Playing Porsche product planner for a day... what would
you do about the GT4 Clubsport’s competitiveness given the new Mercedes and Audi entrants into the class?
Mercedes have introduced the AMG GT road car, a sportier version in the GTR, and the race version AMG GT4. The GT has 557hp, 680Nm and in the UK costs £98k. The GTR has 585hp, 700Nm, active aero and costs £144k. These are road cars with DCT gearboxes and perhaps in model lineup terms analogous respectively, to the Cayman GT4 and a “GT4RS”. The Mercedes AMG GT4 race car has 510hp, 600Nm, sequential gearbox, double wishbone suspension front and rear, 6 speed sequential gearbox, carbon reinforced plastic body panels, and costs £198k. We all thought (well most did) that the Cayman GT4 Clubsport was rather under whelming as a race car but as often is the case with Porsche it has been quite successful in 2017. However Mercedes has rather upped the GT4 race car game, as have Audi and McLaren. Being in charge of Porsche’s GT and race car program and given homologation requirements, I would start with the race car, then work back to road car, so what to do about improving Porsche’s GT4 race car? Engine - needs more power but mainly torque - I’d go for a turbo but I don’t think a 4 pot would really be the go-to configuration Platform - Cayman currently is not big enough at the rear to have turbos and 6 cylinders nor a more sophisticated suspension set-up. Also the current T4 718 seems to have engine heat management issues based on comments in the SportAuto Supertest Non-issues: weight - Mercedes start with bloated road cars with their AMG GT/GTR so I don’t see fancy body materials as a key issue for a new Porsche GT4 race car, brakes - Clubsport uses existing GT race ready components so not really an issue aero - I would think this is more of a development focus rather than a fundamental issue gearbox - I don’t see this as an issue, manual and PDK proven option for road use, SADEV's or ANO's sequential for race cars With the objective of being really competitive in GT4, I’d revise the model hierarchy and separate road and GT, bite the 911/mid-engine platform pricing performance bullet and produce: GT4 road/track day car much as as 981 but with enlarged 991.1 4.0L engine, PDK and manual - simple development at £71k list GT4RS track day/road car with 991.2 GT3 engine, aero, PDK-S, fix rear suspension £110k list GT4 Clubsport race car version of RS with sequential gearbox, aero+ and stripped out a la 981 Clubsport £150k list The 991.2 GT3 engine with simplified valve train is used in Porsche race cars and must be the logical choice as it will fit in the Cayman shell and presumably cooling would not be an issue. Also presumably, the simplified valve train would be acceptable for homologation as it would be for reliability reasons and produce less power. I think this scenario fits all the various stories of what is/may be going on and would allow Porsche a reasonable chance of having some success in GT4 before a change to a completely new chassis platform in 2020/1 for all levels of GT motorsport. If the objective is not to compromise 911 GT cars and forgo international competitiveness, I'd just repeat the 981 formula of GT4 and a Clubsport version and wait for next platform iteration. What would you do and why? Mercedes GT4 hierarchy here Base
https://www.mercedes-benz.co.uk/pass...es.module.html GTR
http://tools.mercedes-benz.co.uk/current/passenger-cars/e-brochures/mercedes-amg-gtr.pdf?owda=amg+gt+coupé+r GT4
https://www.mercedes-amg.com/custome..._Online_EN.pdf
