Porsche Designers and Engineers Discuss New 935
Daily Slideshow: The Designers and Engineers of the new 935 explain some of the features that went into the design and development process in order to have the car ready in time for Rennsport Reunion.
Team 935
It has been several months since the new Porsche 935 was unveiled to the public during Rennsport Reunion VI at Laguna Seca Raceway, and while general specifications of the car were given during the launch event, it was not until recently that the designers and engineers gave their insight into certain elements of the car in Porsche's 9:11 Magazine Video Series.
It Began on Paper
Exterior Designer of the 935, Grant Larson, explained that the project began in July 2017 where they first put pen to paper and drew out the exterior styling of the car. Surprisingly, Larson says they spent three to four days to establish what the car would look like on paper before moving on to the next step in the design process.
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Tuned for the Track
Kay-Alexander Breitbach (935 Project Leader) mentions that although the powerplant used for the 935 is the 700 horsepower engine and PDK transmission pulled directly from the GT2 RS, they have both been slightly modified and tuned for the track. One can assume things such as turbo boost pressure, ignition timing, traction control, etc. have all been altered from the standard GT2 RS settings.
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Displaced Headlights
Larson states that both the front and rear of the car were very important design elements. They wanted to retain much of the character of the GT2 RS, and this is clearly visible in the front grille area of the 935 which is nearly identical to the GT2 except for the addition of the headlamps in the top of the grille openings.
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A 911 at Heart
Similarly, the 935's long tail was said to be styled in a way that gives a tunnel effect to allow the original rear-end of the 911 to be visible. It provides a "car within a car" result. This was a key feature in the original 935 and Larson points out that it was important for it to be retained on the new car as well.
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Slicing Through the Wind
Some may think the 935 was designed simply for show without any practical application, but 935 team member, Matthias Scholz, assures us that the design and development processes "were completed in parallel." It sounds as if body parts were designed in the studio then sent to the wind tunnel as well as the race track to test the effectiveness of the aero.
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Moving Air
Larson further explains the 935's bodywork by detailing the add-on rear quarter fenders. It is no secret that a 911 lurks underneath, so Larson and the design team opted to leave the fender fasteners exposed as many old-school racers had. Further, the fender overlay allows for a neat air channel that funnels air directly into the engine bay.
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Tantalizing Tips
Larson himself is quite fond of the exhaust tips as they are an ode to racers of the past. The inner cone structure was originally developed to keep the pipes from deforming at high operating temperatures. Although they experimented with stamped and printed versions of the tips, Larson and the team instead opted to have each titanium tip authentically welded by hand.
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For Show and For Go
Aerodynamics clearly played a role in the 935 design and Larson shows us an example of the subtle body characteristics that make for sizeable gains on track. For example, the rear wheel arches fade away along with the trailing edges and the body indentations help to extract turbulent air from the wheel wells.
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A Team Effort
Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser is most proud of the fact that the car was actually able to be built amongst all of the other ideas floating around within Porsche. Convincing Porsche to allow the build to happen, completing the project in such a short time period, and receiving praise from the press and fans alike have been quite satisfying for Dr. Walliser and the 935 team.
>>Join the conversation about the development of the new 935 right here in Rennlist.com.
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