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Tuesday, 4 January 2011
The world’s greatest Porsche race
The world’s greatest Porsche race
One of the most spectacular sprint races ever:
The field will be divided into two classes: The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with 3.6-litre engines from 2007 to 2009 model years (400 to 420 hp) as well as the 3.8-litre versions of the 2010 and 2011 model years (450 hp). Each class is classified separately. All competitors must provide proof of their considerable track experience. For all Nordschleife rookies, an intensive two-day training course will take place in the week leading up to the event with former Porsche works driver Sascha Maassen as the head instructor.
“Since its market launch in 1998 we have built over 2,000 units of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car for competition in our 18 Porsche one-make championships around the world,” explains Porsche’s head of motorsport, Hartmut Kristen. “With the Porsche Carrera World Cup on the northern loop of the Nürburgring, we aim to offer yet another highlight to our brand trophy customers all over the globe. Racing in the Nürburgring Long Distance Championship, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup never fails to underline its excellent aptitude for the world’s longest and most difficult races. I’m sure that this race will be an unforgettable experience for all pilots and spectators at the track.”
Over the last years, the success story of Porsche Motorsport has been closely tied to the Nürburgring. From 2006 to 2009, the Porsche team, Manthey Racing, won the 24 hour race on the Nordschleife four times in a row. In May this year, the innovative Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid held the overall lead for more than eight hours at Germany’s most popular automobile race. From the ten races on the VLN Nürburgring Long Distance Championship calendar this year, a Porsche 911 won nine times.
Info and Foto/ ADAC 24 Hour Race site.
Monday, 20 December 2010
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Porsche remembers Racing Baron von Hanstein
Porsche remembers Racing Baron von Hanstein
Stuttgart. 3 January 2011 would have been the 100th birthday of Fritz “Huschke“ von Hanstein, one of the greatest personalities in the company history of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart. As Press Director, racing manager, and a racing driver, from 1952 to 1974 Huschke von Hanstein helped fashion the unique image of the brand name Porsche. As Sports President of the AvD, the German Automobile Club, President of the Supreme National Sports Commission (ONS), and as Vice-President of the International Automobile Sport Association (FISA), he also represented German motor sport and the Porsche name to the entire world.
Born in Halle, the son of a nobleman and major entrepreneur, after passing the final school examination, the Abitur, Huschke von Hanstein became one of the most successful racing drivers of the pre-war period. He competed in his first motorcycle event in 1929, the ADAC Time Trials Event, while he was still a student of business studies in Hamburg. He pressed ahead with endurance events over the next few years on motorcycles from FN, Ardie, BSA, and Norton, but soon switched to four wheels, and scored success after success all over Europe as a works driver with Hanomag, Adler, and BMW, in endurance events, hill events, and circuit competitions. From 1936 he was already a regular competitor in the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race, and two years later became German hill events champion with a BMW. In 1940 von Hanstein scored a huge success in the substitute Mille Miglia event, when he led the German national team to overall victory with a BMW 328.
After the war, he initially continued with his motor sports activities with own-build VW sports cars, before coming in contact with Porsche in 1950 by way of introduction from the former Auto-Union Racing Manager Dr. Feuereisen. By September 1951 he was already a member of the Porsche drivers team, which set 17 world records at Montlhéry. A year after the “Montlhéry Adventure“, Huschke von Hanstein took on the dual role of Racing Manager and PR Director at Porsche. During the ‘fifties and sixties which followed, the baron played a key part in shaping the sports style of the still young House of Porsche. As a manager and driver he not only entered European events such as Le Mans, Targa Florio, Giro di Sicilia, and the classic Lüttich-Rome-Lüttich endurance contest, but also helped boost the image of the young company of Porsche all over the world by racing appearances in the USA, Mexico, Venezuela, and in the Bahamas.
With the bearing of a man of the world and self-assured elegance, matched with a gift for rhetoric and mastery of many languages, Huschke von Hanstein achieved a great reputation in the automobile world. Together with his wife Ursula he was renowned as the perfect host, and the soirées at his house in Stuttgart’s Kräherwald district were legendary. As an ambassador for the brand name, he not only represented Porsche to the international media, he was also an honoured guest at countless international Porsche Club gatherings.
As a leading sports official, Huschke von Hanstein was closely linked to Porsche as a company even after his departure, and remained so to the end of his life. He died on 5 March 1996, and takes his final rest next to his father Carlo von Hanstein in the cemetery at Wahlhausen. In homage to this famous member of the company, the Porsche Museum keeps one of Huschke von Hanstein’s service vehicles on permanent display. The dark green Porsche 356 A 1600 S Coupé with its cream-coloured interior still bears witness today to the good taste of the legendary “Racing Baron“.
Info and Fotos Porsche Motorsport/Autorized and Acreditation Press.
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Marco Holzer new works driver – established pilots stay under contract
Marco Holzer new works driver – established pilots stay under contract
Stuttgart. Porsche Motorsport heads into the 2011 racing season in strong form. The works driver squad grows from eight to nine pilots. After his three year training stint as a Porsche Junior, Marco Holzer has now been signed on as a factory pilot. Established pilots Joerg Bergmeister, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas, Wolf Henzler, Marc Lieb, Richard Lietz, Patrick Long and Patrick Pilet continue their contracts in 2011.
As part of the “Night of Champions” season-closing celebration in the R&D Centre at Weissach, Wolfgang Dürheimer, Board Member for Research and Development, praised the excellent performance of the Porsche works drivers: “Aside from the technology of the vehicles and the performance of the teams, our pilots contributed significantly to the huge success that we achieved in 2010. They are the ones who had to make the right decisions within fractions of seconds and deliver their best performances in our cars over many hours.”
Two Porsche factory pilots received special distinctions in the 2010 season. Timo Bernhard, the first to win the world’s four major long distance races and hence the Motorsport Grand Slam, was selected by a jury of experts as the ADAC Race Driver of the Year. Richard Lietz, who won the GT2 classification at the Le Mans 24 Hours as well as the championship title of the Le Mans Series, received the Austrian Race Driver of the Year award by the Austrian Motorsport Association committee (OSK).
In his speech, Dürheimer stressed the special role of motorsport for the future of the automobile: “Right now, motor racing has the historic chance to take the lead in important technological advances. Fielding the Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid, we have shown how you put crucial ground-breaking technology to the test with success on the race circuit. We will continue to determinedly blaze a trail and we believe that sooner or later other manufacturers will follow suit. But to do this you need courageous and visionary rule-makers who recognise this opportunity and, in conjunction with manufacturers, implement the new challenges in a clear, stable and long term system of regulations.”
Furthermore, Dürheimer applauded the impressive career of the RS Spyder sports prototype. After a total of 12 championship titles, 13 overall and 35 class victories in the American Le Mans Series, the Le Mans Series and at Le Mans, the RS Spyder programme was concluded as planned.
Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, accentuated the special position in international customer sport: “30,000 racing victories, more than 500 teams throughout the world and over 2,000 units of the 911 GT3 Cup produced – such numbers are unparalleled anywhere on earth. Every Porsche carries racing genes. And these genes will also be present in the Porsche models that we develop in the future. Because these vehicles are the basis for the race cars that will bring home victories in the future in the hands of our customer teams worldwide.”
Info and Fotos Porsche Motorsport/ Autorized and Acreditated Press.
Debut for the 2011 version of the world’s most successful GT race car
Debut for the 2011 version of the world’s most successful GT race car
Stuttgart. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR takes off into the new motorsport season with extensive modifications. The 2011 version of the world’s most successful GT race car celebrated its international premiere at the “Night of Champions” party held at the R&D Centre in Weissach to mark the end of the motorsport season. Priority in the further development of the GT3 RSR was given to the newly designed aerodynamics at the front and rear, changes to the suspension kinematics and to the engine.
The 4.0-litre, six-cylinder boxer engine now delivers 455 hp (355 kW) at 7,800 revs, five horsepower more than its predecessor. The power increase results from an engine management system which adapts even better to different fuel grades, as well as a redesigned exhaust system and a modified air intake housing. Moreover, the driveability of the famously efficient engine has undergone further improvements. Maximum revs remain unchanged at 9,400 rpm.
Clearly visible are the modifications to the front. A new front lip provides higher downforce at the front axle. The front wheels are now wider with the rims growing from 11 to 12 inches giving additional grip and less of an understeering tendency. The position of the rear wing and the shape of the wing mounting also underwent optimisation and were adapted to the new rear fairing with additional air outlet louvers. The rear lid was also redesigned for optimised air ducting. Like the 911 GT3 Cup and the GT3 R, the RSR has now been equipped with the LED rear lights taken from the latest 911 road-legal cars.
The 911 GT3 RSR joins the 911 GT3 R and the 911 GT3 Cup as the top model of Porsche Motorsport’s product range. The successful long distance racer from Weissach can be ordered now at a price of 410,000 Euro plus country-specific value added tax. All 2011 modifications are available as a kit for GT3 RSR cars from the 2010 season.
Technical description Porsche GT3 RSR (2011 model year)
Engine
Water-cooled six-cylinder boxer engine; 3,996 cc; stroke 80.4 mm; bore 102.7 mm; 455 hp (335 kW) at 7,800 rpm; max. torque 450 Nm; air restrictors 2 x 28.6 mm; max. revs 9,400 rpm; four valve technology; dry sump lubrication; individual throttle butterflies; fuel injection.
Transmission
Porsche six-speed gearbox with sequential jaw-type shift; oil/water heat exchanger, single-mass flywheel; hydraulic disengagement lever; three-plate carbon-fibre clutch; rear wheel drive; limited slip differential 45/65 percent.
Body
Monocoque body (basis GT3 RS) of hot-galvanised steel; aerodynamically optimised front end with front spoiler; aerodynamically optimised front underfloor; adjustable rear wing; 90-litre FT3 safety fuel tank with fast filling function; air jack; welded-in safety cage; race seat (driver’s side only) with flame retardant upholstery; six-point seat belt adapted for use of the HANS Head and Neck Support; electric fire extinguishing system.
Suspension
Front axle: McPherson spring strut axle; Sachs four-way gas pressure dampers; double coil springs (main and auxiliary); front axle arms adjustable for camber; adjustable sword-type anti-roll bar; power steering.
Rear: Multi-arm axle with rigidly mounted axle sub-frame; Sachs four-way gas pressure dampers; double coil springs (main and auxiliary); rear axle tie-bar reinforced and infinitely adjustable; adjustable sword-type anti-roll bar. Complete suspension infinitely adjustable (height, camber, track).
Brake system
Brake system with balance bar control.
Front: Single-piece six-piston aluminium fixed callipers; inner vented, 380 mm diameter; racing brake pads.
Rear: Single-piece four-piston aluminium fixed callipers; inner vented, 355 mm diameter; racing brake pads.
Wheels
Front: Three-piece BBS light-alloy wheels (12J x 18 ET 34); central bolt.
Rear: Three-piece BBS light-alloy wheels (13J x 18 ET 12.5); central bolt.
Electrical system
Motec display with integrated data recording; multi-function display with integrated gearshift indicator; adjustable traction control; battery: 12 volt, 80 Ah, 140 Ah alternator.
Weight
1,220 kg
Info and Fotos/Porsche Motorsport-Autorized and Acreditated Press.
A Porsche 911 Carrera S for René Rast
A Porsche 911 Carrera S for René Rast
Stuttgart. René Rast receives an early Christmas present: As a prize for his overall victory in the 2010 Porsche Mobil1 Supercup, the 24-year-old race driver from Germany, who drove for the Al Faisal Lechner Racing this season, receives a new Porsche 911 Carrera S. The sports car was presented as part of the Special Award Evening held in the Porsche museum on Friday to celebrate the end of a gripping season of the world’s fastest international brand trophy series.
Nick Tandy was presented with two awards on this evening. Concluding the season as vice champion after clinching three victories, the 26-year-old Briton won the “BBS Rookie Classification” as the best Supercup newcomer ahead of Kuba Giermaziak (Poland) and Christian Engelhart (Germany). Tandy also received the “Tudor Fastest Lap Award” for turning the greatest number of fastest race laps.
Info and fotos Porsche Motorsport/Acreditated and Autorized Press.
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