ES Motor UK
One Uk-based tuner produces some of the most senior tuning packages in the world for 911s, with records to back it up. Total 911 visits ES Motor…
Porsche owners can perhaps be compared to pizza lovers. Are you an authentic purist who would only consider a thin base, tomato and herb sauce and a light scattering of mozzarella? Are you a topping lover who wants more, so goes for a Hawaiian, never mind the Italians who decry pineapple for not belonging on one? Or are you an all-in pizza fan who has their own personal favourite mix of allsorts, loaded with whatever you want and as spicy as it can be?
Just like pizza fans, Porsche owners follow a similar vein. Some owners only want that as-it-left-the-factory look, whereas another loves their aircooled car, but wants to make it go a bit faster, or look like a 1973 RS. Then there are those for who Stuttgart’s finest is merely a base, and they use that to go as far as they possibly can. Those customers need a company who push those limits to the ragged edge and back. Those people go to ES Motor.
Started in 2008 by Ibrahim Akpinar and son Emre, ES Motor then opened its UK branch in 2014 with Amir Mohuddin, though Emre remains the sole mapper of all vehicles. The Milton Keynes-based company initially built a 997 GT2, pushing the factory 523bhp engine to a potent 850bhp with its ES850 package. To unleash its potential they took it to the VMAX event at Bruntingthorpe in 2015 where it made a very pleasing 203.3mph. “The company basically grew from there,” recalls Ibrahim. “We then built an ES1400 using a 2006 Turbo Tiptronic, then a personal car for me using a 4.3-litre engine in a 997 Gen1 Turbo.” If you haven’t realised, their ES packages carry the suffix of the horsepower produced, with torque being roughly equal. Yes, you read that right; the ES1400 makes a 911 produce 1,400bhp.
If 1,400bhp doesn’t melt your brain, then listen to this. “In testing, the ES1400 felt like it wasn’t enough,” explains Ibrahim. “We felt there was more potential, so instead of top speed runs we changed to quarter mile runs. It’s a benchmark. Everything is [then] equal, being measured over a set distance.” A maximum speed run can obviously take any distance to achieve, despite being on a long runway. A timed, set distance fixes everyone’s variables, giving a fair comparison for ultimate performance. Ultimate performance is perhaps a fitting title to attribute, for they took the 1,400 car further by creating their ‘ES XXX’, which approaches a tyre-shredding 2,000bhp. This guise was to bag them
quite an accolade, as Ibrahim proudly recalls. “In 2016 we sent our XXX car to Bahrain for some testing. When we got there the car went faster and faster: first a 9.3-second quarter mile, then 9, then 8.7 and finally an 8.47, making it the second-fastest 911 in the world, and the fastest 911 in Europe.” The car it lost out to? One of their customer’s cars.
So, how do they do it? They specialise in turbocharged cars, mainly going for models with ceramic brakes – “The best base to start with,” says Ibrahim. Engine pistons, rods and cranks are designed in-house, as are their own turbos, based on stock Porsche fitments but reworked with ES internals to make them hybrid. “The benefit of stock base is it retains the OEM boost feel with no lag, and a wide operating band” explains Ibrahim.
Water methanol kits are employed past 650bhp which inject methanol into the intake ‘Y’ piece, lowering intake temperature. Remaps aren’t bought in, they are also done in-house, live mapping on the road. Expect a rolling road tune? ES oblige if a customer requests it to record a figure, but there aren’t many dynos suitable for four-wheel-drive 911s, ES tell me. Manual (or Tiptronic) gearboxes can be chopped for Holinger sequential ‘boxes, modified with a front output to retain four-wheel drive if needed, giving true race-style paddle shifters at the steering wheel and driven by a compressor mounted in the luggage space.
Along with their own record car, ES are justifiably proud of a 991 belonging to a customer. That car holds the world record for being the fastest 991 Turbo S over both quarter-mile and half-mile distances, registering 8.9-seconds at 163mph in the quarter-mile dash. Back in the workshop at the time of my visit it is being upgraded yet further, so look out.
The big numbers take some concentration to fully comprehend, but they only tell part of the story. Nosing around the clean, bright workshop on my visit reveals the quality and attention to detail. Their bespoke hybrid turbos look beautiful, as do their Zircotec-coated exhausts and turbo piping. On the cars, everything is neat, tidy and as it should be. Rarely will you see an ES Motor car with Batmobilestyle wings, instead their look is smooth, standard and sleek.
Customers range from people wanting a straightforward remap and an exhaust, albeit with peace of mind it is from a proven marque specialist, right up to those wanting the full-fat, race car set-up. Starting from the 996 Turbo, they have packages ranging from 550bhp right up to 2,000bhp depending on the base car model and spec. At either end their headline world records back up their credentials of tuning
911s. “Customers are split probably 50/50 between the remaps and the full-on race cars,” says Ibrahim. “We have customers around the world, from the US, the UK and the Middle East.
“People are chasing you all the time, so the R&D never stops,” he continues. ES are currently striving to secure the record for the fastest half mile for a rear-wheel-drive Porsche, using a 997 GT2 base car, and making good progress, even looking at ethanol for fuelling and -10 piping.
Every Porsche company is different and you don’t always know what makes them tick. I always make a point to ask how they see themselves. For once there’s total transparency: “We build the fastest 911s in the world,” smiles Ibrahim, proudly.