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The Next Porsche 911 GT3 Will Have a Manual Transmission

Traditionally, high-performance versions of the Porsche 911 are offered with a manual transmission. The 911 is a car built for enthusiasts, and very few cars are as amazing to drive as a Porsche 911 with a manual transmission. The yowling, burbling, screaming flat-six cylinder engine a few feet behind you, and an easy-to-shift transmission make it a wonderfully engaging car to drive.

However, the current Porsche 911 GT3 isn’t offered with a manual transmission, like it was with the previous generation. Many enthusiasts were angry at Porsche. They felt like the PDK transmission took some of the soul out of the car. Don’t get me wrong – the PDK is a great transmission. It’s a quick-shifting dual-clutch transmission that was developed from Porsche’s blindingly fast and reliable race cars. But it doesn’t have the same kind of incredible preciseness that the 991 (chassis designation GT3 has.

At the Geneva Motor Show, Porsche unveiled the 911 R, which is basically a more toned-down version of the GT3 RS. It has the same 500-horsepower flat six cylinder engine as the GT3 RS, but it has a six-speed manual, unlike the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission that the GT3 RS has. What I find amazing about the 911 R is that it brings back memories of racing-spec Porsches of years past. It has a magnesium roof, the front fenders and luggage compartment lid are carbon fiber, no rear seats, less interior insulation, and air conditioning is a no-cost option. This is serious.

The 911 R is far more toned-down in terms of bodywork than the GT3 RS. It doesn’t have a massive wing, less flourishes along the sensuous body, but still looks hardcore. It has bold racing stripes, available in red or green. What provides downforce? An automatically-deploying spoiler and rear underbody diffuser do that.

One of the best options about the 911 R is that it has an optional front axle-raising system that can boost front ground clearance an extra 1.2 inches, which will certainly save expensive repairs when you try and go into a driveway. The same wheels from the 911 GT3 RS finish off the looks of the 911 R.

Take a peek inside the 911 R, and you’ll find it’s all business. It has bucket seats with carbon fiber seatbacks, a special steering wheel, and a racing-derived short-throw shift knob.

Back to the next 911 GT3. The head of Porsche GT cars promised Motor Trend that all future GT-series 911s will stay naturally aspirated, except for the GT2 (which has always been turbocharged). While the Cayman is downsizing engines from flat six-cylinder engines to turbocharged 4-cylinders, the next-generation Cayman GT4 will have six cylinders (and likely a manual transmission).

Until we get a next-generation 911 GT3, we’ll have to watch this video of the 911 R attacking what looks like an incredible twisting mountain road, with even better views. You can watch it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60uUFO9Wrng

What do we want? A Porsche 911 GT3 with a manual transmission, of course! Until we get one of those, I guess we’ll have to make do with a 911 R…

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McLaren Introduces Track-Only 570S GT4 and Sprint Models

The McLaren 570S is a wonderful “affordable” supercar. Affordable is in quotation marks, because it’s a relative term. If you want a semi-affordable supercar, get a Nissan GT-R or a Dodge Viper.

McLaren has long been known for race cars that are both beautiful and win all the time. It should come as no surprise that they recently introduced the 570S GT4 and 570S Sprint. Both are, for all essential purposes, track-ready versions of the road-going 570S. The GT4 is the homologated for competition in the British GT Championship, while the Sprint is an unrestricted track-day model.

Who will be racing the GT4 this upcoming season? Good question, and we already have an answer! The Black Bull Ecurie Ecosse customer racing team will be racing the GT4 in the full nine-round British GT Championship season.

The GT4 is based off of the carbon-fiber Monocell chassis that forms the underpinnings for every single McLaren Sport Series car. The GT4 has a wider body, a GT4-spec aero package, Pirelli racing slicks, magnesium alloy wheels, and a massive rear wing providing downforce. What powers the 570S GT4? A twin-turbocharged V8 that’s been adapted for racing use. In the road-going 570S, it makes 562 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque, and puts the power down through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. While McLaren doesn’t list any power output for the 570S GT4, rest assured it will be within GT4 regulations.

Then there’s the 570S Sprint. Details right now are scarce on it, but McLaren has promised that more details will come in the following weeks. They did satiate our curiosity by saying that the 570S Sprint will come with the same upgrades as the 570S GT4. The 570S Sprint is a hardcore track car not built to any one specification.

Yet another announcement from McLaren was that Ansar Ali will be joining the McLaren team as the Motorsports Director. Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren Automotive, said in a press release, “I am extremely pleased to welcome Ansar to McLaren Automotive in such a key role. Motorsport is part of the lifeblood of the McLaren brand, and this role will be key to our long-term plans as we continue to expand the product range and customer-appeal around the world.”

Have $225,500 just burning a hole in your pocket? You can buy a McLaren 570S GT4 for the 2017 season, but here’s the hitch: you need to be a customer racing team. Pricing and availability for the 570S Sprint at a later date, but expect it to be more accessible than the GT4.

The McLaren 570S GT4 certainly looks mean, and I can’t wait to see it blasting around a track!

 

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What to Do When You Wreck a Racecar

Not the best shot, but it was one of the few that didn’t include fire or tire smoke.

Racing a car or a motorcycle, while fun, is never quite safe. If you do it long enough, you will surely find yourself taking a vacation off the pavement. Before you end up hitting a tire wall or get your roof sanded off when you flip, you should know what to do in the event of a crash. This also applies to if you’re driving around in your daily life.

Stop the car as quickly as you can! If you’re in a drag car, pull the parachute or floor the brakes if you don’t have a chute. If you’re in a road course car, floor the brakes. If you know that you can’t save it, you might as well crash as slowly as possible. Brace your head against the head rest. Pull your thumbs away from the steering wheel so if it kicks back at you when you land or stop, you won’t have reshaped your knuckles.

As the dust settles, take a deep breath. Can you still breathe? If you can, awesome! Figure out where you landed, but you should figure out if you are on fire first. Normally, the safest place to be is in the car, unless you are on fire. Then you want to get the hell out of your car. If you aren’t on fire, you still have some choices. If the car is still moving, or able to move, try and get it off the track, or to a corner stand where a corner worker can help you out. If the car can’t move, cut the fuel and power, and wave your arms around so safety personnel know you’re alive. If you decide to drive the car off the track, make sure you don’t dump fluids all over the track. Watch your gauges, check your mirrors for smoke and other cars, and if you have a sneaking suspicion that something is going to leak or drag, just wait for the safety crew to come to you. Stay off the racing line or dragstrip groove if you can.

Off the track, things can be just as hard. You might have had a bad crash, but thankfully not bad enough to send you to the hospital. Somehow, the track crew was able to extricate your car from the catch fence or tire wall. Watch them if you can, so they don’t cause further damage. That sounds silly, I know, but it will be easier on you if you can rebuild the car. People don’t come to racetracks expecting to crash. Most tracks will allow owners to store the car for up to a week if need be. While all tracks are different, that’s usually what you can expect. For the most part, the track will cover the cost of repairing the broken tire wall or whatever you hit. Yes, it can be rough, but gather any in-car video or data and go home. The big decisions will come the next morning.

Expect to be sore the next day. Many people have more than just money poured into their race car. Damaging or totaling a car can feel like losing a dear friend or a family member. I know this because I still dearly miss my minivan. Just know that beating yourself up won’t fix the dents. Get out into the garage or driveway and take stock. If it’s just body damage, you can get back onto the track in a couple of weeks. If you damaged the chassis or suspension, you might want to look into a new car. Suspension can get replaced, but it can cause massive problems with the chassis. Depending on the value of your car and the frequency of your racing, check out racing insurance before you have to do a full rebuild.

Many racers say that the best way to get over a crash is to win the next race. It will remind you just how much fun it is to race. Just get out on the track and have fun.

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Why Racing is So Dangerous

Racing is inherently dangerous. It always has been. Deaths happen. The racing community is sad for a while, but they move on after a year or so.

The tragic death of Justin Wilson, a driver in the Verizon IndyCar Series, shook the racing community. Justin used social media religiously, and many of his fans felt like family.

Social media creates an artifice of closeness. People feel like they are part of the lives of that particular driver. This makes it harder for some people to process the death of someone they felt close to. Fatalities are still very common in the racing world. It’s sad, but it’s true.

Justin Wilson was an incredibly kind, good-hearted person who deserved only the best things in life. However, every race car driver makes a deal with the devil. That deal is that you can get killed, but you’ll die doing what you love. Racing might be safer now than it was five years ago, but it’s still incredibly risky.

The recent deaths of Jules Bianchi, a young French Formula 1 driver, and Justin Wilson, the caring, charismatic British IndyCar driver, have left me wondering if the danger that served as motorsports’ earliest appeal has run its course. Do we, as an automotive enthusiast community, have the gall to handle even more deaths?

Race car drivers in the 1950s through 1970s were modern day gladiators. Part of the reason that people flocked to the races was because of the danger element. The living legends of that era are the ones that survived. Surviving might be a greater accomplishment than any of the wins or championships that they hold. People don’t seem to accept the risks of their sport like they used to. A football player in the 1950s knew that he was going to have a traumatic injury because of the lack of safety equipment.

When Dan Wheldon died in 2011, people walked around the paddock like zombies. People seem to forget that these cars are 200-plus mph death traps that can kill you at any time. People just don’t seem to comprehend it. These cars have become so safe that people have become desensitized to death, and for older race fans (baby boomer age), it’s just part of the racing routine.

Many race car drivers in the 1950s through 1970s didn’t start a family because they didn’t want to leave behind a widow or young children. If you made it to 30 as an IndyCar driver back then, it’s the equivalent of being a front-line soldier who’s been there for 20 years. It doesn’t make what happened to Justin or Jules any less painful, but I think what has happened is that the sport has become so safe that people forget how far the sport has come.

It boils down to this: the marriage of speed, humans, physics, and competition will always produce tragedies. It doesn’t matter what motorsport you compete in. It happens in every sport. Some are just very well publicized. The percentages of deaths in various motorsports may have decreased dramatically since the 1950s through 1970s, but we can’t ignore the fact that death is a foreboding cloud that follows each and every driver. It’s never accepted nor welcomed, but it’s never outside the realm of possibilities.

It’s quite possible that the worst cliche in the world is that a driver died doing something they loved. Duh. If they didn’t love it, they would be doing something else. Nobody holds a gun to their head and tells them to go drive a race car. It doesn’t work that way. They’d much rather die in bed with the spouse of their dreams, not hit a wall at 200 mph or get hit by a flying piece of debris. These drivers don’t have desk jobs.

Being a race car driver is one of the most dangerous jobs one can ask for. Yet, these drivers are at peace with the danger. If they are comfortable with it, then we should too. There’s a racer’s mentality: Racers race, then they mourn.

Yes, we all mourn the losses of Justin and Jules, and I especially mourn the tremendous losses to their families. Jules was just 25, and Justin was 37. Justin left behind a young family. That’s the thing every married racer fears: leaving behind a family.

We would be kidding ourselves if we think that motorsports will ever be 100 percent safe. It has the capability to, but it’s just like being a soldier: you willingly accept the risks associated with your job. You don’t need to fear the reaper if you become a race car driver. Just keep it in the back of your mind.

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NHRA Makes Biggest Changes to Pro Stock Class Since 1982

The National Hot Rod Association, or NHRA, recently made the most sweeping rule changes to the Pro Stock class since 1982, when they abandoned the pounds-per-cubic-inch format.

The NHRA’s rule changes are a two-phase process. The first phase of the rule changes will be implemented at next weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway, where the NHRA Sonoma Nationals are to be held.

The changes effective from Sonoma onward are designed to increase spectator appeal, and to enhance the overall pit experience for fans.

NHRA mandated that teams must back the cars into their respective pit spots with the engines uncovered for better visibility for the fans. Crew members can no longer touch the cars during burnouts. The final change is that it is now mandatory for teams to create automobile manufacturer identification headers on the windshield of the car (not to be confused with exhaust headers) that can be sized between 4.25-4.5 inches high.

Starting January 1, 2016, all Pro Stock teams will be required to equip their cars with electronically-controlled throttle body fuel injection. This will make the engines more relevant – some engines still use carburetors. To reduce and control the costs for the race teams, the NHRA is mandating a 10,500 rpm rev limiter be attached to the fuel injection systems.

In addition to this, the NHRA has required all Pro Stock teams to remove the hood scoops, and to shorten the length of their wheelie bars to a length that is specified by the NHRA Tech Department. These changes are designed to make the cars look more like their factory counterparts, and to boost spectator appeal with the unpredictability of the class, due to more “wheels-up” launches.

The NHRA has promised to work with their new TV partner FOX Sports to improve coverage of Pro Stock races, as well as team, driver, and technical features.

“Pro Stock racing has a tremendous history with NHRA and proves each weekend by the close side-by-side finishes that it is one of the most competitive forms of racing in all of motorsports,” said Peter Clifford, NHRA president. “Through these changes we hope to provide a platform so the Pro Stock class can evolve from a technological standpoint, yet reconnect with its roots by generating more interest and appeal among spectators.”

NHRA Pro Stock 1 NHRA Pro Stock 2