Andreas Preuninger has been responsible for virtually all GT-series cars at Porsche, and his ability to develop cars there are fast and fun to drive has been proven over and over again. He describes the hallmarks of his cars as precision, emotion and raw speed, the order of priority depending on the vehicle itself. “A GT3 RS is about precision more than anything else. A 911 R is equally about emotion.”.

In 2016, The 911R was launched and it almost immediately sold out with used examples going for many times its original prices. It was an ultra-limited-run version of a 991 series GT3 RS offered with a manual gearbox, and some even speculated that this would be the swan-song for the transmission for the brand. Curiously an emotional experience was at the centre of this engineering exercise and it represented one of the first distinctions Porsche would make between an experiential car versus one designed for all out speed. 

"This exercise with the 911 R was such a welcome distraction from all our lap-time hunting," said Preuninger. "We found out that if you focus on the agility–making the car fun in tight turns, fun on canyons–we transferred something of that knowledge into the new GT3 as well... We see that the more digitalised the world gets on the one side, the more there’s this lust for old-school, mechanical driver’s cars.”

Since the launch of the 911R, there have been models developed like the 911 Touring that are focused on the driver who isn’t hunting track-days and who wants to more clandestinely drive a GT car. However, this quest for a mechanical, emotional experience does not come without cost. "When a huge part of our customers still insist on a manual we will not ignore this. But, a manual will be not only slower in acceleration but the car will also be less capable in cornering because we cannot combine the electronic e-diff with a manual, because there’s no hydraulic pump in the manual to feed the e-diff. Positive influence of e-diff is significant on turn in, under steer (none at all) and brake stability."

Andreas isn't giving up on customers who chase lap-times, but equal effort is being made to stir the hearts of purists. While lap-times have fallen on tracks around the world, this has come at the cost of cars which are all-rounded, and enjoyable on public roads.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t looking at the stopwatch when they’re on the track and they just want the interaction and they want a driver’s car,” he said at the New York Auto Show, saying that making the GT3 more fun was the main goal. “This is the reason why we left the route of being the quickest on the Nurburgring and only thinking about lap times. I don’t care that the competition is a little bit faster around the ‘Ring.” Simply put, he said, lap times are great and all, but drivability is king. “It’s not our mainstream program to have the quickest lap times and to advertise our cars only by lap time because, to be honest with you, if you have a car with the perfect setup for the Nurburgring, it will be a dog on the street and everywhere else.”

However, speed still is a factor for emotion for him, and he likes his cars slightly overpowered. "For me, 300-350 horses is a minimum in a 1400-1500kg car, to really enjoy driving. Being on the verge of feeling overpowered is key, too. That way, a car never stops being interesting to drive. And for an engineer, taking away grip when you could make more of it is always going to be hard to justify. We will always find other ways to add excitement."

Rather than simply increasing the horsepower each generation, he is directing his team to concentrate on reducing weight. "I’m not a believer in this horsepower monster, up, up, up, more, more, more. For my personal tastes, around 500bhp is enough, because 700-800bhp calls for bigger brakes, sturdier suspension, it gets heavier and heavier logically...I think it’s not my engineering target to get 50bhp more every generation, I’d rather turn it around and make the car lighter again, a specific horsepower per kilo. I think that makes more sense."

Part of creating that virtuous cycle of lighter weight and components is to look at naturally aspirated engines, which offer response and sound that are yet to be matched by the majority of forced induction engines. "I like atmospherical engines, because they are more linear, better driveability, lighter, more emotional."

“Natural aspiration is one of our main selling propositions. We offer a car for people who want to feel something special, who want to have as much emotion as possible, as much throttle response and immediacy from a sports-car engine,” he said. “And at Motorsport, we think that can be achieved a little bit better with a [naturally aspirated] high-revving engine than any kind of turbo.”

Key Lessons from Andreas Preuninger on Emotional Cars 

1. Be clear on the purpose of the car, ideally forget lap-times. 

2. Find the right naturally aspirated engine with a manual gearbox 

3. Reduce weight wherever possible, but not compromising drivability

4. Lean towards slightly overpowering the car to keep it interesting

Automotive contentment can be found in a search for less, perhaps even for 1 car to do it all. I am grateful to Andreas for his work. "This is about a rewarding driving sensation, the smile, the feeling that you want to pat the car on the roof when you get out. You can have a car that theoretically you know can go fast, but maybe it feels so perfect that it gets boring.”

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Sources: 

https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/industry-news/porsche/porsche-calls-an-end-to-the-horsepower-arms-race/

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/interview-man-who-makes-porsches-gt-series-cars-great

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15341326/porsche-gt-boss-andreas-preuninger-on-the-gt3-pdk-vs-manual-and-his-love-of-alcantara/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRxbgACxlec

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/meeting-minds-aston-martin-jlr-and-porsche-lead-engineers-debate-future