FVD BROMBACHER 991GTS Words:JohnnyTipler … · 2021. 1. 26. · 46 911&PORSCHEWORLD 911&PORSCHEWORLD 47 FVD BROMBACHER 991GTS TAKE IT TO THE TOP Words:JohnnyTipler Photography:AntonyFraser

46 47911 & PORSCHE WORLD911 & PORSCHE WORLD

FVDBROMBACHER

991 GTS

TAKE IT TOTHE TOP

Words: Johnny Tipler Photography: Antony Fraser

Few country roads are as sinuous as the 6-mile run up Freiburg-Schauinsland hillclimb and, by coincidence, this uphill helter-skelter is on the doorstep of Porsche parts purveyors FVDBrombacher. So, as the location to snap ’n’ sample their latest 991GTS showpiece, it’s a no-brainer

We’ve come to the glorious BlackForest region to visit old friendsFVD Brombacher – in fact, youngfriends would be more apt aswe’re greeted by the next

generation of the Brombacher family, Franziska, Maxand Theo, who are handling day-to-day business andtech whilst their father Willy tans in Florida. In amongst across-section of Porsches – 997, 968, 964, 993, 3.2Carrera – I’m in the workshop chatting with the threesiblings plus FVD Brombacher sales manager Alex Ben-Mahmoud. From one to another they tell me variouslyabout the GTS and ongoing FVD Brombacher projects.

Hospitalities to one side for a moment, we focus onthe firm’s brand-new 991 GTS show car. The partsspecialists and components suppliers have always hada project car on the back burner to assess thecomponents they sell and demonstrate their tuningprowess – putting their money where their mouth is, infact – and we’ve featured several over the past fewyears. The latest ex-factory GTS is capable of 194mphthanks to its 3.0-litre twin-turbo flat-six, while the FVD

Brombacher car is tuned with uprated software andmodified exhaust, hiking the model’s normal output from450bhp to 540bhp on the dyno. Finished in Achat GreyMetallic, picked out with lemon yellow flashes on thefront lid, roof, side-skirts and engine lid, the GTS runscentre-lock BBS wheels whose rims are also picked outin matching yellow. External graphics include a yellowfvd logo and Brombacher side-stripes on the doors.Carbon leather seats dominate the cabin, with specialstitching highlighting the leather upholstery.

As well as a mechanical test bed for evaluatingproducts they’d happily endorse and offer for sale, FVDBrombacher are in the process of trying out theNankang tyre brand, not a make we’d normallyassociate with high-performance sports cars. To beperfectly honest, till now it had simply never booted upon my rubber radar, focused as I currently am onVredesteins and Continentals. This is not intended to bea tyre review, nor a eulogy of any particular brand; saveto say that FVD Brombacher is mightily impressed withNankang’s AR-1 on-road semi-slick, and although it isnot Porsche approved due to the lack of an N-rating,

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they feel it is an economical alternative to thebrands that most of us conventionally fit onour Porsches. Their evaluation will continuefor a while yet, with on-track excursionsplanned because, as Max explains, ‘they’renot conventional street tyres, as much of thetread surface is slick. You do get a lot of tyrenoise on the road, so for long distance driverswe would probably not recommend them. Butmy first impression is that it’s like glue on trackand on street, but it’s noisy so we have a plusand a minus at the moment.’ Once they arehappy with them they’ll add an appropriatewheel and tyre package to their web stocklistinventory. ‘More customers are now usingtheir cars on weekends for trackdays, and itmakes sense to offer a cheap possibility fortrackdays.’ It’s likely to be about €400–€500

per 20in rim. ‘We want to be sure thiscombination works on this car because it’s notnormal for us to associate with an economybrand like Nankang, so it’s a project, and ifwe’re happy with it, it’s a new way for Porscheowners to have fun on track for less money.’So far so good, then: ‘In a track situationthese tyres are retaining their temperatureand not exceeding maximum workingtemperature, and not graining, and althoughthey may have a 30 per cent shorter workinglife compared with Michelin Pilot Sport Cups,they are less than half the price. And most ofthe trackday guys destroy their tyres in justone day. Depends how you drive, of course: if

you’re a little bit more conservative they’ll lastlonger, but driving competitively they will befinished in a day.’

Apart from last year’s outrageous 997Turbo Cabriolet, which was wilder thananything dreamed up by Stuttgart’s bling-merchants, FVD Brombacher are generallynot that extravagant in terms of visualembellishments. But, as far as fresh aeroparts go for the GTS, it already has the sideskirts mounted on its sills, which are morethan 2cm wider than the original ones, whilethe front splitter, diffuser and rear spoilerGurney flap are yet to be applied. The lightstrip spanning the rear of the car is normallyunique to the four-wheel drive Carrera 4S, butFVD Brombacher think it looks great sothey’ve installed it on their GTS. The

aerodynamic profiling is also a work inprogress. ‘We have two versions of ourproject car’s bodywork revisions,’ revealsFranziska, indicating the blue 991 Turbo onthe forecourt, complete with splitter, sillextensions, diffuser and extended rear wing.‘The aerodynamic package on that is the old-style version, and we’re developing the youngfashion version on the GTS, which is Max’sinterpretation. So, there’s a little bit ofcompetition between Max and Alex while theycreate two different kinds of look on the car.Max is more inclined towards a big wing areawith a big spoiler up front and flaps on theside, more like a racing car, while Alex’s

version is more like a 993 RS without suchbig wings. So, there will be two virtuallydifferent cars in the end, the less dramatic RSstyle or GT3 Cup style with bigger aero.’ It’snot just about the look: the aerodynamicadditions are checked in the wind tunnel toverify their efficacy. It will also be possible forcustomers to combine elements of the two‘looks’, because all the parts are produced bythe same supplier, Moshammer who’re basedin Berlin. ‘We were impressed by the partsand the mountings we received from them,and they are easy to fit, you don’t have to cutor glue because you’re only mounting on theoriginal existing mounting points. We like that,because we can send the parts all around theworld and we don’t need to explain tosomebody in Hong Kong how to mount thepart because it’s obvious and straightforward.’

The mechanical embellishments areequally evident – at least when the engine’sfired up – by virtue of the modified exhaustsystem. The conversion starts byincorporating a 200-cell HDconverted stainless-steel sportscatalytic converter (that’s 200 cells per squareinch). ‘That’s the newest generation of thesport catalytic converter,’ says Max, ‘and it’s areally expensive thing because there’s a lot ofcladding inside, and one of these is around€400 even before we get into the exhaustsystem. We’ve made everything a little bitsportier, a little bit more aggressive. And this issomething that the customer can already buy,(he shows me the part number), but it is thefirst time that the complete system includingsoftware and all the other modifications ismounted on one car, so we have to test it toprove our initial horsepower and torque gains.’It goes on a dyno before and after. ‘Thesound is incredible. It is loud – wake theneighbours loud – like a race car, though it is

Following in thewheeltracks of hismotorsport heroes,JT punts FVDBrombacher’smodded 991 GTSup the famousFreiburg-Schauinslandhillclimb

FVDBROMBACHER

991 GTS

We’ve made everythinga little bit sportier, alittle more aggressive ”“

51911 & PORSCHE WORLD50 911 & PORSCHE WORLD

dimmed by the press of the Sport button, andthis is our first experience with this range andvolume of sound which this system produces,so we are excited about that.’

The FVD Brombacher crew reckon theirGTS’s 3.0-litre engine had a head start in thepower-hike stakes, being some 70bhp betteroff than the quoted standard figure out of thebox. ‘We were lucky that we had a car with alittle bit more power than it should have hadas standard, so we tuned it to 70bhp on top ofthe existing power. So that’s 540bhp at

6500rpm, and the torque figure is 480lb ft at4000rpm, which is conservative, and we’vealready pulled back because we felt we hadtoo much for a rear-wheel drive car. We’vemostly achieved that increase in power by re-mapping the ECU. It’s a nice power curve; it

lowers at the end so it’s manageable, it’s notlike its it jumps at you, and it’s good to drive.’

By focusing on the 991 GTS as wellas the 991 Turbo, FVD Brombacher is ontop of the game. ‘It’s a little bit more complexto tune a normally aspirated car, and nowevery 911 has a turbo of course, that makes iteasier to adjust the boost pressure. It’s awhole lot of power that you need to change,and to match that so the car feels naturaland not too excited, and especially that youdon’t risk something with the engine. Our

target is to make it stronger, more reliableand a daily drive car. The best solution wouldbe to have a racing car at the push of abutton, and that’s not possible, but we’regoing in this direction, and that’s only thestart. It’s a project car, and we’re developing

parts for it that we can sell later on.’Talking of parts, which is FVD

Brombacher’s stock-in-trade, we do theguided tour. In the year since we last visitedplenty has changed. There’s been a lot ofexpansion, and although the workshop and ITdepartments haven’t changed, the receptionhas been reshuffled, but, more fundamentally,the purchasing office, stores and dispatch arenow around the corner in a different building,with much greater capacity all round. They’vepainted the 964 hoarding as well – what wasMint is now Yellow. FVD Brombacher alsosells a few cars, more as a side-line, and wenotice a couple of long-bonnet 911s and a trioof 996 Cabriolets imported from the USA.

Time for an outing. I spend a bit of timeconcentrating on getting my ear tuned in tothe difference between the tyre noise and theexhaust noise, because at a certainresonance they’re pretty similar. I alternate theGTS’s energy mode switch from Normal toSport and Sport Plus, where the bubblingnoise abates, while the suspension stiffensand the shift actuates more quickly. I canhave a comfy ride, a sporty drive or a track-day blast. ‘In sport mode it matches perfectly

with our exhaust,’ says Max, ‘because, withthe regular exhaust there wasn’t much of adifference in the different modes. Now youcan really hear the difference when youchange the mode.’

We motor leisurely through Freiburg andhead through the prosperous suburb ofGünterstal, where the climb starts at a totallyinnocuous spot 400m above sea level. Thereis a white marking on the road indicating thestart, but blink and you miss it. It’s like that atthe top, too, with no obvious finish line, thoughthe adjacent restaurant is quite busy so I’mwatching out for vehicles at this point ratherthan signposts. Back in the day, Freiburg-Schauinsland was one of the mostspectacular hillclimbs on the EuropeanHillclimb Championship calendar, and had areputation for being one of the most difficult,too. Comprising 127 corners, it runs for nearly12km, summiting at an altitude of 1200m inthe Schauinsland highlands that, once you’reout of the trees, afford fabulous views intovalleys and the distant hills. To start with, the

route is flanked by mature beech trees andscrub, but after a few corners it climbs into adense forest of conifers, with single-sectionArmco barrier to one side and, more oftenthan not, rock face on the other. I have to say,these Nankangs are gripping mightilyimpressively as I twirl the steering wheel. Iglimpse forest tracks on some hairpins,daylight on others, but the blacktop is flankedby unremitting green till it emergesdramatically at the Holzschläger Matten-Kurve, where we pause to survey the mostglorious view out over the sub-alpine pastures– and return later to attend Die Kurve chaletrestaurant for lunch. This is but half distanceon the climb, where in its ’60s heyday most ofthe 60,000 spectators gathered in thegrandstands, long gone now, to catch aglimpse of the cars as they flashed by, one byone, before ducking back into the forestedturns for the final half-dozen kilometres.

Back in 1957, the new FIA EuropeanHillclimb Championship featured works teamsfrom Porsche and Ferrari with drivers of the

calibre of Ludovico Scarfiotti and Edgar Barth.Although the calendar varied, Mont Ventoux,Gaisberg and Freiburg-Schauinsland wereincluded every season for 15 years. Porschedrivers wore the Sports Car category crownfrom 1958 to 1968, while in the Gran Turismoclass, they annexed the GT title literally everyyear from 1960 right up to 1980. PerhapsFreiburg-Schauinsland’s most importantmeetings were in 1963, ’64 and ’65, when theWorld Sports Car Championship includedboth rallies and hillclimbs, and Edgar Barth(Jürgen’s father) was victorious in ’63 and ’64,though in ’65 Lodovico Scarfiotti led GerhardMitter home in the Ferrari Dino 206P. In ’63Barth, driving a Porsche 718 RS, posted anaverage speed of more than 100kph for thefirst time in the event’s history, and in ’64 hewon again in the 718 RS, taking 6m 36.4s tocover the 11.2km, followed in 3rd place byHerbie Müller in a 904/8. Between ’57 and’70, the list of Schauinsland winners is toppedby Barth, with Jo Bonnier, Scarfiotti, HeiniWalter, Gerhard Mitter, Peter Schetty and Rolf

We had a car with alittle bit more powerthan it should have ”“

FVDBrombacher’sHQ is as vibrant asever, with itsimpressive facadeand packedworkshop. 991Turbo is, of course,very much on theirtuning radar

On top of the world!Well you would be ifyou had a 991 GTSand then sent it offto FVD Brombacherfor a makeover

Porsche’s move toturbo enginesacross the range hasmade tuning amuch simpler affair.Leaving the engineinternals alone,FVD Brombacherhave managed toliberate another70bhp from ECUand exhaust tweaks

FVD Brombacherhave been greatlyimpressed withNankang’s AR-1semi slick, road legaltrack day tyre

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991 GTS

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Stommelen also claiming the laurels forPorsche – and, just twice, Ferrari. The factoryteams’ interest waned in the early 1970s,though Freiburg-Schauinsland staged onefinal meeting in 1972 when the DRM(Deutsche Rennsport-Meisterschaft) visitedthe hillclimb in its inaugural year. The 139-strong entry featured Reinhold Jöst in a908/03, though the winner was Hans-Joachim Stuck in a Köln 2600 Capri. Wouldwe cut the mustard in a 991 GTS?Undoubtedly, though the heroes of yesteryearwouldn’t have had to contend with cyclists,hikers and bikers – who are banned onweekends for their own good.

After lunch there’s more seriousphotoshooting to be done, and shootingmeans driving. Schauinsland is an amazingadrenalin rush as I sling-shot from one curveto the next, sweeping into the large, openradius of the Holzschläger Matten-Kurve:there’s hardly a straight worth the name, justendless bends of varying degrees of arc andapex, sometimes open enough to see theexit, sometimes that’s obscured by foliage. Allthe time at the back of my mind is the

historical perspective – that the titans of thesport once hurtled up here, putting life andmachine on the line. There’s never a feelingthat the GTS is going to get away from me; Ifeel you can trust it all the time, it’s not goingto bite me mid-turn. Maybe I lose a little in theway of emotion in a car that’s so competent;imagine how raw the experience would be ina short-wheelbase 911! Then I would beliving more literally on the edge.

Going quickly, FVD Brombacher’s GTS isa combination of driver intuition andcoordinated controls. Steering is impeccable,and from bend to bend I aim it preciselywhere I want it to go and it complies with nodrama. There’s the omnipresent popping andbanging on the over-run, and the throttleresponse when I press down and the turboscome in is instantaneous with that satisfyingsurge forward. No need for trepidation aboutgrip: these Nankang semi-slicks really do dothe business, heating up and holding theirtemperature well, considering this is a ‘B’road, at a relatively high altitude, where it’scold but sunny. They really do have a lot ofpurchase when they’re leant on, and their

road noise is something I could probably livewith because they are so grippy.

What goes up must come down, and eventhough I prefer going up, it’s just as thrillingzooming down, and of course you don’t needto have so much power on heading downhillbecause you have gradient and weight of carworking for you. But, in the ascendant, youfeel the engine working harder, and that’smore thrilling because it’s delivering the mostpower and the most torque. Going downdoesn’t require full throttle to attain optimumperformance; it’s about braking harder, too,as well as judging turn-ins accurately. ‘It’salso a little bit safer to go up than down,’ Maxreckons, ‘because if you miss a corner youreally are going too fast, but if you’re headingup you always have a little bit of gravity tofight against.’ Whatever, this is the perfectenvironment for honing and appreciating anautomotive work of art. It may be a projectcar but, frankly, it’s hard to see how the GTScould be bettered as it is, though theadditional aero might raise the stakes, on theAutobahn as well as visually. Whatever theydo, it won’t be an uphill struggle. PW

FVDBROMBACHER

991 GTS

CONTACTMax or FranziskaBrombacherFVD BrombacherGmbHWaldmatten 2-379224 UmkirchGermanyTel: 0049 7665 [email protected]/de-en