We Are a huge fans of the Porsche brand, it’s a brand we have always had a real affection for, dating back to the late 70’s and early 80’s with the wonderful Kremer 935 K3 & K4 of Erwin Kremer and his brother Manfred, we just have a fondness for the 911 chassis in general, in all engine configurations, but our personal favourite at the moment is the 997 chassis, it just has the right mix of the 911 of old, with stunning driving characteristics.
Back in early 2013 we built our version of a road going 997 RSR based on the 997 Turbo chassis, some parts of the build we loved, , but some we loathed like the fit and finish and quality of the out sourced RSR aero kit, it was terrible, as were the rather over sized wheel choice, we just got some of the finer details wrong, the design of wheel was spot on, but the 20" size and the finish was just a huge fail,
but as far as producing Europe’s first ever turbo RSR road car based on the Turbo model certainly had the desired effect of global recognition, the car had mixed reviews and reactions but the main thing was the car had plenty of people talking about it, which is why we build cars, the the main criticism the size of the chosen wheels, but we managed to rectified slightly by painting the wheels matte black, which certainly toned it down and helped with the overall look.
Fast forward to late 2017 when our buddy Iby from Speedwells had sold his pair of beloved Supra’s and was looking for a change, and wanted to build another show stopper, after seeing our GT3R aero kit from a couple of our recent 997 builds we collaborated on, Sleepers Speed Shop in California and Scribante Racing in South Africa, he just wanted to build a pure road version of the R, but it had to be based on the Turbo chassis, nothing else would do and seeing that both of our last collaboration builds were both Turbo base cars, off he went in the hunt for the Turbo.
We haven’t discussed the build in detail and we didn't show the base model he managed to source, but that is with good reason, the engine was well looked after and strong as you would expect of a Mezger Turbo engine as they are renown to be the best, strong and robust, but as we speak Iby in on the hunt for even more power, if you know him you know that anything less that 700hp just doesn't float his boat, so the engine is out and is busy being cleaned, whilst swapping and upgrading everything that moves, new ECU, new hybrid Turbos, new stainless steel performance manifolds, uprated intercoolers,
etc, we will get full performance overhaul listed in a future post when we feature the new look for 2019 but the good news is all the mods should see the best part of 700bhp or more by the time he puts it back in the car.
The body work of the base model, Iby knew that he would be replacing the majority of the bodywork,
everything apart from the doors and the roof would be discarded and looking what he took off the car it was a blessing, we really do applauded his vision. The car belonged to Dragon Performance, looking at the Fastcar feature, it was their demo vehicle, fitted with a one off bespoke hand made aero kit, which was all made out of metal, it was all removed within an hour of being back at the Speedwells HQ and we estimate between 30 to 40 Kg of weight saving once the car was relieved of all the splitters, scoops, air pockets, spoilers, now don't get us wrong we are all for car modifying, but we can honestly say it was ridiculous, we are trying to understand the thought process of ,firstly building something like that and secondly deciding to add all that excess weight to the car, were sorry but what a mess and a mess that unfortunately ruined the Techart bumpers that were hiding underneath the hideous Frankenstein creation.
With all the parts discarded that wouldn't be needed it was time to see what needed to be done, Iby has built numerous cars before so his fabrication skill set is on point and it wasn't long before the kit was all mocked up and on the car, wheel specs measured, suspension sorted, and all of the little modifications needed for the larger tyres that would be fitted, the biggest job of all was moulding the rear quarter panels with the turbo vents, getting then all hooked up to the air channel that feeds the gulps of air to the intercoolers, we still think this is the coolest rendition for this build, with every build taking a different route when it came to the side air vents, the Turbo air vents are by far the best to look at, obviously extremely functional, so you get that wonderful Turbo look in a super wide “R” conversion, it just gives it that authentic road OEM look, albeit that much wider, well over 7 foot wider to be more precise. With the aero kit fitted and in place it was time to make all of the small adjustments, and then off to the paint booth, with Taj from Perfections Midlands laying down the Porsche Basalt black finish, which was finished to an extremely high standard, which is what we have come to expect from Taj, his paint skills are just superb, with a hint of how good he is you only have to refer to the name of his company.
Speedwells Porsche 997 GT3R Road going Bi- Turbo Under Construction
The conversion has been finished off with some extremely trick suspension parts, all adjustable with a special coilover kit manufactured for us specifically for this conversion, with separate reservoir and lots of adjustment so the car can become a track beast at the turn of a few clicks of the suspension.
The exhaust has also been upgraded to a full bespoke X pipe stainless centre exit 3” hybrid system, with a new set of Litespeed racing super lightweight concave RS5 replacing the 6 spoke VAD CR-Evo wheels that were fitted originally, sized we went with 10.5x19 front and 14x19 rear, with much larger tyres over the stock turbo set up, 265/35R19 and 345/30R19 Michelin cup 2 have been used and the ride quality and handling are exceptional as we reported in our previous blog from the Players Classic show.
We get asked on a regular basis if the aero kit will fit the other 997 non turbo models, the kit will fit every model, C2, C4, along with the wider S chassis as well as the GT2, GT3, we must admit to being quite keen to see this aero kit fitted on a 997 Cabriolet, it would take a small amount of adjustment adapting the rear quarter panels at the top leading edge, but completely doable and a must for 2019.
Speedwells Porsche 997 GT3R Bi-Turbo
Back home, outside the Porsche centre in Solihull Town centre
So what is next for the UK’s best looking street 997 Bi-Turbo, well the colour is set to be changed along with the wheel colour, we are privy to the colours in question, (has been swapped a couple of times)but have been sworn to secrecy until its launched to the world in 2019 once it’s out of hibernation.
This is one build we have been privileged to be involved with, its helped us get over the previous RSR mistakes we made with the first attempt, and this build is just better on every level, this one id just beautiful in every department, as we knew it would be, just impeccably put together with methodical precision, which is just how it should be when building a car of this calibre.
The "R" road programme for the 997 is becoming quite a popular conversion globally with us taking on an American partner to get the cars built for the USA market, as well as having our own Gen 1 & Gen 2 RSR carbon aero parts, we have every look available for the 997 chassis, with development for the 991 chassis now well under way 2019 cant come quick enough.
To view the full gallery of the UK first road going Porsche 997 GT3R Bi Turbo click the link below
Website gallery https://www.vaddesign.com/porsche-997-turbo-r
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