Porsche test engineer Waldi Hoffmann works his magic at the wheel. With a steady hand, the veteran controls his test car's subtle tendency to oversteer and conquers the Nordschleife with ease, as if it were just any old country road: "What works on the Ring works anywhere in the world," he says in response to the driving noise. His silver vehicle is not a new model, but the 993 series, which was first presented almost 25 years ago.
A good two years ago, pessimistic fans saw its future on the sidings rather than on the racetrack. The original replacement for the standard vibration dampers was in danger of running out, as the original manufacturer had discontinued production of the spare parts. However, Porsche Classic would never have allowed this situation to arise. Instead, they sat down with engineers from Bilstein just over two years ago and worked on a solution. In the end, a virtue was made of necessity and thanks to new technology and original tuning, the 993 now drives better than ever before. This is also confirmed by a look behind the scenes at the road test on the Nürburgring, which Porsche provided.
Tuned and tested by experts
"The dampers respond more subtly, the traction is noticeably increased and the body movements remain milder with variable suspension than with the standard suspension," summarizes Waldi Hoffmann, who has been on the road here for just as long as the 993 series - a quarter of a century. So he should know: "It's quite remarkable what new talents the modern damper system together with modern tires can tease out of the 993 model." After Bilstein had changed the technology for the new front axle set-up to upside-down technology including monotube gas pressure dampers, the basic characteristics were immediately inspiring. The technical terms may sound a little technical and dry at first, but in practice they offer a great emotional experience. Tickets can only be purchased from Porsche Centers, which are the exclusive distributors of the damper solution.
When optimizing the suspension of a classic car, however, a sense of proportion must of course be exercised. Boosting the 993 into the rocket age with new speed technology would certainly have been possible, but not necessarily more appealing. The 993 had a separate front and rear suspension and was regarded as the most comfortable Porsche of all time without having to make any concessions in terms of sportiness - and that was to remain the case. Rockets, on the other hand, are rarely comfortable. Because the Bilstein technology is able to release large valve cross-sections in the damper particularly quickly and in a well-dosed manner, the Porsche 993 damper kit works even more subtly and sensitively in the standard set-up than before. Waldi Hoffmann: "You can experience this particularly on transverse joints in the road. The set-up is comparatively smoother and more comfortable to drive - and is still suitable for a visit to the racetrack, where it offers an enormously high level of driving safety right up to the limit."
From racing to the road
But speaking of the racetrack: "We have made use of the refinements that were previously used almost exclusively in racing," explains Bilstein expert Rainer Popiol, who was involved in the tuning work. In terms of model technology, the 993 was by no means a stranger to the company. After all, Bilstein had already equipped the particularly sporty RS models of the series with dampers ex works in the 1990s. While twin-tube gas pressure dampers were used in series production at that time, monotube dampers are now used: this is the typical racing design, which offers decisive advantages in terms of cooling and gas pressure level, so that performance does not diminish even under high loads and foaming of the damper oil is practically impossible.
Another key advantage of the development is the high durability that such a system of monotube dampers provides: Because special plain bearings with high-performance permanent grease filling work inside them, they practically never get old. Forever young? After all, this also applies to the Porsche 993 itself, which has the best tools to become an evergreen among sports car legends.
Further information can be found on the Bilstein website.
