LAST NEWS
Porsche Rally Racing Proto D4S
Saturday, 29, April, 2023 – Porsche Experience Circuit Franciacorta (BS) – Italy
Let’s discover a unique Porsche in the World: the incredible Rally Ice Racing Prototype built by D4S to attack the Ice Series Championships in 2012 against monsters prototypes directly arriving from the worldwide famous French Trophée Andros.
History
The car, built during the 2010 and 2011 from the concept design of Dr. Eng Sergio Durante and the teams of engineers, like Dr. Eng. Mauro Comoglio expert in manufacturing technologies and Dr. Eng. Anja Praturlon FIA delegate, was exhibited as a technology demonstrator at the Kohl Motorsport Fair (Cologne, DE) in 2011 with the livery sponsored by Concurrent Engineering, HAAS and K&N
The car took part in international championships on Rally on Ice from 2012 to 2013 such as the Ice Series and Ice Challenge finishing in fourth place overall agains prototype cars from the Andros Ice Racing Championship. It also took part in uphill races such as the Cesana-Sestriere taking first place in the prototype category. In 2014-2018 the car participated in the Ronde Invernale in France on Ice and the Winter Sprint race at the famous historical circuit of Serre Chevalier, always catching excellent results including two pole position, two success overall and the circuit record.
Since 2019 the car has been resting in the garage of a collector, sometimes performing some exit on circuit like today in the beautiful brand new Porsche Experience Circuit of Franciacorta in Brescia.
Specs
Car built entirely by D4S Motorsport with rollbar welded according to safety FIA standards and rules, Sparco seats and Sabelt six-point racing belts, approved by FIA racing fire extinguisher, internal-external racing battery switch. Bodywork totally lightened and reinforced in the stress areas. Doors in
Full Carbon Kevlar, Front hood in Full Carbon Kevlar, Engine hood in Full Carbon with fully tunable aerodynamic rear wing in Full Carbon and supports in Metal Matrix Composites (Al +20%SiC), Spoiler in Full Aerospace Carbon custom made by TEKS Aerospace, Bumpers in Carbon Kevlar reinforcement , Total body protection in Carbon Wrap.
Lightened interior with Full Carbon protections of electrical and electronic panel, gearbox and central console. Aluminum pedal board.
Engine: mounted on rigid supports in aeronautical aluminum with local reinforcements in titanium, lightened flywheel and reinforced clutch, D4S Motorsport preparation on intake and full exhaust, with 2 3 into 1 and X-pipes, for incredible low rpm to max rpm push. Sounds like F1 engine.
Racing gearbox and front and rear differentials with adjustable ramps made of super-finished highly alloyed steel and coated with PVD and CVD technology in Diamond Like Carbon and Titanium Nitride and Aluminum with Nanocomposite structure.
Custom suspension made with adjustable camber plates and Biltein custom dampers and coils, with quick adjustment of damping and ride height
Vehicle certified characteristics
Hybrid bodywork in carbon fibre, aluminium, steel, Kevlar fibre, titanium
Crystals and windshield in super light Lexan, anti-reflection coating, water repellent coating, Porsche multilayer glass windshield
Internal conditions Alcantara, aluminium, carbon fibre, bucket seats, six-point belts, high-strength steel rollbar, reinforcements.
Tyres: 4 sets of tires and rims: slick, rain, snow and ice racing studded, various sizes from 16 to 18″ Those fitted with slicks, Michelin 18″ sizes, 19″ rain, 16″ ice racing. The rims are original Porsche 5-spoke aluminum equilibrated.
Also original Porsche wheels are mounted on the slick tyres.
Engine: Prepared engine, direct intake, tuned exhaust, variable valve timing, lightened flywheel, reinforced clutch, rigid mounts;
Cooling system, radiator: Forced ventilation aluminum radiators
Injection and electronic ignition, configured for 98-100 octane petrol or special fuel up to 120 Octane
Handcrafted exhaust system tuned 2 x 3in1, X-pipe, direct
Double electric racing fuel pump, with cell racing tank
The gearboxes are all manual and beautifully lightened crafted in high strength steel, super finisheded and diamond DLC coated and other nanostrucured coatings.
Braking system with aeronautical tubes, (with the overheating of the oil, air bubbles are formed in the oil, with this equipment the heating and expansion of the tubes are reinforced in order to avoid loose of internal pressure, permitting long session at the maximum attack on the circuit), built ad hoc and customized just for this car, disengageable ABS, self-ventilating discs, racing pads.
Steering gear with Porsche power steering
Porsche power steering pump
Competition shock absorbers and suspension, Bilstein custom adjustable in
compression and rebound, adjustable height, mechanically adjustable
Porsche-D4S hybrid general electrical system
Ice Challenge 2023: D4S impressive results both in technology and sport!
2023: after years that we decided to support the fast growing International Championship Ice Challenge, we got excellent results, both from technology and sport point of view
Sergio Durante win for the third time and for the second consecutive year with a hybrid rally racing car.
The 2023 Ice Challenge season – International Ice Speed Championship is coming to an end.
A really difficult season from the weather point of view, with alternating very cold and very hot temperatures with humidity, the maximum stress for the innovative technologies brought into the field by Durante Space Tech.
With three rounds held, the season is therefore preparing to formalize in its Hall of Fame the verdicts of an exciting and captivating challenge with equally spectacular challenges.
Ivan Carmellino boasts of a new overall victory like Sergio Durante, Jean Claude Vallino and Simone Firenze respectively in the hybrid, SSV and 2WD car category.
“Thanks to the teams, the riders, the track managers – concluded BMG Motor Events and D4S Motorsport – to our staff, collaborators, sponsors and partners, to the accommodation facilities that have or should have hosted us. It’s hard to finish like this, but let’s go ahead and think about 2024 from today”.
5 races in Italy and France, new program to annex Austria and Finland in the next year, beautiful cars, famous drivers, television and internet covering.
These are just some of the motivation to push us to be involved in first person. Apart passion, of course…
Sergio Durante in action: photo by Alberto Caldani
The aerospace future is embracing the hybrid technology, but not as you think
Quick question
Why Full Electric is not yet competitive at all with conventional thermal engines? Simply because the energy density ratio between jet A1 fuel and the best battery in the market is 1 to 30. Means that the energy stored in a kg of jet fuel needs to be replaced with 30kg of battery. So the ‘fuel’ will weight 30 times the current one.
Quick conclusion
If we want to build a full electric airplane, and we expect to have the same range of a normal jet airplane replòacing the thermal engine with electric engine… simply we will build an airplane that cannot fly because its weight is over what it can lift up.
By the way
Some innovations are anyway possible, like the one we are bringing ahead, in order to increase the efficiency of the current state of the art, like using system able to convert all the energy wasted in heat, turbulences, and other in electric energy available for the services.
Stay tunes to know more….