Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid

[spt]

Yup, a GT3 Hybrid. For those who don?t follow automotive news and may have missed the official debut of the 911 GT3 R Hybrid at the Geneva Auto Show, then this is breaking news! For those who already know, here?s another article loaded with information you already read 300 times?

Not only is this a 911, a car that already gets 28 mpg (claimed by other owners), you now have a 911 in gt3 trim with an electric front axel that houses two electric motors giving you additional power on top of 480bhp. Almost sounds like a KERS based system making its way into a 911, but it isn?t. It?s something different.

How It Works: The front axels house two electric motors producing 60kW for each front wheel. The interesting concept is the battery-less (that?s right!) system that utilizes an electrical flywheel power generator fitted in the interior next to the driver and is able to deliver energy to the electric motors up front.

Another interesting technical item is the generator itself is an electric motor with its own rotor spinning at 40,000 rpm. This allows for the generator to store energy mechanically as rotational energy, which differs from most Hybrid systems. The flywheel generator is charged whenever the brakes are applied with the two electric motors reversing their function on the front axle and acting themselves as generators. The driver can then release the stored energy with a push of a button and feel the instantaneous rush of boosted power. The draw back is the recharge cycle (about 6-8 seconds) that the system needs in order to make the boosted power available again. On track it seems it could work out in between corners, but it all depends on the track. Also Porsche does claim that with the hybrid system, the car doesn?t need to store as much fuel, effectively lightening the car. Without the weight of batteries, this may actually be true.

Porsche is planning to make several testing runs on the Nürburgring to make sure all the bugs are worked out. Stayed tuned for more updates.

Video:

Gallery: [gallery link="file"]