The new Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid will be reveled at the 2010 Geneva motor show. The hybrid Porsche will race at the Nurburgring 24hrs in May 2010 as an experimental green race car.
Porsche calls it 'Porsche Intelligent Performance' – a marketing phrase we're bound to hear more of, as Zuffenhausen develops its hybrid technology to dispel fears of the long-term future of sports cars.
Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid: the tech story
The hybrid 911 takes a conventional GT3 R race car and adds an electrically powered front axle. Two electric motors each developing 60kW turn the front wheels, complementing the flat six's 473 hp slingshotting the rear axle for a grand total of 635 horsepower combined. Four-wheel drive adds the usual traction gains for a race car, points out Porsche.
The system used is sometimes referered to as a 'through-the-road' hybrid, as there is no direct conection between the ICE in the rear and the front mounted electric motors. Porsche have also eliminated a bank of heavy batteries to upset the balance of a racer and used an electric flywheel power generator to create short bursts of electricity to drive the front axle.
The energy storage system was originally developed for use in Formula One by the AT&T
Williams team but Williams will not race the KERS system so their Hybrid team is now focused on applications in road vehicles. The flywheel is made from a Magnetically Loaded Composite material.
The flywheel generator acts as an electric motor – its rotor spins at up to 40,000rpm and stores energy mechanically as kinetic energy. It's charged during braking when the individual front electric motors double up as generators, and then releases up to 120kW of electricity for short bursts of around 6-8 seconds. Ideal for overtaking on track. The hybrid system reduces the number of fuel stops required which in a 24 hour race car can ad up to several laps advantage by the end of a race.
This system is essentially like the Flybrid concept that's been kicking around for a while. Energy that would otherwise have been wasted as heat during braking into turns is converted is temporarily stored then used to help power the car out of the turn again.
Porsche points to its long racing pedigree: the 911 has notched up more than 20,000 victories in 45 years of competing in motorsport around the globe. And it's not the first Porsche hybrid sports car – the Lohner Porsche Semper Vivus was developed by founder Ferdinand Porsche 110 years ago.
Hybrid rules will be introduced at Le Mans this year with companies like Toyota and Peugeot believed to be more than a little interested in becoming involved. Porsche is in fact the most successful manufacturer, with a record 16 overall victories, including a record seven in a row, at Le Mans so it's no surprise they are testing a hybrid at a lower profile 24 hour race as Toyota have successfully done.
