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More than twenty years ago, Porsche presented one Supercar, which is still unparalleled today: the Carrera GT. From now on, the suspension manufacturer KW automotive has a new coilover suspension for the super sports car in the scope of delivery. With the V5 coilover kit, which is optionally available with a hydraulic lift system, KW relies on its displacement piston technology. This gives the 612 hp mid-engine Porsche much more sensitive damping. Although the grip level, the handling and the entire feedback when driving is much more direct, the KW dampers with their displacement piston design ensure greater driving comfort than the one developed more than 20 years ago Carrera GT-Original equipment chassis. Including the lift system, which raises the Porsche by 45 millimeters on both axles at the touch of a button, the KW V5 coilover kit costs €19.334. In this YouTube video, former Formula 1 racing driver Nick Heidfeld shows his Porsche Carrera GT with an individualized KW V5 coilover suspension and hydraulic lift system.
KW V5 coilover suspension
A Porsche for the country road, for the motorway, for the Mulholland Drive and for trips to racetracks, where motor sport history is regularly written. The Porsche Carrera GT is a super sports car that is still unparalleled today. For the 2003 customer vehicles delivered between 2006 and 1270, according to media reports, the chassis manufacturer KW automotive developed a coilover kit including a hydraulic lift system. The lifting cylinders raise the Carrera GT on request in order to overcome obstacles such as steep parking garage ramps, construction site ledges on the streets or speed bumps. If desired, the dampers can be individually adjusted in the high-speed and low-speed forces of the compression and rebound stages. If you want, you can also manually lower the center of gravity of the Carrera GT by up to 10 millimeters.
Next exit Le Mans
High-revving V10 mid-engine. 5,7 liter displacement. 612 hp. Manual six-speed gearbox and a carbon fiber monocoque. The Carrera GT was way ahead of its time. "The Porsche Carrera GT is still a fascinating super sports car twenty years after its market launch," says KW Brand Manager Florian Johann. "Although we already had a chassis in our range for the Carrera GT, we have now developed a completely new chassis."
The Carrera GT KW Clubsport coilover kit of that time was basically still based on the development of GT3 chassis from the Porsche 911 GT3 (997) customer sports car. The new KW V5 coilover kit for the Porsche Carrera GT (980) was inspired by the KW V911 racing suspension homologated for the Porsche 3 GT992 R (6). Instead of a conventional mono- or twin-tube damper, KW automotive relies on the displacement principle for the damper structure in its KW V5 coilover kit, as in the current GT3 and GT4 motorsport. With the technology, also known as KW Solid Piston, there are no more overflowing pistons as with other vibration dampers.
The working piston is closed and the entire hydraulic or volume column above and below the piston is displaced. This compact design increases the hydraulic working and effective range of a vibration damper immensely. This means that smaller piston rods can also be used, which means that the damping benefits not only in the compression stages, but also in the rebound stages. Due to the Carrera GT axle geometry with double wishbones and reversing lever (pushrod suspension), there are no wheel-guiding forces on the dampers; which speaks even more for the KW V5 coilover kit with solid piston technology.
The higher forces in the hydraulics are monitored and controlled via a completely new valve structure. With the solid piston principle, the valves are also separate from the working piston. "With our solid piston suspensions, we can work with much lower spring rates for road suspensions thanks to the higher effective range of the dampers and design the entire dampers more compact and lighter than with other systems," summarizes KW Brand Manager Florian Johann.
Modern driving behavior
While today's racing cars are facing higher and higher aero loads with shorter damper travel, road cars are becoming increasingly heavier overall. Which is why KW automotive relies on KW Solid Piston Technology for its chassis for more and more vehicles. "Due to the entire structure of the KW V5 coilover kit, the damping works much more sensitively and responds faster with short spring deflections," explains Florian Johann. "A lot has happened in suspension technology in recent years. In detail, it's roughly the same as the change from analog mobile phones to the current smartphone." Already in the preset damper setup, the pressure in the high-speed and low-speed forces - and rebound stage independently adjustable chassis, the Carrera GT drives more harmoniously than with the standard chassis developed more than twenty years ago. In the case of small bumps, the KW V5 coilover suspension in the Carrera GT dampens the compression stage harmoniously, making driving the super sports car much more relaxed in everyday life.
Even when driving over manhole covers, transverse joints or small bumps, the chassis absorbs these bumps cleanly, even with little spring travel. If you want, you can set the setup preset by KW for the Carrera GT further, more comfortably or even sportier. This is done using the integrated adjustment wheels directly on the damper. No matter in which setup and on which route the Porsche Carrera GT is driven with the KW V5 coilover suspension, the suspension responds much more dynamically than the standard suspension.
The entire steering is even more precise, the handling more direct and the super sports car drives with plenty of safety reserves even at the limit - for a super sports car with real motorsport genes. The KW V5 coilover kit is available for the Porsche Carrera GT with and without a hydraulic lift system. The suggested retail price is €19.334 or €15.196 without the lift system. The product images shown with red and blue suspension springs are an individual special version for Nick Heidfeld.
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KW V5 coilover kit for Porsche Carrera GT (980): State-of-the-art damper technology for Porsche's most legendary super sports car
Photo credit: KW Automotive GmbH
