The Mid-Engined Porsche 911 RSR Is Here, And It's A Widebody Monster
Listen very carefully. Hear that? That’s the noise of Porsche 911 purists the world over exploding with rage. That’s right, we now have a 911 with its engine in the middle.
It’s the new 911 RSR racing car, and its 4.0-litre, flat-six is good for 503bhp. But more importantly, that lump of naturally-aspirated goodness has been shifted forward in front of the rear axle, making this a mid-engine 911.
This brings with it obvious weight distribution advantages, bu a big reason for the change is down the rear diffuser. With the engine no longer hanging out the back, Porsche’s motorsport bods now have the room to install a much larger diffuser, upping downforce levels considerably. And see that monster rear wing? That’s pinched - sorry, adopted - from the 919 LMP1 car.
Want to see the car in action? It’ll be taking on the LM-GTE class in the World Endurance Championship next year, and will also be in the IMSA championship, where it’ll make its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona late January.
It’s on display now at the LA Auto Show, where we’ve been busy gawping at it. Angry looking thing, no?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Looks like it got stung by a bee from the front😂
If God doesn’t exist, then who made this? Checkmate, atheists.
Some Germans. They made it.
The obvious answer would be Porsche mate, considering, you know, its a Porsche.
It was them crazy Germans
Ze Germans are the gods. Of engineering.
DAT WANG!!!!!
If VAG really had to kill the R8, they should at least replace it with this.
Why would they want to kill the R8?
The only horrible thing that they can do to it, is replace the V10 with a 1.6 turbo or something
Inb4, Porsche makes a road legal version of this car and all those who are trying to sell their 911Rs for profit will drown in their own financial tears. Including Alejandro Salomon. 😂
Return of the road version GT1. XD
#salomonVIPexperience
I already knew that the 911R was going to depreciate, well of course. There will be no road-legal version of this car, I suppose. As it seems unlikely. But like I said, the 991.2 GT3 will have the option of the manual, pretty much making the 911R obsolete. But I still love it!
Actually, it’s not about the size of the diffuser, which was already maximized and then reduced by IMSA in the 2016 season of endurance racing. The aero balance got screwed up by the reduction in aerodynamic downforce that was “legal” within IMSA’s regulations and so they had to make changes to restore the aerodynamic balance to make the car more stable at high speeds. There is no road car version coming out, because Porsche still prefers rear-engined layout, EXCEPT that their race cars will not be competitive unless IMSA lifts the rear downforce limits and allows Porsche to use more rear downforce. Full explanation below:
http://melonsbetterdriving.weebly.com/articles/911-rsr-engine-placement-controversy
I love it, its like a modern GT1
Only much slower.
Too bad they’re so restricted these days.
Why don’t we see these kind of rear view mirrors on road cars? They look so much better than the elephant ears we get.
Why they don’t make a new MR car model and leave the 911s engine where it belongs.
Still waiting for the Porsche that should come in the Audi R8, Lamboghini gallardo, McLaren 650S bracket o: There were rumors of a flat 8 mid engined car at some point, that would be interesting :)
It is beautiful!