Official: Porsche approves development of third-generation 911 GT3 R Hybrid

Filed under: Motorsports, Hybrid, Performance, Technology, Porsche, Racing

Porsche has announced that it will continue development on its innovative 911 GT3 R Hybrid, delivering a new third-generation model in 2012 in an effort "...to gain extra practical experience under racing conditions and make the hybrid drive even more efficient."

The rolling race laboratory, as the automaker prefers to call it, ran the 2011 season in second-generation trim. That version used a 470 horsepower gasoline-powered 4.0-liter flat-six to drive the rear wheels and 202 horsepower worth of electric motors to drive the front wheels - with electricity generated by a 36,000 rpm flywheel mounted on the passenger side of the cabin. With a curb weight of just 2,866 pounds and total system power of 672 horsepower, the all-wheel-drive Porsche GT3 R Hybrid 2.0 accelerated to 60 mph in about 2.5 seconds.

We drove Porsche's 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0 at the famed Estoril race circuit outside of Lisbon, Portugal, just last month. Despite the second-generation model being the answer to all of our enthusiast prayers, we assume Porsche will reduce the overall weight of the system, increase the duration of the boost and reduce the deafening noise level in the cabin. There's always room for improvement.

While we don't expect the 911 GT3 R Hybrid 3.0 to be there, Porsche's factory-supported teams kick off the 2012 season in 911 GT3 Cup cars at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in late January.

Continue reading Porsche approves development of third-generation 911 GT3 R Hybrid

Porsche approves development of third-generation 911 GT3 R Hybrid originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/21/porsche-approves-development-of-third-generation-911-gt3-r-hybri/

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