Finally! PDK for GT3!

http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1054986_report-next-porsche-911-gt3-to-get-pdk-s-dual-clutch-drop-200-pounds

The 2012 Porsche 911, which bears the internal designation 991, isn't due to make its first public showing until this fall's Frankfurt Auto Show or thereabouts, but a recent report from a fan forum, citing a trackside discussion at Daytona with a "very very higher up" in Porsche's motorsports ranks, claims to have several key details on the GT3 version of the car.

The GT3 isn't expected to arrive until after the Carrera it's based on has been on the market for some time, but if the report proves true, Porsche already knows what it will do with the lighter, motorsports-tuned version of the car.

The key takeaways? Power output is to be raised to 480 horsepower through a 9A1 engine; a dual-clutch PDK-S transmission will be available, though it's not clear if it will be an option or a replacement for the six-speed manual; weight will drop between 180-200 pounds through use of composite materials; the engine will be moved forward to improve balance, effectively turning the car into a mid-engine layout, though the source says Porsche won't call it such.

These details are very...well, detailed, for a car that's still quite a long time from retail sale, and especially to be released to the public at a racing event. Do we take it at face value? No, but we don't dismiss it out of hand, either--most of these themes are coherent with reports we've been hearing for a while now.

Catch more of what we think will come with the 991 revision of the Porsche 911 in our previous coverage.

 

true 'dry sump' a gonner too

 

Anything you hear is speculation. This is not out and the RS department won't discuss. They have the greatest jobs in the world, and noone is willing to lose that job. I personally asked that question to Andreus Preuninger this last weekend, and there is noone higher up than him. He personally doesn't like the PDK and will not install it in his cars. It is too heavy, and he will take a screw out of a car if it saves weight.

Porsche reads these threads and they are amused at all the market speculation.

 

I do not like pdk either. To install it on any gt car would be blasphemous!

 

confused article said 200lbs dropped even with PDK

 

^Article is speculation. Weight drop will always be something they work towards.

 

As my friend CC08gt2 noted the claims in this article are based upon hearsay and are not true. There is no such thing as a PDK-S, nor will there be 200 lbs of weight loss.

 

So if the next 911 comes out in 2012 then the Turbo will come out in 2013 and the GT3 in 2014 or there abouts. I suppose it's possible for Porsche to have made and tested a 9A1 engine on the racing circuit. But being that the 9A1 is untested, I think they would be testing it now in something considering the GT3 is the homologation model.


I do not think that even with the addition of the 9A1 that they could lose 200 lbs in a GT3 with PDK.

Plus I hate the idea of PDK in a GT3 anyways.

 

The biggest joke at Porsche is our market speculation. I believe none of this based on what I was told, and my source can't be any higher.

 

As if Porsche would leak any of this info to someone track side. Who knows, it is certainly reasonable to expect some of what is speculated: PDK as an option ~I believe Porsche has hinted that a stick will remain as an alternative if and when PDK becomes a reality and some weight reduction ~200 lbs is a stretch to say the least, 470-480 HP is something any of us would guess at and a modded race version of the 9A1 is likely. Like others above have said 2013 or 2014 before we even see one.

 

I think the article speculating the changes has done exactly what it was supposed to do - Generate discussion and web hits.

 

^Well put. Marketing is everything.

 

Sorry to the OP for being OT, but does anyone know definitively if Porsche is unveiling the 991 C2s as MY2012s in Sept 2011 at Frankfurt? The last I knew they were but now I am hearing differently.

 

Lets enjoy our toys to the maximum and forget all the speculation ! 2013 or 14 why we should bother ourselves from now ! Time will tell !

 

I agree, there are plenty of nice 997 GT3's and RS's to enjoy right now. We have plenty of time to argue about if the GT3 should have PDK, if the A91 can ever replace the Mertzger, or even if Porsche will even keep a flat 6 at all vs going V8. An all aluminum V8 could be lighter than the Mertzger and still made to rev high and would carry much more torque and have significantly more potential for NA hp.

But can it last.