GT2RS

Ride along with Ryan Gates as he and his father, Bruce Gates, spend the final session of 2020 lapping BIR together.

Ryan is driving the 311RS Motorsport Porsche 997.1 GT3 Cup and Bruce is driving the 311RS Motorsport Porsche 991 GT2RS Clubsport.

Neither car was running fresh tires so this was all about having fun together and enjoying the gorgeous fall weather at BIR. By the 4th lap you’ll see Bruce fly past down the front straight in the GT2RS Clubsport. You can almost feel the power.

-Drivers: Ryan Gates & Bruce Gates

-Cars: Porsche 997.1 GT3 Cup & Porsche 991 GT2RS Clubsport – both prepared by 311RS Motorsport

-Track: Brainerd International Raceway

-Fastest Lap: 1:35.3 (997.1 GT3 Cup)

September 21st, 2020 – 311RS Motorsport celebrates a winning weekend at Round 4 of the SRO GT Sports Club America series at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, TX. Ryan Gates drove the #311 Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport to GT2 Class pole with a 2:10.48 lap time and secured GT2 Class wins in each of the two races during the weekend.

We would like to extend a special thank you to the entire 311RS Motorsport team for a great team effort during our trip to Circuit of the Americas. The car was setup with precision which allowed us to execute our program with efficiency on and off track. We look forward to finishing this season together on a high note at the 2020 season finale in Indianapolis.

In addition, 311RS Motorsport would like to thank Porsche Motorsport for the reliable 911 GT2RS Clubsport platform and on-site factory support throughout the weekend. SRO America deserves a thank you as well for hosting a safe and fun event, and finally Circuit of the Americas for providing all of us a pristine & safe facility for us all to race at.

Upcoming schedule – Ryan Gates is to campaign the 311RS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport at the season finale of the 2020 SRO America GT Sports Club at Indianapolis on October 2-4, 2020.

About 311RS Motorsport: Founded in 2011, 311RS Motorsport is a Porsche racing team and Porsche specialty workshop based in Minneapolis, MN USA. 311RS Motorsport prepares & supports factory Porsche race cars and delivers track developed, street prepared Porsche 911s for road and track use.

Official Press Release

Images courtesy of Peter Lapinski

July 13th, 2020 – 311RS Motorsport wins GT2 Class at the inaugural SRO GT Sports Club America race at Virginia International Raceway in the 311RS Motorsport Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport driven by Ryan Gates.

Link to series website – Gates sweeps SRO GT2 Class at VIR

We would like to thank the entire 311RS Motorsport team and Goldcrest Motorsports for all the hard work and preparation to make this weekend a reality. We should all be proud of the team’s near-flawless execution leading up to and during this race weekend at VIR.

In addition, we would like to thank Porsche Motorsport for the reliable GT2RS Clubsport platform and factory on-site support, SRO America for hosting a safe and fun event, and finally VIR for providing all of us a beautiful facility to race at.

More information to follow.

Photos: Peter Lapinski

July 6th, 2020: 311RS Motorsport enters the 2020 SRO GT Sports Club America Championship in GT2 class with the 311RS Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport. The first round of SRO GT Sports Club America takes place on July 9-12th, 2020 at Virginia International Raceway.

Statement from driver and 311RS Motorsport team owner, Ryan Gates: “Porsche created the 911 GT2RS Clubsport with SRO GT2 class in mind. It’s exciting to see Porsche 911 GT2s racing again and we are looking forward to running with SRO GT Sports Clubsport America; the first US-based series with a GT2 class.

We have been preparing for this moment since founding the company nine years ago. A special thank you to our Minneapolis-based team along with the folks from Goldcrest Motorsports for their support as we launch this campaign with the Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport in SRO.”

We will provide further information throughout the week leading up to the weekend. Thank you to all who have helped make this happen for us!

Download copy of press release here.

In cooperation with Brainerd International Raceway, we hosted a private test for our GT2RS Clubsport & 991.2 GT3 Cup. In addition, we invited a small group of our road car clients to join us for some much-needed high speed therapy.

Participants were limited to a total of 10 as part of our agreement with the track and the local county attorney. Strict social-distance guidelines were adhered to and we are happy to report, nearly four weeks since the event, each one of us who attended remain free of COVID-19 symptoms.

Peter Lapinski was on hand to capture the scenes of our first test for 2020. We thank him for being there as we rolled out our GT2RS Clubsport for the first time, a huge milestone for our team. Please enjoy the following selection images from Peter and accompanying notes from the team.

The line up included: GT2RS Clubsport, 991.2 GT3 Cup, GT2RS, 991.2 GT3RS (x2) 991.2 GT3, 997.1 GT3, and a 996.2 GT3 (did not run).

The sun was hitting the GT2RS Gold BBS wheels just right.

The 311RS Porsche 911 GT2RS Clubsport followed by the 311RS Porsche 911 GT3 Cup on track together for the first time.

Our partners at Goldcrest Motorsports sent Blake White up for the test. He helped us get up to speed and ensured the test went smoothly. Thank you Blake & Goldcrest!

The GT2RS Clubsport absolutely ate up the track. Even during shakedown, the car was running faster laps than we had ever ran around BIR. A beast, as they say.

With nothing more than fuel & distilled water (for the intercooler sprayer system), the GT2RS Clubsport ran like clockwork. Here we see Ryan giving the underside of the car an ocular pat down after a session in the car.

It was a treat running the GT2RS road car and the GT2RS Clubsport together on track. While the road car is quite a bit faster in a straight line (it is tuned by M-Engineering making over 700whp), the Clubsport handily walked away from it over the course of a lap.

Two different vantage points through T9 – a turn that requires much respect from the driver.

Elsewhere on track, Jeff was up to speed out of the box in his 991.2 GT3 Cup. He’s tested the car at Sebring & COTA already this season, so on familiar territory at BIR he was very quick.

We look forward to working with this driver and car as the season progresses. The 991.2 GT3 Cup provides us an opportunity to understand and develop with Porsche’s latest Cup car platform. This experience will pay dividends for years to come.

Dan was pushing his 311RS-prepared 991.2 GT3RS to new limits during the test. He is picking up speed, and quickly. We are looking forward to seeing his development this season.

Tom was on hand in his gorgeous 311RS-prepared 997.1 GT3 consistent as usual. It’s always a pleasure seeing this car run.

A new driver for 311RS, John, was testing out his new 311RS-prepared 991.2 GT3RS for the first time. Fresh from an initial chassis setup, he was quick to improve, lopping multiple seconds from his lap times each session.

He’s due back into 311RS HQ for further upgrades along with our track aero & chassis setup. We are looking forward to seeing this & driver car develop.

Brandon was up to speed right away in his 311RS-prepared 991.2 GT3. We’ve been working with him for a season now, his progression in both speed and feedback have been great to see.

He’s now equipped with our safety package (roll bar, harnesses, and HANS device) and faster than ever while also being safer than ever.

Bruce was pounding laps in his GT2RS road car in between sessions in his GT2RS Clubsport. Hearing his feedback in back to back sessions was awesome, suddenly that GT2RS road car felt very much like a road car in comparison.

That’s it for now. Lots learned, with even more yet to learn. Until next time, Fear The Cheese!

Photos courtesy of Peter Lapinski

As delivered, the GT2RS Clubsport is one of the most aggressive and imposing things to ever come out of Stuttgart. Part of that look comes from the exposed carbon fiber throughout the car.

This is where we come in – with the aim to “complete” the look of the car.

As delivered to 311RS. Factory fresh. Exposed carbon fiber all around.

Wes from Motive Artworks rendered our vision and brought it to life. Here is a comparison between as delivered and 311RS. To us, the 311RS Porsche GT2RS Clubsport looks as though it could have came like that from the factory, which was ultimately the goal.

The first thing that needed changing were the wheels. Porsche created GT2RS Gold specifically for the 997 GT2RS in 2011, and continued it for the 991 GT2RS in 2018. We absolutely love the color and wanted to bring that aspect of the GT2RS to the GT2RS Clubsport.

There we go. A GT2RS, in our opinion, should always have GT2RS Gold wheels.

We’ll be running the car in PCA Club Racing and SRO GT Sports Club, both of which are officially partnered with Pirelli. On the road cars we exclusively run Michelin tires, however for the race cars, at least for the current series we operate in, Pirelli is the tire.

Fun fact: the GT2RS Clubsport runs the same size tire front and rear as the 991 GT3 Cup.

First test fit. We were feeling good about the combination!

On the ground and pure class. The Satin White Gold metallic gives the car life, and allows the BBS wheel design to be fully appreciated.

However, something had to be done about that exposed carbon fiber. More on that later.

With the wheels and tires sorted, we began to focus on preserving the car. Cory from Lifestyle Tint is our go to for ClearPlex install. These semi-permanent window films do a great job protecting the glass from debris.

We tend to go through 1 or 2 of these films per season, depending on driver. With the GT2RS Clubsport we aim to use just this one this season.

Onto the fun part – we partnered with Color X Labs to create a vinyl wrap that would match the exact color of our GT2RS Clubsport. They use the OEM Porsche paint code (Carrara White – B9A) to match the color, and further “tune” the color using a piece of the body work, in our case we sent them the fuel door.

And so it begins.

While we set out to “complete” the look of the car, that did not mean we cover all of the exposed carbon fiber. Instead, by covering a large portion of it and exposing portions of the carbon fiber, the result was accentuation of the ducting on the hood.

We love the look – adding aggression while simultaneously completing the hood. Note the beautiful color match of the vinyl to the factory painted bumper and fenders.

The idea to add white to the wing end plates was to give that rear wing a place on the car. It’s so large and so far back, with black end plates it can get visually lost from certain angles.

Along with a Porsche logo across the wing, the end plates completed our work back there and again looks as though it could have came that way from the factory.

Here we see the removable carbon decklid getting it’s helping of Carrara White vinyl wrap. We chose to leave the air intakes exposed (as is on the GT2RS road car) along with the backside of the duckbill – this gives some nice contrast in the rear while highlighting how much the piece acts as an aero device.

Also seen here is Elliott from Glisten Detailing – he worked through night to complete the car and did an amazing job executing all of the minute details we had for him. We cannot thank him enough for the dedication he showed to the project. Beers on us for the foreseeable future!!

Take a look at the amount of material used to cover the rear bumper. The GT2RS Clubsport is especially girthy back there.

Fear The Cheese – a hat tip to the legends at Matt’s Bar. We are proud to be from Minnesota and love the Jucy Lucy, so we felt it was a fitting tribute to where we come from and what we love.

And as such, the car will affectionately be known as Lucy to us here at 311RS. There is no doubt she will be a jucy one!

The roof would be the final portion we wrap in an effort to “complete” the car. Doing so required removing the emergency hatch – 8 quarter turn allen bolts and it was off. Very cool.

And the result is seen above. The car looks gorgeous, and every bit aggressive as when it was delivered. To us, the car is now visually “complete”.

The moment the car was finished (5:15a) it was loaded up. We had a 5:30a meeting time to head up to BIR for our first test with the car. Talk about just in time!!

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

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

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.

We’re onto the next step of our GT2RS development – aerodynamic assessment.

Porsche has delivered the GT2RS with a seemingly endless list of aerodynamic tricks and solutions. It is important for us to understand how each of those elements work together if we plan to adjust the aero setup on the car. Which we do.

Our upcoming Race exhaust system removes the factory center muffler, which itself acts as part of the rear diffuser. Removing this muffler creates a large hole at the rear of the underbody aero system. This must be addressed if we are to call our exhaust system an upgrade.

The folks at Patience Metal Fab introduced us to a local duo who run Nextrev Motorsports. Aerospace engineers by day, race car builders by night. At their day job, these two work with some of the most advanced technology and manufacturing processes available today.

We were specifically interested in a 3D scanning process which creates a model of the GT2RS for use with CFD software. We were connected with a local 3D scanning company which would provide the scan data to NextRev for use with aero development.

It is important for us to not only understand how the factory aero systems work on the GT2RS, but also where they can be improved – in this case by starting with a diffuser to work in conjunction with our Race exhaust system.

The 3D scanning process begins by placing thousands of specialized dots around the car. These dots are “activated” during the first round of scanning. After the computer recognizes the location of the dots, a second round of scanning triangulates the dots and creates a surface of the car based off the deformation of the lasers.

Seeing this 3D scanning process first hand was unreal. These guys were pros and made it look easy.

With the exterior completed, we moved onto the underside.

More dots…

Here is the underside with the OEM diffuser removed. There is a lot of room for improvement back here – Porsche including a diffuser from the factory provides us with mounting points for a much larger diffuser.

3D scanning the underside of the car proved to be a simpler task – the black paint was so shiny (thanks Carsmotology) that we had to rub some wax on the paint to dull it.

Getting all the nooks and crannies.

Here you can see the result from the scan of the GT2RS underside. The use of 3D scanning and CFD for this project will be a huge advantage for us while we evaluate our options for the rear diffuser (and additional small aero tricks).

Our first test day with the car is the 26th of February. We hope to have a prototype of our diffuser ready by then so we can report back with some real world results. Until then, we’ll keep this news section flush with updates as winter rolls on.

Photos courtesy of Ryan Gates/311RS, LLC.