Porsche’s newly updated 911 Turbo twins are highly effective and hugely impressive sports cars for road and track.
THE “master” of turbocharged sports cars has just been given a mild but critical makeover. Porsche has consistently developed its top 911 model ever since it introduced turbocharging to sporty motoring. Back in 1973, the first-ever 911 Turbo was the only one of its kind in the world. Nothing from Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin, or any other manufacturer of fast cars you wish to name, had a turbocharged engine to boost its power and performance. Porsche’s early start in “force-fed” engines means the company possesses some of the best turbocharging technology that you’ll see anywhere. The 911 Turbo is now truly a supercar, and while it is not the only one with forced induction, it remains the standard-bearer.
The 911 Turbo you see here is a revamp of the Type 991 model series. Porsche has made a number of changes to both the 911 Turbo and 911 Turbo S, which are claimed to enhance the dynamic and aesthetic appeal of the two models. Cosmetic enhancements, as always, are a matter of personal opinion. But even before I drove the coupes, I wasn’t in any doubt that their dynamics has been moved up a notch. The styling, both at the front and rear, looks noticeably diff erent, with some design elements taken from the recently launched “series II” 991 Carrera, which is now turbocharged.
The headlights are LED, with four distinct “bulbs” in each unit that serve as daytime running lights. Also clearly distinguishable are the three larger air intakes, with the two outer grilles housing a double row of thin LED strips (the Carrera has just a single row). The rear taillights, now 3-dimensional, are accompanied by four trapezoidal exhaust outlets and a redesigned engine cover with longitudinal slats (instead of horizontal like before). The black panel behind, from where the tailpipes emerge, looks a little aftermarket.
These aren’t drastic styling changes, but they manage to diff erentiate the 2016 911 Turbo from its 2013 predecessor. How much has the twinturbocharged flat-6 drivetrain been upgraded? No prizes for guessing that both the Turbo and Turbo S motors produce more horsepower than before, thanks to marginally higher boost pressure, even though the engine displacement has remained at 3.8 litres. The new 911 Turbo produces 540bhp and 710Nm. Compared to the original 911 Turbo from 1973, the capacity is up by 27 percent, but the power and torque outputs have increased by a shocking 208 percent and 207 percent respectively.
The Turbo S, with its slightly bigger turbochargers, produces 580bhp and 750Nm – enough for the newcomer to break the 3-second barrier in the sprint from rest to 100km/h. The 1973 911 Turbo takes twice as long to perform the same sprint. The new 911 Turbos are also more fuel-effi cient than their “series I” 991 siblings. The main reason for this is the highpressure fuel-injection system, which allows a more precise control of the fuel mass injected into the engine. An average improvement of 1.7km per litre is claimed for the new Turbos. An interesting new feature is Dynamic Boost, a form of anti-lag control that works by holding the throttle valve open when your foot is lifted off the accelerator pedal. The fuel injection shuts off , but airflow keeps the turbine spinning.
The result on the go is sharper and more immediate throttle response when accelerating again, and any turbo lag that may exist is also diminished. The Turbo S is equipped as standard with PDCC roll stabilisation, as well as PASM (Porsche Active Suspension Management) to continuously adjust the electronic dampers. The damping has obviously been tweaked to significantly improve comfort. The new Turbo’s ride is as good as you can ever expect from a highperformance coupe. In fact, it’s good enough to put hard-riding German super saloons to shame. Keen drivers will be pleased to see a new rotary knob on the steering wheel, with which to select Normal, Sport, Sport Plus or Individual modes for your choice of throttle response and gearshift program. There’s no manual gearbox option, so it’s just the 7-speed PDK automatic dual-clutch transmission.
As in the previous Turbo/ Turbo S, the powertrain is four-wheel-drive, but a newly specified electro-hydraulic diff erential is said to respond faster when varying front-to-rear torque demand. Key to the powertrain’s quicker and more precise responses (modulating the torque transfer) is a new set of friction plates in the transmission capable of matching the high-speed control software. Rear-wheel-steering (of up to 2.6 degrees) continues to be part of the drivetrain. Around South Africa’s Kyalami racetrack, chasing an experienced Porsche racing driver in a GT3 RS, the new Turbo S displayed eff ortless acceleration and devastating straight-line pace. Its power, four-wheel traction and torque helped me to catch up with the GT3 RS, which was naturally driven with more finesse and ever higher speeds around the corners.
But flat out on the straights, there was no question which 911 was quicker. The Turbo S was incredibly stable through fast corners and always maintained a clean line, with neither a hint of understeer nor a touch of twitchiness in the rear. Most impressive was the way the coupe remained calm and resolutely stable during extreme braking from high velocities. Those carbon-ceramic discs (standard for the Turbo S) with 6-pot calipers shed speed so quickly that they boosted my confidence to brake late – very late. The 911 Turbo’s supercar pace on the racetrack was unquestionable.
