Shortly after unveiling the most powerful 911 Turbo S, Porsche has become the first vehicle manufacturer in the world to offer lightweight wheels with braided carbon fibre and will be available as an option for the Porsche 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series.
The innovative wheels are now 20% lighter, weighing around 8.5 kg less than the standard alloy wheels yet 20% stronger. Reduced unsprung weight also mean the tyres trail the surface of the road better and are perfectly optimised for absorbing longitudinal and lateral forces. Lower rotational mass also mean increased immediacy in both acceleration and braking.
Made entirely of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP), the wheel essentially comprise of two components – carbon fibre fabric for the centre of the wheels and braided carbon fibre for the rim base. The latter is made by what is currently the world’s largest carbon fibre braiding machine with a diameter of approximately nine metres.
Porsche is effectively the first company amongst global automakers to adopt this extremely complex technology. This cutting edge braiding technology ensures that the material structure of the carbon is considerably denser and compact, which in turn increases rigidity. It also produces less waste as a result. The new carbon wheel is made from a total of 18 kilometres carbon fibre or eight square metres of carbon-fibre fabric.
Beginning 2018, the new carbon wheels will be available as an option for the 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series in 20-inch x 9J for the front wheels and 20-inch x 11.5 J for the rear. In Germany, the price for these pieces of engineering art will be EUR 15,232 (approx RM 76,801).
The new 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series comes with 3.8-litre twin-turbo engine cranking out 599 hp with 750 Nm of torque – propelling it from 0 to 100 km/h in under 3 seconds with a top speed over 330 km/h!
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