The opening of the new Porsche Experience Center the night before the LA show (we'll defer to the US spellings in this instance) and confirmation it'll house Porsche Motorsport North America was just the warm-up it seems. Because here at the show Porsche has revealed its all-new 911 RSR race car. Yes, it's a racing 911 with a massive wing. But there must be more to it than that for Porsche, in uncharacteristically excitable language, to describe it as 'the most spectacular 911 ever'.
The engine is ahead of the rear wheels you say?
And there is. Because this is a flat-six powered racing 911 with the engine in front of the rear axle. Yes, you read that right - the 510hp, 4.0-litre naturally-aspirated motor is effectively mid-mounted, harking back to the GT1 era Le Mans winner of the late 90s and perhaps the most radical change to the racing 911, well, ever!
"While retaining the typical 911 design, this is the biggest evolution by now in the history of our top GT model," says Porsche Motorsport boss Frank Walliser, the frizzy haired senior engineer you may remember from his previous job heading up the 918 Spyder programme. "The new 911 RSR is a completely new development: the suspension, body structure, aerodynamic concept, engine and transmission have all been designed from scratch," continues the press release, underlining how significant a change this is for a front-line racing 911.
In addition to the 919 Hybrid's top-mounted rear wing the RSR introduces a host of new tech, including quick release body panels and a radar controlled Collision Avoid System to hopefully mean they won't be needed in the middle of a race. The six-speed sequential gearbox is housed in a magnesium casing and, for now, Porsche is sticking with its traditional naturally-aspirated six. "For the 911 RSR, we deliberately focused on a particularly modern and light normally-aspirated engine, as this gave our engineers immense latitude in developing the vehicle," says Dr Walliser. "Apart from that, in principle, the LM-GTE regulations stipulate the absolute equality of various drive concepts, as the torque characteristics of turbo and normally aspirated engines are aligned."
More exciting than a Panamera at least
While Porsche has successfully mitigated the traditional weight distribution issues of the 911's rear-engined design, the aerodynamic problems caused by having the powerplant right where you want your rear diffuser have remained an issue. By moving the engine forwards Porsche can finally utilise the space to generate more underbody downforce, while also improving the overall balance of the car. Of course, it could only do this if the rules allowed. But, as Porsche has it, "the new 911 RSR makes full use of the breadth of the Le Mans 24 Hours GT regulations" and, by doing so, enters a whole new era for racing 911s. And it'll be hitting the track in anger as of next year, a debut at Sebring and battle for class honours in the WEC and US IMSA Weathertech Championship among its goals.