Few cars can rival the Porsche 911’s ability to stir the soul. The German sports car evokes images of a timeless design, power and unparalleled driving exhilaration.
Ferdinand ‘Ferry’ Porsche always harboured dreams of a true sports car. This vision materialized in 1963 with the debut of the 356‘s successor: the 901, later renamed 911 due to Peugeot’s trademark on three-digit numbers with a “zero” in the middle. The car impressed with its rear-engine layout and lightweight construction. However, its early days were not without challenges with handling quirks, particularly oversteer, plaguing the early models.
Porsche did not give up on the 911. The fledgling company continually refined the 911, addressing issues and improving overall performance with innovative solutions like an independent suspension.
It eventually paid off. The 911 put Porsche on the global automotive map, becoming one of the carmaker’s most successful models, with over 1.2 million units produced. The 911 has evolved from a simple sports car into a technological marvel, with advanced aerodynamics, powerful turbocharged engines, and cutting-edge electronics.
Today, the iconic 911 is not only a performance benchmark in the sports car segment but is also at the sharp end of some of the most exciting automotive engineering innovations – a few examples are highlighted below.
Internally Ventilated Disc Brakes
It was Porsche that pioneered this ingenious way of cooling brakes as a way of improving overall performance. Solid disc brakes were an improvement over drum brakes, but they still overheated, especially under intense use. Porsche introduced double-walled rotors, enabling enhanced air circulation and significantly increasing the surface area for heat dissipation. Internally ventilated disc brakes revolutionalized brake cooling, and other automobile manufacturers soon adopted the idea. The internally ventilated disc brake systems were followed by ram air ducts in later 911 models. These helped even further with cooling by funnelling air onto the brakes through openings in the spoiler.
Three-Part Safety Steering System
This was a part of Porsche’s safety concept, woven into the development of the first iteration of the 911. The system, introduced in 1963, aimed to minimize driver injury during frontal collisions. The Porsche 911 had a rack-and-pinion steering system with a three-part linkage design and steering gear positioned in the centre of the vehicle. In a frontal crash, the steering wheel, instead of moving towards the driver, was deflected away due to the steering rod angle, impact tubes, and release elements. Porsche added further refinements to the safety concept in later 911 versions. An example was the addition of a mesh tube, also known as the crumple element, that also helped dissipate impact energy during a crash.
The Targa Roll-over Bar
The “Targa” trademark belongs exclusively to Porsche. This distinctive name was first introduced in 1965 to describe a unique open-top variant of the iconic 911, unveiled at the Frankfurt International Auto Show in 1965. A key feature of the original 911 Targa was the inclusion of a safety bar, aptly named the “Targa fixed bar.” Inspired by the roll-over bars utilized in motorsports, this structural piece was strategically integrated into the vehicle’s design. The Targa fixed bar provided a crucial layer of safety for occupants in the event of a roll-over accident, significantly enhancing the vehicle’s structural integrity.
The Modern Dual-Clutch Automatic Transmission
French Engineer Adolphe Kégresse first introduced the concept of a dual-clutch transmission in 1939, with the first production DCT developed in the ’50s by UK-based Smiths Industries and Rootes. However, it was Porsche’s reimagination of the DCT that really unlocked the system’s capabilities. Porsche started work on the DCT for racing cars in the 1970s, encouraged by the idea that the dual-clutch transmission could mitigate a loss of boost pressure in motorsport when shifting gears by effectively erasing the time between shifts when an engine wasn’t on throttle. However, it was not until 1985 that it was first used in the Porsche 962 C Le Mans race car. In 2008, the 911 became the first Porsche road car to use Porsche’s version of the DCT, referred to as the Porsche PDK (Doppelkupplungsgetriebe) transmission. By then, the system had become much more refined, and it helped propel the 911’s performance onto a higher plane with lightning-quick shifts, faster acceleration and better fuel efficiency.
The First Series Production Turbocharged Car
Porsche might not have invented turbocharging, but they were the ones who figured out how to successfully deploy the technology in a production vehicle. Earlier attempts were plagued with problems like the infamous ‘turbo lag,’ at a level which made it almost impossible for a large-scale adaptation of the turbocharging technology. Porsche was able to figure out how to manage turbocharging from its exploits in motorsports. In the early ’70s, it was successfully used in race cars like the 917/10 and 917/30. By 1974, the application had crossed over to road cars with the launch of the ’74 Porsche 911 Turbo, widely regarded as the world’s first series production turbocharged vehicle.
Front and Rear Spoilers
Making a great performance car takes much more than speed and acceleration. Porsche engineers realized this early on and worked tirelessly on other areas of the 911 to improve the overall package. One of the focus areas was aerodynamics. Inspired by its motorsports experience, the carmaker introduced a front spoiler to the 911 design in 1971. The spoiler’s primary function was to guide air away from the front, thereby minimizing lift. This resulted in improved directional stability and easier car control. The rear spoiler was launched with the 911 Carrera RS 2.7. Known as the ‘ducktail’ for its distinctive design, it functioned like an upside-down airplane wing, increasing the contact pressure on the rear wheels, ultimately increasing downforce.
Charge-Air Cooling
Continuous refinement, a core Porsche philosophy, is key to the constant evolution of the 911. A key innovation in 1977 was the integration of a charge-air cooler within the rear spoiler of the Porsche 911 – a world first for a production car. This motorsports-derived technology dramatically improved performance by cooling pressurized air going into the engine. This cooler, denser air significantly boosted power output and torque across all engine speed ranges. Also, the charge-air cooler helped reduce engine strain and improve fuel economy.
The Tiptronic Gearbox
Porsche introduced the Tiptronic gearbox to the 911 lineage with the 964 Series car, unveiled in 1989. The ground-breaking automatic transmission was a seamless blend of comfort and enhanced performance. Offering comparable performance to manual gearboxes, Tiptronic provided both automatic and manual shifting capabilities. Drivers could effortlessly shift gears by simply tapping the selector lever forward or backward, with a clever system built in to prevent over-revving if the driver forgot to change gears.
Seven-Speed Manual Gearbox
The 991 Series Porsche 911 ushered in another exciting innovation into the performance car segment: the world’s first seven-speed manual gearbox. Derived from the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, this ingenious system enhanced the sporty character of gear shifts, making for an even more engaging driving experience. With its long ratio, the seventh gear improves fuel efficiency by allowing for higher cruising speeds at lower engine RPM. Engineering this unique transmission presented challenges, as the dual-clutch design necessitates a different gear arrangement.
To overcome this, Porsche developed custom shift actuators that enable a traditional “H” pattern while utilizing the dual-clutch gearbox components. The carmaker also invented a system that prevented unintended shifts, thus enhancing driving safety.
DRS Technology
Porsche did not invent the Drag Reduction System (DRS). However, the way the carmaker cleverly adapted this Formula One technology to unlock a higher performance level for its 911 GT3 RS supercar deserves special mention. On the 911 (992.1) GT3 RS, the DRS is a clever system of flaps in the front and rear of the car that open and close to reduce drag.
The front flaps, located on the underside, can be rotated by over 80 degrees in just 0.3 seconds to achieve maximum downforce configuration. At the rear, the spoiler is made from two elements – a fixed main blade and an adjustable flap that is hydraulically controlled to allow for different downforce levels. The DRS system dramatically enhances the 911 (992.1) GT3 RS’s cornering abilities, straight-line performance and high-speed stability.
