Henry Catchpole in sharkwerks porsche GT4

Henry Catchpole in sharkwerks porsche GT4

Author
Discussion

Olivera

7,068 posts

238 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
mhh said:
The "problem" with the GT4 is the lack of engine power, not the overall gearing. It's a revvy thing in top gear already. I still love mine though.
I have to disagree, 85mph in second gear is just abysmally long gear ratios.

jcosh

1,172 posts

231 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
mhh said:
The "problem" with the GT4 is the lack of engine power, not the overall gearing. It's a revvy thing in top gear already. I still love mine though.
Surely with a power increase to 425hp the tall gearing would be less of an issue (not that I find to be an issue) as there would be more power earlier in the rev range and hopefully more torque?


BubblesNW

1,710 posts

182 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
jcosh said:
Surely with a power increase to 425hp the tall gearing would be less of an issue (not that I find to be an issue) as there would be more power earlier in the rev range and hopefully more torque?
But a shorter final drive and 425hp would be even better. You can never get enough of excess...

GT4P

5,188 posts

184 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
The gear ratios of all gears and final drive are exactly the same as 981S/Gts also all 3.4 987.2 variants yet we only here of complaints of long gearing in the GT4! IMHO it's about as frustrating as my old 987.2 Spyder but less so due to the extra 60hp! But it must be real bummer in a 20 inch wheel 981s or Gts!For me the real issue is the power restriction especially after 5k so a remap and larger throttle body (ie stage 2 ehresman)is all you need IMHO

Edited by GT4P on Monday 5th December 22:33

GT4P

5,188 posts

184 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all


(1st column 981 Cayman and second column 981S)

On the gearing side surely it would have been better to fit the 981 2.7 Cayman 2nd and 3rd gear

Edited by GT4P on Monday 5th December 22:41

Porsche911R

Original Poster:

21,146 posts

264 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
The 19" wheels bring it down to 74 ish in the 987.2
And most people have PDK in the 981 so is about 72mph.

Both of those work quite well on B roads. But could be Ferrari short and better.

I agree a manual standard 981 is a bit meh with the long gears.

the GT3 boys never moan and that car is much worse to drive regarding torque and gearing :-/.

The GT4 has peak torque 2k lower than a GT3 , I must say I don't feel it feels under powered.
But a remap and a release of the real bhp is so cheap it seems daft not to have it.

GT4P

5,188 posts

184 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
I am pretty sure my 987.2 spyder would hit 80 or there abouts in second gear so only a few mph different to a gt4 due to slightly smaller wheel circumference circa5%

jcosh

1,172 posts

231 months

Monday 5th December 2016
quotequote all
Porsche911R said:
But a remap and a release of the real bhp is so cheap it seems daft not to have it.
I haven't looked at costs in detail but figures of several £K's have been mentioned to me. Is this what you refer to as cheap?

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
GT4P said:
The gear ratios of all gears and final drive are exactly the same as 981S/Gts also all 3.4 987.2 variants yet we only here of complaints of long gearing in the GT4! IMHO it's about as frustrating as my old 987.2 Spyder but less so due to the extra 60hp! But it must be real bummer in a 20 inch wheel 981s or Gts!For me the real issue is the power restriction especially after 5k so a remap and larger throttle body (ie stage 2 ehresman)is all you need IMHO

Edited by GT4P on Monday 5th December 22:33
The problem is the gt4 is "omg i am manual look at me" but you never get to go 2nd 3rd 4th 3rd 4th 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd on a backroad because to be up in the power band above 5500rpm you are already going faster than the speed limit on most back roads.

The gearing is obviously set up for track. Its ridiculously long for a britsh or germany back road. However again one does wonder was this done to blunt the in gear performance vs a 991 gt3....

I think sharkwerx have basically remoced 4th and given you two 3rd so you can stir the gearbox a bit more.
Seems a faff to me as i echo the above that the car would be better with final drive changed for 2nd to top out at around 70.



Minis suffer the same. I remember doing 75mph on the red line on cruise in a courtesy mini. That was fun.

franki68

10,330 posts

220 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
I find the gearing frustrating but sometimes I appreciate not having to change geAr when pressing on and being able to keep both hands on the wheel.
Car does beg for more urge though ,what could the chassis handle ?

Porsche911R

Original Poster:

21,146 posts

264 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
jcosh said:
I haven't looked at costs in detail but figures of several £K's have been mentioned to me. Is this what you refer to as cheap?
remap and filters is about £1.5k for 405BHP

you don't get much more for the big spend on parts, just a smoother torque curve and 20bhp.
but the whole hog is £5k with throttle bodies and Manifolds, so not the end of the world.

Ave person will just have a remap.

Edited by Porsche911R on Tuesday 6th December 09:42

n17ves

591 posts

177 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
The problem is the gt4 is "omg i am manual look at me" but you never get to go 2nd 3rd 4th 3rd 4th 2nd 3rd 2nd 3rd on a backroad because to be up in the power band above 5500rpm you are already going faster than the speed limit on most back roads.
What a load of rubbish - You can easily make full use the box properly on an early morning blat.

I have to say I don’t get sharkwerxs approach. Other than the power upgrade, they’ve basically altered gearing that doesn’t need altering and adding a lighter flywheel that really isn’t required (oem revs nicely as it is). All they really needed to do was address 2nd, and they haven’t even done that!

Porsche911R

Original Poster:

21,146 posts

264 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
IF you don't like the GT4 gearing don't buy a 996/997 GT3 lol

What I wonder though is how the GT3 boys cover up the 85mph 2nd gear issue so well on the forum, and say it's a non issue :-)

The GT4 and jurno's bring up the GT4 issue and the GT4 has more torque at a 2k rpm lower point.

So some thing is a miss ;-) as the GT4 makes a far better road car regarding the gearing/engine/torque than a GT3.

LaSource

2,622 posts

207 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
I find the GT4 gearing noise a bit over-hyped. Its fine as it is and works ok.

Yes, if you have maxed out the GT4's performance curve (e.g. are already at a pace say 2:46 laps at Spa, 2:24 laps at Silly) and want even more performance then the final drive plus power mods will improve this even further.

Having recently driven a very short geared Xbow on track (well it also has a short rev range), it can be irritating to have to change gear every 5 seconds and I was rather missing the taller gearing of GT3/GT4 cars.

Porsche911R

Original Poster:

21,146 posts

264 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
LaSource said:
I find the GT4 gearing noise a bit over-hyped. Its fine as it is and works ok.

Yes, if you have maxed out the GT4's performance curve (e.g. are already at a pace say 2:46 laps at Spa, 2:24 laps at Silly) and want even more performance then the final drive plus power mods will improve this even further.

Having recently driven a very short geared Xbow on track (well it also has a short rev range), it can be irritating to have to change gear every 5 seconds and I was rather missing the taller gearing of GT3/GT4 cars.
Track and road are night and day, esp when on the road anything above 85mph is not good and 100mph plus is a 6 point and a ban. I know I have been to court 3 times for speeding !!! although all 3 on motorbikes a lot of years ago.

where at Spa even in the Spyder I was at 140mph and backing off due to brain saying slow down, when my instructor is still saying flat here :-)

LaSource

2,622 posts

207 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
Porsche911R said:
Track and road are night and day, esp when on the road anything above 85mph is not good and 100mph plus is a 6 point and a ban. I know I have been to court 3 times for speeding !!! although all 3 on motorbikes a lot of years ago.

where at Spa even in the Spyder I was at 140mph and backing off due to brain saying slow down, when my instructor is still saying flat here :-)
True.

Though nowadays any road driving in anything with more than say 280hp is a car too fast for legal limits, and therefore any additional fun is being had in short burst of overspeed on deserted country roads, motorway slip roads without cams, etc. Hence why I think not tracking a GT Porsche is buying something vastly over engineered for the road.

I think most fun I had over the years was in a Clio 16v (Williams-esque) some 20 years ago when the car could be driven to its limits but only be a little over legal limits. Since then everything has been too fast and the limits are now enforced even harder (plus increasing age means you drive less and less like a loon on public roads)....so the track is needed to remove any silly road temptation.

Just my view of course.

isaldiri

18,416 posts

167 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
mhh said:
The "problem" with the GT4 is the lack of engine power, not the overall gearing. It's a revvy thing in top gear already. I still love mine though.
Agreed, more oomph past 6k to the rev limit would really change the car imo. Never thought gearing was a major issue even if it is a bit long.

anniesdad

14,589 posts

237 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
LaSource said:
True.

Though nowadays any road driving in anything with more than say 280hp is a car too fast for legal limits, and therefore any additional fun is being had in short burst of overspeed on deserted country roads, motorway slip roads without cams, etc. Hence why I think not tracking a GT Porsche is buying something vastly over engineered for the road.

I think most fun I had over the years was in a Clio 16v (Williams-esque) some 20 years ago when the car could be driven to its limits but only be a little over legal limits. Since then everything has been too fast and the limits are now enforced even harder (plus increasing age means you drive less and less like a loon on public roads)....so the track is needed to remove any silly road temptation.

Just my view of course.
Well said.

jcosh

1,172 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
Porsche911R said:
remap and filters is about £1.5k for 405BHP

you don't get much more for the big spend on parts, just a smoother torque curve and 20bhp.
but the whole hog is £5k with throttle bodies and Manifolds, so not the end of the world.

Ave person will just have a remap.

Edited by Porsche911R on Tuesday 6th December 09:42
Is there anybody on here that has actually taken the plunge and had a remap / filters?

fioran0

2,410 posts

171 months

Tuesday 6th December 2016
quotequote all
Porsche911R said:
IF you don't like the GT4 gearing don't buy a 996/997 GT3 lol

What I wonder though is how the GT3 boys cover up the 85mph 2nd gear issue so well on the forum, and say it's a non issue :-)

.
In fact many GT3 owners do feel the gearing is too long, and the spacing is often considered rather imperfect. That is why there are a bunch of cars running a shorter final drive - and others with re-gears.

Here are some quick gearing charts for the various factory GT3 configurations versus the GT4. This perhaps puts some meat on the issue some have with the GT4's gearing. Individual gear ratios are just one part of the drive system. Final drive, tire size and RPM are also relevant. It is easy to look at one aspect in isolation and miss the story.







Edited by fioran0 on Tuesday 6th December 22:56