Porsche Archives - Page 3 of 14

On March 25th, 2020 Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota issued a Stay-At-Home order for all residents and non-essential businesses. 311RS, LLC. meets the criteria set forth by the state of Minnesota as an essential business and therefore will remain open.

We have always kept a clean environment. Additionally, we have implemented extensive precautions and additional measures per CDC. and WHO guidelines to reassure and maintain the health of our staff, clients, families and partner network. All visitors must have an appointment and/or call ahead.

Our shipping, receiving, and service departments are operational. We will keep you advised if there are any future changes to our operations. We take the COVID-19 pandemic very seriously, let’s all do our part to reduce the spread of the virus.

Give us a call +1 (612) 547-9311 or email info@311RS.com to schedule your appointment. Your support during this time means everything – together let’s prepare your Porsche for the good times on the horizon.

Please be safe,

-311RS, LLC.

We are back from Florida after the Sebring PCA event. With support from Goldcrest Motorsports, our client took delivery of and drove his 991.2 GT3 Cup for the first time.

He and the car performed well – lifting a wheel on Day 1! We look forward to adding this clean 991.2 to our team of 311RS Porsche 911 GT3 Cups, up to 4 units for 2020.

“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.” The saying that has driven race programs since the 1950s still drives us today.

We race using components from the same technical partners we offer to our customers. Below are a few examples on the 311RS Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.

We’ve ran with Girodisc since 2006 and proud to continue this with a set of their lightweight two-piece brake rotors, seen here though a set of our gold BBS Motorsport E88s.

We’ve ran JRZ Suspension single, 2-way, and 3-way adjustable dampers throughout our 11 year partnership with JRZ. For the first time however, we’re running a set of 4-way JRZ Motorsports on our 997 GT3 Cup.

We’ve got them dialed in with support from Goldcrest Motorsports and engineer Bryan Hise.

There are no words to describe how proud we are to see the 311RS logo inside a factory Porsche 911 race car.

Look further inside the 311RS Porsche 997 GT3 Cup and you’ll find our signature Black Watch Tartan covering the cushions of the driver’s seat.

We took delivery of the 2008 GT3 Cup earlier last year, with the original 2008-dated seat still intact.

To comply with PCA Club Racing rules, we installed a 2019-dated Recaro Pro Racer HANS – an affordable option from Recaro to get us going before upgrading to their 1300 GT seat in 2021.

Schroth Racing provides every factory Porsche 911 race car that leaves the factory with 6 point harnesses. And it’s easy to see why, they are lightweight, durable, and easy to operate.

We upgraded to 2019-dated Profi II harnesses in black with custom silver patches for a clean look.

Overseeing day to day operations, Lucia continues to run a tight ship for us here at 311RS. Below are a list of products featured in this week’s round up.

–BBS E88 wheels

–Girodisc brake rotors

–JRZ Suspension dampers

–Recaro seats

–Schroth Racing harnesses

A look at the week thus far here at 311RS, as seen through the 50mm 1.8 lens of Ryan Gates.

Lucia, our nearly 2 year old German Shorthair Pointer, continues to run the show on a daily basis.

Development continues on the 2008 311RS GT3 Cup as we look to further improve the braking system.

Mid-summer upgrades to the brake system included a set of lightweight Girodisc rotors. For winter, we’re digging deeper to refresh the rest of the system starting with a four corner caliper rebuild.

These puppies appear to be original to the car and untouched, for better or worse. They’ll be getting factory Porsche Motorsport rebuild components along with a fresh coat of 311RS Red paint.

Across the way, sunlight was treating us to a feast for the eyes inside the GT2RS. Patience Metal Fab has really nailed the factory look and feel of the roll bar for Imola Motorsports. We’ve painted ours in factory Satin White Gold metallic.

Out back you’ll see we’ve test fit our carbon underbody aero package from NextRev. We cannot wait to get on track in March to put the system to the test.

The package is designed to compliment the factory GT2RS aero components and allow them to function at their peak while reducing drag. This is done by collecting the rear tire wake along managing overall airflow with an additional device positioned upstream (at the front axle line).

For those located in warmer climates, we are seeking beta testers for this system. If you may be interested, we’d be happy to discuss the system and your options – please give us a call at (612) 547-9311 or email info@311RS.com

And with that, we bid farewell until next week. For more information on the components mentioned this week, please see below for links to each component individually.

–Girodisc lightweight brake rotors

–Imola Motorsports GT2RS harness bar

–NextRev GT2RS underbody aero

**Update 03/11/2020 – Due to COVID-19 pandemic, all events listed below have been cancelled, postponed, or remain TBD. While this is unfortunate, there are much more important issues at hand and we urge everyone to do their part to reduce the spread of the virus. Please be safe everyone <3**

We’ve locked our schedule for 2020 and could not be more excited to begin the season from Atlanta for the second year in a row. This season starts with testing late-March and officially begins at Road Atlanta for the PCA Club Race on April 3rd, 2020.

This upcoming season will be our most ambitious yet. With support from our Technical Partners and an amazing team of 311RS Porsche drivers, we look forward to executing and bringing home even more hardware to Minnesota in 2020.

2020 311RS Schedule

-March 22 – Bahrain F1 viewing at 311RS HQ

-April 3-5 – Road Atlanta PCA Club Race

-April 24-26 – BIR PCA HPDE

-May 29-31 – VIR & Luft 7

-June 8-9 – Road America PCA HPDE

-July 24-26 – BIR PCA Club Race & HPDE

-September 5-7 – Road America PCA Club Race & HPDE

-September 18-20 – BIR PCA HPDE

-October 23-25 – Daytona PCA Club Race

If you have interest in developing your skills on track, contact us. We have openings in both our Club Race & DE programs, now with 311RS technician(s) on-site. Before hitting the track, be sure to schedule your pre-season maintenance and upgrades at 311RS HQ – call (612) 547-9311.

First off, cheers and thank you to all those who have played a role in making our 2019 season one to remember. Teamwork was the theme for 2019, it was all hands on deck as we took our 311RS Porsche team PCA Club Racing with a 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

Please enjoy a look back at our 2019 season as seen through the lens of Minnesota’s-own Peter Lapinski.

Winter Testing

-Location: Roebling Road, Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway

Winter in MN meant we head south for track time – three tracks in four days. This trip saw the launch of our 997 GT3 Cup program and the first time our GT2RS saw the track on US soil.

Having been to Road Atlanta previously, Roebling Road and VIR provided us a taste of what else the south has to offer. VIR in particular was amazing with it’s natural layout and organic flow – our new favorite US track.

Rain or shine, we drove hard and had an amazing time with some of our best friends – cannot wait for the 2nd Annual in 2020!

Brainerd International Raceway

-Events: PCA First Fling, PCA Club Race, PCA Fall Fling

-PCA Club Race Results in GTC4: Qualified – 1st, Sprint Race 1 – 1st, Sprint Race 2 – 1st, Qualifying and Sprint Race GTC4 class records for Ryan Gates

Our home track. Nothing like it! The mile-long front straightaway at Brainerd International Raceway in MN is home to a few events each year for us. Beginning with First Fling in April, followed by the PCA Club Race in July and Fall Fling in October.

It was a pleasure to run our first PCA Club Race at home and with the support of the entire team – thank you all. We look forward to some of you joining in the Club Race for 2020!

Road America

-Events: PCA Cheese Fling, PCA Road America Challenge Club Race

-PCA Club Race Results in GTC4: Qualified – 1st, Sprint Race 1 – 1st, Sprint Race 2 – 2nd

Our other home track, Road America is just 5hrs from us and is typically the highlight(s) of our summers. This year we attended the PCA Road America Challenge for the first time – an event hosted by the Chicago-region PCA club and featured more than 180 Porsche Club Racers and 60 more HPDE drivers.

And a challenge it was, as we experienced our first on-track contact during the start of Sprint Race 2 into Turn 1. Ryan fought back from an off-track move to avoid cars in front to finish 2nd in GTC4 class – cheers to the GTC4 guys for the great battles out there and a well-deserved win for TJ Larson.

A special highlight from Road America in 2019 was the opportunity to run our 311RS-prepared GT2RS for a few private laps before the weekend. Leh Keen was on hand and had the track to himself running with a feature with Panorama. He took our GT2RS out and set a record laptime on his first lap. Thank you Leh!

Random

Peter paid us a few visits at 311RS HQ throughout the season. When we were not on track, we were here. Some interesting projects this season included exhaust and aero development of Porsche’s latest 911 GT2RS and production of the 311RS Porsche 993 CupSport.

While we are still working on the 993 CupSport, it is shaping up to make 2020 very special for us. Until then, cheers to 2019 and thank you once again to all those who have made it a year we will never forget.

Photos courtesy of Peter Lapinski

With the first PCA Club Race weekend under our belts, it was time we begin developing this stock 2008 997 GT3 Cup into a 311RS unit.

The plan was to introduce two of our long term partners, JRZ Suspension & Girodisc, into the program before heading to the PCA Road America Challenge over Labor Day weekend.

First up, the chassis was in desperate need of attention – the OEM Sachs dampers appear to be original to the car with no record of rebuild that we can find. Rules for GTC4 (the class we race in with PCA) allow for the dampers to be upgraded, without restriction.

The answer for us came in the form of a set of freshly rebuilt JRZ Motorsport 4-way dampers tuned to our driving style by Bryan Hise. We’ll be utilizing the factory Cup springs to baseline the setup.

We’ve ran JRZs on each 311RS platform dating back to 2009. The quality of control JRZ dampers provide has always treated us well.

With these motorsport 4-ways, control comes in the form of low-speed & high-speed Rebound and Compression adjustments, as well as gas pressure control on each corner.

Our next area of focus was to increase capability of the braking system. Heading into Road America, this was particularly important.

Partners since 2006, Girodisc knows how we like our brakes – lightweight and fast. The combination of their lightweight, two-piece rotors along with a set of Raybestos ST43s, creates a consistently quick braking package for the Cup.

We wrapped up the setup with a visit to Imola Motorsports to make use of their state of the art Hunter alignment rack.

The chassis setup was geared towards the fast corners and extreme braking zones of Road America – a bit conservative to keep the rear in order.

And here’s a look at the finished product.

We’re proud to see the car performing well in it’s first season with us. Good bones, as they say.

Here’s a quick walk around video of the car before we packed up for Road America. It may or may not be clear, but we love this car.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the program thus far, we are looking forward to bringing home even more victories together in 2020.

The 2019 season came to a close for us at Nord Stern PCA Last Fling on October 4th-5th. Enjoy a few laps around BIR with Ryan during a race simulation in the 2008 311RS Porsche 997 GT3 Cup.

Driver: Ryan Gates

Car: 2008 311RS Porsche 997.1 GT3 Cup

Class: GTC4

Lap times: 1:36.7, 1:36.9, & 1:36.2

On August 28th, 2019 Leh Keen drove a 311RS-prepared 991 GT2RS to a new road-legal car lap record at Road America.

The previous record, set by Porsche in a factory-prepared 991 GT2RS earlier this year, was beaten by 2.2 seconds.

The 2:15.1 lap Porsche & David Donohue set at Road America is stunning, our goal was only to be in the ballpark.

Running a fresh set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires, Leh needed only one lap to run a 2:12.9. The car was fresh out of the trailer without the use of tire warmers.

This 311RS-prepared GT2RS runs the following setup:

-311RS-spec chassis setup

-Imola Motorsports GT2RS harness bar (chromoly steel)

-Manthey Racing extended water tank

-Dyno Spectrum dyno tune – 690whp (630whp stock)

For more information about 311RS-prepared GT2RS units, please contact us. Below is a link to PCA’s story from the day, along with a video of the lap with Leh Keen.

PCA story – https://www.pca.org/news/2019-09-03/video-modified-porsche-911-gt2-rs-sets-blazing-lap-time-road-america-leh-keen

We would like to thank Leh for being a beast and putting together the record lap, and Porsche Club of America for supporting us with this story. We are proud to be using the 911 GT2RS as intended and would like thank Porsche for building such an incredible machine.

Photos courtesy of Peter Lapinski.

On July 27th, 2019, Ryan Gates drove the 2008 311RS Porsche GT3 Cup to Overall victory in both Sprint races of the PCA Club Race at BIR, setting two GTC4 class records in the process.

A huge thank you is in order to all who played a role in the team during our first outing together, great teamwork everyone!

-GTC4 Qualifying Record – 1:40.0

-GT4 Sprint Race Record – 1:39.3

Our next race is in four weeks at Road America for another PCA Club Race. With over 150 drivers already registered, we are not taking any chances in preparation of the car – we are working on an upgrade package leading up to the event.

Thank you once more to all those who have helped us make this weekend a reality, here’s to many more just like it.

Photos courtesy of Peter Lapinski