A NATURALLY ASPIRATED FLAT SIX WITH A MANUAL GEARBOX HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

ANDREAS PREUNINGER, PORSCHE’S GT CAR CHIEF, TALKS US AROUND THE 718 GT4

What’s changed? We tried not to change too much, as the GT4 has an inherent rightness. We don’t want to go too far away from the sweet spot that we hit with the first-generation GT4 – I don’t believe in putting 600bhp in it and making it faster at the Nürburgring. It’s a driver’s car and a track tool at the same time, with performance everyone can exploit and have a grin on their face.

On the 911 we have wide tyres, a sophisticated rear axle mechanism, rear-wheel

steering. This car has nothing; it’s just a mid-engined car. The whole vehicle shrink-wraps around the mechanics. We have 34 horsepower more, but the tyre width is no di erent. This is a car for the back roads of Wales, or Scotland. You dance with the car when you drive it.

Were you tempted to use a turbocharged engine?

A turbo six-cylinder would be huge, especially in a midengined car, and you’d have to get rid of the heat. We love the purity and simplicity of normal aspiration. With this engine we can do something more in the future as well… Will there be a PDK dualclutch gearbox option?

The first GT4 came with a manual gearbox, and it was received very well. But I would lie to you if I said we didn’t discuss this, and maybe later in the life cycle we are bringing a variant with a PDK transmission…

How does the new Spyder di er from the GT4?

Now it’s an open GT4, full stop. A full-blown GT car but without a roof, just as we have the GT3 and the 911 Speedster.

The Spyder benefits from the new tyres, suspension, brakes, engine, there is a big gain in the performance, but we have also worked very hard on the aerodynamics. The Spyder doesn’t have the wing of the GT4 – and we are not putting a wing on a convertible, so we had to look elsewhere to make the downforce. We had to have a working di user, so the exhaust guys got the order to work around it. It caused a lot of headaches, but we needed to free that central space to accelerate the air. It really boosts the Spyder and makes it a very stable highspeed car.