Nerd’s Eye View: LA Auto Show 2015 – Porsche

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Not much tread on these tires…. Check out the little diffuser feeding air into a brake cooling duct for the rear brakes.
The rear under tray and muffler look to form a nearly cohesive aero device. Yes, Porsche even looks to engineer the shape of the muffler for aero benefit. You can also see the actuator used to open and close a valve on the muffler. Another nice engineering touch is the flexy bellows joint on the upper exhaust pipe going into the muffler. Of course, with this car being a ‘GT’ and ‘RS’ series Porsche, the exhaust header is pretty near optimal from the factory. Probably the only way to get any significant gains is to go to a high flow cat or test pipe instead of the close coupled cat on the factory exhaust header setup.
On the lesser 911s, the area at the base of the rear window is used to ingest air. On the GT3RS, that area is just for venting. Going a step further, a vent is placed under the rear deck lid spoiler to exhaust even more heat.
Onto the new 911 Carrera. The tachometer is front and center as it should be on any proper sports car. I liked the steering wheel thickness and shape.
Thankfully, manuals are still available. The brake and gas pedals are oriented well for heel-and-toe downshifts.
The previous generation Carrera had horizontal slots at the base of the windshield. The new vertical slots give away a new purpose to this area. This location is now for sucking air in as required by the new engine configuration.
Look carefully at the nameplate under the central air intake (the engine is grabbing its air from the central opening), and you’ll see ‘Carrera 3.0’. Yes, the engine is downsized for fuel economy. Yes, the engine has a pair of turbos to make for a much fatter and wider powerband the old NA engine can’t even imagine (I think a ‘I told you so’ works here). We love boost due to the ability to extract easy power and I know the boys at COBB Tuning are itching to get their hands on this new 911 Carrera.

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