Electric motors to set new performance benchmark for Porsche

Electricity will trump petrol in future Porsche sports cars as the German brand continues to embrace the EV revolution.

The man in charge of development of the radical GT4 ePerformance race car prototype says the easy power available from electric motors means it is “not possible” to allow icons such as the Porsche 911 to retain the performance high ground.

“We don’t build cars to make them slower,” said Björn Förster, project manager of the all-electric Porsche GT4 ePerformance, when asked about whether it was a challenge to keep the 911 as the hero of the brand’s expanding range.

“We will never make a car slower just to have the right hierarchy [within the family].”

All of which sounds ominous for the petrol-powered 911 that has long been the hero of the Porsche line-up.

While the 911 continues to hold a special place in the Porsche line-up, its driving magic may increasingly need to lean on dynamic talent and driving excitement rather than outright pace as the German brand races towards making 80 per cent of its new vehicles all electric by 2030.

That said, it’s also clear Porsche wants its icon to remain as the driving hero, one that delivers on thrills and sets the templates for future models.

Förster says big power is “not the big challenge developing an electric racing car” and that much bigger numbers than the 800kW maximum from the GT4 ePerformance (or 450kW in race mode) are easily achievable.

“We even could have made 2000 or 3000 horsepower (up to 2200kW), that’s not a big challenge,” he said. “The challenge is to keep that maximum power over the whole runtime.”

Those big power figures are already transpiring elsewhere across the Porsche range.

Whereas Porsche typically makes incremental steps with new iterations of existing models, its two most recently revealed newcomers – the updated Taycan and all-new Macan – have used electricity to make huge leaps.

The new Taycan Turbo GT will produce up to 815kW, making it the most powerful Porsche road car ever, easily beating the 911 Turbo S (478kW) and GT3 RS (386kW).

And the big power and stratospheric torque (470kW and 1130Nm) of the all-electric Macan Turbo due later in 2024 matches the potent V8 twin-turbo Cayenne Turbo GT to 100km/h.

The imminent arrival of an electric Macan GT (or Turbo GT) will also notch up another Porsche win to EVs.

But whereas car companies around the world are claiming big horsepower and often optimistic acceleration claims, Porsche is locked on to the holistic driving equation, something indicative of a long-running Porsche ethos that’s running deep in the GT4 ePerformance – and set to flow through to Porsche road cars.

The brand doesn’t appear overly fussed about owning the 0-100km/h space or having bragging rights with top speeds, instead focusing its efforts on everyday driveability and ensuring electric Porsche sports cars are consistent and quick across multiple laps – or many hours of driving.

Innovative oil-cooling systems and dedicated qualifying modes are indicative of the intense engineering efforts to create a rounded performance package.

Nurburgring lap times are among the targets Porsche is instead aiming to secure – and Mount Panorama is even on the cards for future electric sports cars from the brand.

“We’ll come back to Bathurst one day,” said Förster.

While that may mean leaving a Tesla Model S Plaid to those brutal acceleration runs or the radical Rimac Nevera to outright pace, it leaves Porsche to tackle what it clearly holds close to the brand: lap times, overall dynamic ability and consistent pace.

While the GT4 ePerformance is a prototype race car – there are two doing laps around the world, one of which is currently in Australia – it is playing a crucial role in shaping future Porsche road cars.

Förster says the team of 400 within Porsche’s motorsport division are “part of the development, not the marketing”, adding to the circa-10,000 people dedicated to the road car division.

Porsche GT cars are developed by the motorsport division, which leverages lessons learnt from cars such as the GT4 ePerformance. It’s all about the “transfer of technology” from track to road.

“We can give new technologies a chance to come alive and if they are proven on a racetrack we can transfer them into a series car on the road,” said Förster.

Either way, expect those future Porsche GT cars – including a roadgoing GT4 – to comfortably outpace the petrol versions.

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