997 Turbo S Cup
An enthusiast wondered what would happen if a 997 Turbo S road car was developed into a race car with the technical knowledge of Porsche South Africa. This car is the result…
Wilhelm Lutjeharms presents the story of a special 997 Turbo S in South Africa converted to Cup specification
Look back through the Porsche 911’s racing history and you’ll be sure to find a commendable mixture of both naturally aspirated and turbocharged cars which have propelled the manufacturer to success in competition. With atmospheric RSRS flying the flag for Porsche through the 1960s and early 1970s, by the late 1970s and 1980s it was forced induction that allowed Porsche to dominate its rivals. By the 1990s and the creation of the Porsche Cup (which was later rebranded to Supercup), Weissach created a specially built Cup car for its flagship one-make series. These were race cars of the road-going Carrera (and then GT3) Rennsport equivalent of the time, and have always been naturally aspirated.
At first glance the race car in our pictures looks to be a Cup car of the 997 era… fitted with a GT3 R rear wing, if you want to be specific. However, eagle-eyed readers will pick up that this racer is not all it seems. First of all, it started life as a bog-standard 997 Turbo S road car, and secondly, and more significantly, it will leave any 997 Cup car in its dust – on any race circuit. The owner eagerly shares the history of the car with me as we meet up in a specialist Porsche workshop next to Kyalami Raceway, South Africa’s most significant racing complex.
He is not the car’s first owner, but its second.
The first owner had the vision to build a race car based on the 997 Turbo S. The result is that the car was completely stripped to the bare chassis and the race car, although not as you see it here, was the result. However, it was eventually sold, and its new custodian was intrigued by this car, but clearly wanted to take it to a whole new level. Chatting all things Porsche with the owner, I can understand why. He has owned basically every performance Porsche over the past couple of decades – so I sense the challenge to build a unique, high-performance Porsche was the logical next step and a project that he would want to get involved in. From the very first step of this project, until today, Porsche South Africa has been involved. Let us not forget that Porsche South Africa’s owner and CEO is amateur racer Toby Venter, who has been involved in the racing scene for a number of decades.
Seeing the car for the first time, it looks perfect and has the presence you would expect a 911 race car to have. Not in the same sense that all race cars look exciting and hunkered down on the floor, but the smallest attention to details stand out. And, as its owner says, “When it looks right, it usually is right”. John Critchfield, the Porsche technician who has been involved from the very beginning until today, stands very modestly on the side but is clearly passionate about this creation. He explains what has been done to the car over the years: “The first owner wanted a car to use on the track. We started off by building it as a lightweight street car. It still had its radio, for example, at that stage, but the exhaust was updated and a new air filter was fitted.
“This Turbo S is only around 50kg heavier than a 997 GT3 Cup”
“There are still some standard components in the suspension, but the majority has been upgraded to Porsche Motorsport parts, from the 997 Cup as well as the R race car. It has a full automatic fire extinguishing system that comes around the driver as well as the engine. The roll cage was bought from the UK and welded here in South Africa.” I can’t help but be impressed by the carbon-fibre headlamp covers and wonder if the original headlamps are still behind them. Critchfield explains, “We sourced them from Porsche Design in the USA. Behind these covers are the electrics for the headlights. So, if necessary, you can remove the covers and clip the original headlights back in place.”
Another significant, and probably the largest, Motorsport part on the car is the GT3 R rear wing, together with the engine lid, giving that muchneeded downforce at the rear. Although parts around the engine have been updated, the core engine is still the standard unit. However, even these updates around the engine have resulted in some amount of additional performance. I bend down to have a look at the braking system, and Critchfield is quick to point out that these have been upgraded to 997 Cup level. I walk around the car and admire the perfect stance, the details around the front wheel arches, the super clean, racing-focused cabin fitted with the full fire extinguishing system. The BBS racing alloys are the perfect wheel for the car fitted with slick tyres while the beautiful rear wing leaves you in no doubt as to what this Turbo S is capable of. I open the lightweight door and once seated inside, you won’t be able to tell this was originally a road car. That is, except if you’ve raced a 997 Cup before and notice that the dials and PDK gear lever have remained from the road car. The full roll cage covers the rear of the 997 right to the front of the cabin, supporting the A-pillars. Otherwise the cabin screams 911 racer and seems ready to tackle the next event.
The owner shares further details about the car: “Apart from the upgrades such as the exhaust system, racing fuel also adds a healthy amount of horsepower. Keep in mind that a standard 997 Cup from the same year develops 450bhp, which is significantly less than this. I think in the right hands, this 997 is capable of doing a lap time in the low 1 minute 40 seconds. We’ve only done around 50 laps at this stage.” To put that time into perspective, at the 2019 Kyalami 9-Hour endurance race, Nick Tandy did the fastest lap at 1:42,876 seconds with his GT3 R. Even if this 997 is a couple of seconds slower, it will still be a massive achievement! It is an incremental process. It has gotten faster and faster throughout the development process. As it is all-wheel drive, it accelerates out of corners fantastically. It is a safe car and as a race car is not too difficult to drive.”
Keep in mind that a 997.2 Cup develops 450hp and a 997 Turbo S 530hp. Next up, the weight: tipping the scales at less than 1,250kg, this Turbo S is only around 50kg heavier than a 997 GT3 Cup. However, the drivetrain layout has been retained, so you still have the full, all-wheel-drive setup of the Turbo S. So, it is not really a big disadvantage for so little gain in overall mass.
Rewind to when the Turbo S left the factory and it weighed around 1,580kg. That is a reduction of around 300kg, depending on whether you include or exclude elements such as fluids. Lightweight components that have been fitted include the roof, doors, bonnet, bootlid and rear wing, all made from carbon fibre. The front bumper is carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (with the Cup splitter) from a 997 Cup. There is also a further layer of sophistication about this Cup car: even when it is just being moved and driven at low speeds for our various photographs, I can see and hear the slight differences over that of a real Cup. The fact that it has retained the standard PDK transmission means it does these slower moves easier and better than the race car.
It is when you open the front lid that you are, again, reminded of the depth of this project. There are support bars welded into the chassis that run toward the A-pillars. It is clear, no page has been left unturned in transforming this into a full-on race car. Critchfield admits with a smile that as they have been ordering race parts, including even 997 R parts from Germany, their colleagues there have been wondering what it is they are building here in South Africa. Anyway, it’s time to leave the workshop and head onto the track.
As we head unto the perfect, smooth tarmac of Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, we quickly realise there will be no play time today. Heavy thunder and rainstorms have washed stones from the kitty litter onto the track, and although the machine with its brushes is doing the rounds, cleaning the track for the Intercontinental GT Challenge 9-Hour race, even driving at modest speeds sends the stones flying and damaging the car. The owner is kind enough to give me a quick-ish passenger lap, not ideal as we would like to report from the driver’s seat, but even from here one can sense a number of important characteristics of the car. Should someone have blindfolded me, the only difference I would be able to detect, at these speeds, between a Cup car and this is the engine’s performance. At part throttle inputs from the owner, the boost from the VTG turbos result in copious amounts of shove from the engine – not surprising, as this flat six develops a vast amount more torque at any point in the rev range. Once or twice the owner revs the engine out and then the power comes into play, and the 997 flies down the straights. However, with stones being flung up underneath the car and with a new set of Michelin rubber fitted, we quickly retire to the workshop where I can have one final look at this 997 that would obliterate a genuine Cup 911. It is really a phenomenal piece of work and the result of a couple of Porsche enthusiasts’ thought processes.
This is not the first time Porsche South Africa has gone down this route. Several years ago a client took a 997 GT2 and also converted it into a racer. It is still pounding the race circuits of South Africa and is known throughout the racing fraternity. That has always been the beauty of 911s: as much as 100 per cent original and factory-correct cars are appreciated by enthusiasts, the custom world has also been very receptive over the decades of Porsche 911s. More importantly, because the 911 road and some 911 race cars have parts that are interchangeable, it presents opportunities to mix the two. One thing is certain, today this 997 Turbo S is a fully fledged race car.