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It’s interesting to see how ordinary motorists and amateur/semi-pro race drivers are so fascinated (bordering on obsessed?) with obtaining F1-like data and telemetry for their driving activities.
So much so, that there are any number of quite good (and improving) smartphone apps for the major platforms that aim to provide the motorsports telemetry experience to a wide audience. Some are free, some are quite expensive, but all have a large following. Some are better implemented than others, but there’s a growing trend for this type of application to come with back-end server support for more comprehensive playback and analysis. These server systems are (so far) by no means as professional or as comprehensive as something like the Magneti Marelli’s top-end WINTAX or ATLAS products, but much more accomplished than you would ever be able to get on your smartphone.
Stuttgart. GT sports cars from Porsche are a good ticket to the world of motorsport. Four out of five of all Porsche GTs ever built have been driven on the track. One in three enthusiastic drivers take to the track in the first year to test the sporting limits of their vehicle and their own abilities. Porsche has developed the Track Precision app especially for such drivers.
The Porsche Track Precision app is part of a special Sport Chrono Package, which is only available as an exclusive option for the Porsche GT sports cars Cayman GT4, 911 GT3 and 911 GT3 RS. It also includes the pre-fitting for connecting a lap trigger, which is available as an option from Porsche Tequipment. This lap trigger allows lap times to be measured even more precisely than using the GPS signal. You can download the free smartphone app for Android or iPhone from iTunes or Google Play. It allows the driver to perform a detailed and objective analysis of their lap times and driving style using synchronised data and video recordings. To do so, it utilises precise vehicle data from an auxiliary control unit in the vehicle as well as the smartphone’s high-resolution camera and GPS signals. The Porsche Track Precision app offers a unique range of functions, both while driving as well as for subsequent analysis. Before setting off, the driver simply has to select the desired track. This can be done either before or during the approach to the track. There are already about 60 international racetracks available in digitised form so far. Additional tracks can be conveniently added in a map editor beforehand or can be created when you drive the first lap in the car. To ensure high video quality, the driver should then affix the smartphone in a secure mount on the windscreen. As soon as he passes the start line, the system automatically begins to record using the GPS data. The data can be saved with the tap of a finger after passing the finishing line when the car leaves the track. Continue reading Like in motorsport: recording and analysis of driving data on tracks→
As the first vehicle to boast global road homologation, the Porsche 918 Spyder* has conquered the 20.6-kilometre lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than seven minutes. Achieving a time of exactly six minutes and 57 seconds, the super sportscar equipped with a hybrid drive shaved 14 seconds off the previous record. Wolfgang Hatz, member of the Porsche AG Board of Management in charge of Research and Development, had the following to say: “We promised a great deal with the 918 Spyder, namely to redefine driving pleasure, efficiency and performance. We have kept our word.”
The 2014 Porsche Macan looking production ready in these latest spyshots and this is the turbo variant along with the standard car that will be unveiled at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show in November.
Here we can show you both the Macan and Macan Turbo with their different front configuration including Porsche’s new ‘C-Blade’ air scoop at the front, which was first shown on the Panamera Sport Turismo concept from 2012.
The turbo is rumoured to be available from early 2015 and is to be powered by the same twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 that debuted in the 2014 Porsche Panamera S and is expected to be tuned for more torque and less horsepower at around 400hp twenty shy from the Panamera S. Continue reading The Porsche Macan Turbo’s Family Outing. (SpyShots)→
In 1976, entries for the Sports Car World Championship were extended to include just about anything with four wheels that was at least moderately suited for long distances. Porsche participated with two different concepts – and was twice rewarded.
The 935, derived from the 911 Turbo, won the Group 5 World Championship. The 936 was a two-seat prototype developed by the Porsche racing department at Weissach for the Group 6 World Championship – and consequently added a second World Championship in 1976.
Rule changes for the World Championship of Makes eliminated the stunning Porsche 917 during the early 1970s allowing the factory to instead develop the car for the open-top Canadian-American (CanAm) Championship in North America.
Teams from McLaren, Lola and Chaparral were attracted to the 200 mile Sprint races of the formula and the rule book permitted almost anything, including free engine displacement and the use of turbochargers. Porsche used its new found skills with forced induction to attach two exhaust-driven turbochargers to the flat-twelve engine of the 917. The result had a displacement of 5.4-litres and produced at least 1,100 hp, making it one of the most powerful racing cars ever built. Depending on the boost pressure, the engine’s power output is somewhere between 1,100 hp and 1,400 hp.
With the 917, Porsche for the first time entered the league of immensely powerful, large-capacity racing cars. The 580 hp from the twelve-cylinder 4.5-litre engine of the 917 set new standards, to the extent that even decades later, independent experts rate this Porsche as one of the most impressive sports cars of the century.
Changes in the regulations motivated Porsche to build the 917. Prototypes were allowed a maximum engine size of three-litres, and for sports cars five-litres were allowed. However, a series of at least 25 had to be built. The 1969 race season allowed the 917 to become fully race-proven, with the result that the car entered 1970 with its reliability assured and finely-honed aerodynamics which further improved its track behaviour. At that time, the factory did not enter the cars directly, but via its close partners, John Wyer Automotive and Porsche Salzburg; nevertheless, the World Championship for long distance sports car racing proved to be a triumph for Porsche. Despite fierce competition from Ferrari, the blue and orange, and red and white 917s won almost every race. Continue reading 1970 Porsche 917K ‘short tail’→
Weissach. The new Porsche LMP1 sports prototype, which will compete in the sports car World Endurance Championship (WEC) and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2014, successfully completed its first rollout today on the Porsche test track in Weissach. Before the eyes of the entire Board of Porsche AG, Porsche works driver Timo Bernhard took his new ‘wheels’ through its initial function check.
Porsche LMP1 Prototype 2014
The LMP1 racer turned its first laps on the circuit several weeks earlier than originally planned. “We are well on schedule,” says Fritz Enzinger, Head of LMP1. “Our newly formed team has worked with utmost concentration on getting this highly complex vehicle on the track as soon as possible. This allows us a few additional weeks for more testing and further development. From 2014, the regulations are primarily based on efficiency. This makes the competition amongst engineers more interesting and presents us with completely new challenges.”
Since the decision in mid-2011 to return with the LMP1 racer to top motorsport as a works effort, the Motorsport Centre at Weissach has grown significantly. A workshop and an administration building were built and accommodate around 200 employees who are responsible for the design, assembly and deployment of the LMP1 car. From the 2014 season, the racer will be fielded by a Weissach-based works squad. Continue reading Porsche LMP1 sports prototype – First Outing Weissach→
