and now it’s real. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 brings the historic racer to the road. Weighing in at just under 3000lbs, the naturally aspirated 4 liter pushes out 500hp and nails a 0-62 in 3.9sec. If titanium, carbon fiber and weight optimized carpets are your thing, you can grab one of the six hundred to be made. Price: 178,596 euro / 265K US.

With the 911 GT3 RS 4.0, one of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart’s most popular, coveted and successful racing pedigree production cars is entering the home straight. Limited to 600 vehicles, the 911 GT3 RS 4.0 brings together in a road car all the attributes that have made the Porsche 911 GT3 a serial winner on the race track. The new model purveys thoroughbred motorsport technology to its innermost core. The flat engine’s crankshaft has been lifted unchanged from the 911 GT3 RSR racing car’s six cylinder engine and the forged pistons’ connecting rods are fashioned from titanium. The four-litre displacement sports engine, the biggest 911 model line engine ever, is also the most powerful naturally aspirated engine with 125 hp/litre (92 kW). It achieves its maximum power of 368 kW (500 hp) at 8,250 revs per minute. The engine delivers its maximum torque of 460 Newton meters at 5,750 rpm.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

The 911 GT3 RS 4.0 offers truly impressive performance. The most eloquent figure: It makes it round the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in 7:27 minutes. The 911 GT3 4.0, available exclusively with a six-speed sports transmission, sprints to 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standing start in 3.9 seconds, its gearing designed for the racing circuit taking it to the 200 km/h (124 mph) mark in under 12 seconds.

The 911 GT3 RS 4.0’s outstanding driving dynamics are the fruit of meticulously coordinated details. In addition to using the suspension components typically encountered in motor racing, weight reduction is also of supreme importance. Equipped as standard with light weight components such as bucket seats, bonnet and front wings made of carbon fibre, plastic rear windows and weight-optimised carpets, the two-seater’s ready-for-road weight is a mere 1,360 kilograms with a full tank of fuel. At 2.72 kg/hp, the 911 GT3 RS 4.0’s power-to-weight ratio thereby dips below the magical threshold of 3 kilograms per hp.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

The limited edition 911 is painted white as standard and emphasizes its proximity to motor racing by its dynamic appearance. Trademark characteristics are the wide track, the low vehicle position, the large rear wing with adapted side plates, the typical central twin tailpipe and the aerodynamically optimized body. The lateral front air deflection vanes, so-called flics, making their first appearance on a production Porsche, testify to the aerodynamic precision engineering. They create increased downforce on the front axle and together with the steeply inclined rear wing bring the vehicle into aerodynamic equilibrium. As a result, at top speed, aerodynamic forces exert an additional 190 kg pushing the 911 GT3 RS 4.0 onto the road.

The market launch of the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 begins in Germany in July 2011. The basic list price is 178,596 euro including 19 per cent value added tax and country-specific equipment.

- Porsche

Introducing the new 620hp Porsche 911 GT2 RS

A rare look into Audi’s R18 TDI V6 engine

Posted: 28 Apr 2011 06:48 AM PDT

Oneighturbo LeMans Audi R18 TDI 042711 1181

A week ago we brought you the technology behind Audi’s R18 TDI. Today, Audi gives us a rare look into the engine. We say “rare” because it is always guarded off in one way or another. At a race you will see the tent’s in full lockdown and sealed shut when they are working on it.

The R10 ran a 5.5L V12 weighing in at 200 kg/441 lb and produced a mere 700hp. The R15 used a 5.5L V10 pushing 590hp. With the R18 TDI, Audi is now using a 3.7L V6 TDI engine. It is roughly 25% lighter than the V10 and produces 550hp. A V8 could have been used, like we see in the Peugeot 908, but Audi choose the V6 for power, weight and efficiency. The V6 also uses a single turbo vs twin’s in the other two models. The exhaust also exits through a single pipe under the new fin.

The new Audi R18 TDI with which Audi targets its tenth victory in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11/12 is ready today with “tomorrow’s” technology. During development of the new LMP1 sports car the integration and future electrification of the powertrain and various possible concepts for energy recuperation have been taken into account.

Only six weeks to go before the 24 Hours of Le Mans
Compact V6 TDI power unit with single turbocharger
Exhaust manifold and VTG sit between cylinder banks

“We are very conscious of such systems,” explains Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “In our opinion, just as soon as this technology proves to be the most efficient we will use it at Le Mans.”

Although diesel engines have been repeatedly restricted by the regulations since their victorious introduction in 2006, Audi relies on TDI power once again for its new LMP1. “Audi invented the TDI engine and is convinced that this technology remains one of the most efficient and modern forms to power a car – especially at Le Mans where engines with high specific power, low fuel consumption and low emissions are a necessity.”

Audi R18 TDI, Detail

New regulations devised by the Automobile Club de L’Ouest (ACO) and introduced this year dictate significantly smaller engines. Audi has chosen a particularly compact 3.7 liter V6 TDI engine, which is about 25 per cent lighter than the V10 TDI power plant previously fitted to the older R15 TDI, and which leaves all options open for the technicians with regard to electrification and energy recuperation. “This would not be the case with a V8, for example, which is also permitted by the regulations,” explains Ulrich Baretzky, Head of Engine Development at Audi Sport.

However, Audi does not only surprise with its extremely compact engine. The concept is also innovative for an LMP1 sports car. To lower the center of gravity as much as possible and to improve airflow through the car, the exhaust manifolds were migrated from the left and right hand sides of the engine to sit between the two cylinder banks. “Hot side inside” is the name given to this concept by specialists, which was implemented in similar form in Formula 1 in the 1980s. But the V6 TDI engine powering the Audi R18 TDI, which has a cylinder angle of 120 degrees and thus an extremely low center of gravity, is technically generations further along the line and is also a technology-demonstrator for future production engines.

In contrast to previous Audi Le Mans sports cars, which all had twin turbochargers, the R18 TDI is quite logically now only fitted with a single turbocharger that also sits above the engine and draws its air directly through the air scoop mounted on the roof. “In this way we are able to convert the dynamic pressure generated at high speeds with minimal losses into power,” explains Dr. Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Technology at Audi Sport.

The mono-turbo concept developed in cooperation with Garrett was only made possible by the variable turbine geometry (VTG) already used victoriously in the R15 TDI. “Otherwise the response characteristics of such a large turbocharger would just be too bad,” explains Baretzky.

Audi R18 TDI

The concept was continued logically through a single pipe exhaust that exits at the rear of the R18 TDI below the new fin which is stipulated by the regulations. “This also stands for Audi ultra lightweight technology,” says Baretzky, “since we save components and weight – for example for a second diesel particle filter.”

Audi Sport has worked since July 2009 on the innovative engine concept for which numerous new routes had to be explored. To control the enormous ignition pressures and loads now only distributed between six cylinders, a unique method of cooling the cylinder heads was developed for the aluminum power unit, a concept that could also be interesting in the future for production.

Owing to the compact engine and uncluttered flanks, the airflow from the coolers can now exit practically unobstructed through the rear end. “We could increase the aerodynamic efficiency of the car as a result,” says Martin Mühlmeier, Head of Technology at Audi Sport. This aspect is even more important than ever before at Le Mans due to the reduction in engine power – for the Audi R18 TDI more than 397 kW (540 hp).

Another unique aspect of the new Le Mans sports car is its unusual sound. The Audi R18 TDI is probably the quietest race car Audi Sport has ever built. “Noise is unused energy,” stresses Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich who is delighted by the whispering murmur of the R18 TDI. “The sound is unique,” raves Le Mans record winner Tom Kristensen. “It’s hard to describe. You have to hear it yourself. I think it’s fantastic.”