redwhiteblue

I was just browsing the porsche and ferrari sites because quite frankly I did not know much of anything about them engine and performance wise.

I knew porsche always had inline 6s but did not know they were still the only engine they offered plus/minus a turbo. I was looking at some of their hp numbers and how the heck do they get so much performance from an I6 with no turbos. I mean these things outperform most cars and even the non-turbo cars are fast-why cannot bmw for example build a i6 with more output, along the lines of the outgoing m3. If porshe can do it why cant bmw?

I mean shoot 415 hp in the Gt3 with a 3.6L I6 engine-Why doesn't bmw do this as well? It cannot cost more to build I6 engines I would assume.

Also ferrari and its v8 with 400 hp was pretty impressive I thought. I guess come to think of it chevy builds a v8 with 505 but the ferrari engine was only 4.4 l and produced 400hp.

Anyway I guess I am more intrigued by porsches ability to still use I6 engines and dominate the market with the fastest production cars for the most part.

The one thing I could not find is how much a 911 weighs?

EBMCS03

They're called Flat 6's aka H6 not called I6

525iEnjoy

Its a flat 6 like Suburau's flat 4. Because look at the cost to manufacture a porsche vs bmw. also porsche's motors barely comply with emissions. Found this in wikipedia!!

A flat-6 is a 6 cylinder configuration of a flat engine. The cylinders are laid horizontally, with three on each side, which makes it a short but very wide engine with a low center of gravity. However, it is an intrinsically expensive design to manufacture, which makes it more suitable for luxury sports cars, cruising motorcycles, and aircraft than common passenger cars

The movement of the pistons in a horizontal engine is all in the same plane, so it creates less vibration than in a V-configuration engine; particularly one with an odd number of cylinders on each side of the engine, like a V6. Unlike the V6 but like the inline-6, the flat-6 is a fully balanced configuration which is in perfect primary and secondary balance. The three cylinders on each side of the crankcase tend to have an end-to-end rocking motion, like a pair of straight-3 engines, but in the usual boxer engine configuration, the imbalances on each side cancel each other, resulting in a perfectly smooth engine.

The flat-6 is also smoother than the flat-4 or inline-4 because the power strokes of the cylinders overlap in a four-stroke cycle engine. In these four-cylinder configurations, pistons are 180 degrees apart in crankshaft rotation and start their power strokes every 180 degrees, so each piston must come to a complete stop before the next one commences its power stroke. In the flat-6, each power stroke begins 120 degrees after the previous one starts, resulting in 60 degrees of overlap between power strokes and a much smoother delivery of power to the flywheel. This intrinsic smoothness is desirable in cars, motorcycles, and light aircraft which are more powerful and expensive than more common desigins.

The Porsche Boxster and Porsche Cayman use them in a mid-engine rather than rear-engine layout. The flat-6 designs are more expensive to build than competing V6 and V8 cars but in the high-end sports car market their uniqueness allows Porsche to charge more money to compensate for the cost.

redwhiteblue

Ok flat 6 then-what I am getting at is the 6 cylinder part of the equation producing 415 hp NA. The GT2 has 505hp. I do not know of any other car with 6 cylinders able to pump out 505hp even if that is with a turbo. That is what a big V10 M5 pumps out or a huge Zo1 chev v8-2 of the worlds best but big engines. Incredible

525iEnjoy

Well the LS motors are detuned from Chevy for reliabilty. Porsche just knows what camshafts, tuning it takes. That 415 hp is at like 7K rpm or more not very torquey thats were gearing comes in, now you add 2 turbos theres your torque and hp numbers.

swajames

The 911 weighs around 3000 to 3200 lbs depending on model and options. It's pretty light.

swajames

That's untrue.

elyk

porsche+ferraris engines are highly tuned, but reduced life. if bmw made cars this tuned, reliability will be a problem.

MiamiPhill

The key is RPM, current F1 engines produce 730+hp from only 2.4l why,....they spin the crap out of it 20,000 RPM!!!

swajames

Of all the Porsches ever made, there are more still on the road, in percentage terms, than almost any other manufacturer. According to Porsche, more than two thirds of the cars it has produced over the last 50 years are still on the road.

My 997 is also scheduled for oil changes only every 20,000 miles. The engines are virtually indestructable.