Tuner creates 1000-horsepower Porsche 911... with bolt-ons.
Click above for a high-res gallery of the SPI Sledgehammer
Most stock components in a production car can only be pushed so far. Keep adding horsepower and torque, and eventually...well, something is going to break. Some people, however, are all about exploring the limits. Take Tym Switzer, for example. His tuning company, Switzer Performance Innovation of Oberlin, Ohio has come up with a bolt-on tuning package for the Porsche 997 911 Turbo that offers Bugatti Veyron aping performance. So, how much power can the stock internals in Stuttgart's 3.8-liter flat-6 take? Apparently, quite a lot.
The shop has recorded 850 horsepower and 727 lb-ft of torque on the rolling dyno, equating to over 1000 horsepower at the crank. Real world performance should be mind boggling, with the car reportedly reaching 60 miles-per-hour in the mid two second range, blowing through the 1/4 mile in just 9.79 seconds at 146 mph. Pricing looks to be just as fierce, with the Sledgehammer package retailing for $49,990. While that's a lot of coin for a suite of bolt-ons, the performance would appear to speak for itself. Videos of both the dyno run and the 1/4 mile pass can be viewed after the jump as well as SPI's official press release.
Gallery: SPI SLEDGEHAMMER
[Source: Switzer Performance Innovation]
PRESS RELEASE:
Tym Switzer has been quietly running Switzer Performance Innovations (SPI) in Oberlin, Ohio for several years, building show-quality exhausts and bolt-on performance products for twin-turbo Porsche 996 and 997 models.
With his latest project, Tym and the crew at SPI wanted to test the limits of what would be possible with stock 997 internals. "When the customer first came to me with his 997, we talked a lot about about pushing the limits the new engine and what might be possible using stock internals. I had already been inside the 997 turbo engines, and felt that 700 wheel horsepower seemed well within reach on pump fuel, and that we might be able to go a bit further."
That "bit further" eventually led to what Switzer calls the SLEDGEHAMMER. Named after candid comment from an SPI tech, the SLEDGEHAMMER is a bolt-on performance package for 997 twin-turbo Porsches that delivers over 850 all-wheel horsepower on race fuel. That's over 1000 hp at the crank!
Getting Bugatti-baiting performance figures from a bolt-on prepared 997 is no easy task, though. Switzer explains he and his crew "have always prided ourselves on attention to detail and delivering exactly what we promise to our customers. We have a saying around here: performance, not excuses. So during the original SLEDGEHAMMER build we looked at every part of the system, constantly metering and testing every component, on our in-house chassis dyno."
A finished Switzer SLEDGEHAMMER is certainly an amazing car. Switzer reports that (despite backing off the throttle early) the first SLEDGEHAMMER (pictured) went almost 195 mph at the Texas mile. Additional performance figures read like the stuff of legend: consistent 0-60 times in the mid 2's, less than 5 seconds to go from 60-130 mph, and 9.8-second quarter mile elapsed times with trap speeds regularly in excess of 145 mph. "With performance like that, these cars really speak for themselves - I have another one on the dyno now, and expect to post the results of those runs shortly."
In addition to extensive ECU tuning, the SLEDGEHAMMER package includes SPI's in-house developed headers and sport exhaust, as well as SPI's MONSTER intercooler package (shown) and SPI-massaged GT30R turbos. More details on Switzer's SLEDGEHAMMER conversion can be found on SPI's website. The SLEDGEHAMMER package retails for 49990USD, and is available through SPI. Contact SPI for more information.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Brent Schmidt 8:43PM (1/09/2009)
And I jizzed in my pants.
Ridonkulously sexy sounding.
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esteva03 9:25PM (1/09/2009)
yes!!! indeed!!!
Vote for autoblog!!!
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-major-blog/
Flashpoint 10:06PM (1/09/2009)
Unfortunately, without the extra radiators, adequate tires, strengthened frame, aerodynamics and brakes, it will never reach speeds like the Veyron, let alone 200 mph.
nagmashot 12:02AM (1/10/2009)
@Flaschpoint
this car should have no problems to reach 235-240mph and with aerodynamic improvments even more, that are speeds similar powerfull Porsche reach in europen topspeed tests.
In 2004 9ff reached with the 9ff V400 388km/h (242mph) at the Nardo test track. This Porsche was equipped with a 838hp flat6.
Pretty sure this tuned 1000hp 911 Turbo can reach 390km/h
tankd0g 12:47AM (1/10/2009)
If this can do 230-240mph without flipping over then pigs really can
fly. The 9ff is as different from this thing as a Carrera GT is.
nagmashot 4:10AM (1/10/2009)
@tank
9ff has more cars than the radical GT9 and GT9R
9ff V400 is a normal shaped 911 (996)
http://9ff.de/_img/galerie/996/_gros/DSC_5518.jpg
topspeed (tested) 388km/h (242mph)
9ff T6 (911 convertible)
http://bilder.autobild.de/ir_img/57925295_df9bbb83ee.jpg
topspeed tested 380km/h (237mph)
worldrecord fastest streetlegal convertible
Sportec SPR1 (997 Turbo)
http://bilder.autobild.de/ir_img/57558841_c0661c7269.jpg
topspeed (tested) 378.4km/h (236mph)
Mi key 8:49PM (1/09/2009)
I wonder how long the engine will last.
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JDMlover 8:51PM (1/09/2009)
1000-horsepower Porsche 911
OMG
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Domestic 6.0 11:02PM (1/09/2009)
Thats what i said !!!! thats my s*hit right thereeee ///// 1000hp AWD !!!
tankd0g 12:33AM (1/10/2009)
The front wheels, they do nothing!
Richard 5:40PM (1/12/2009)
I don't buy flywheel horsepower numbers on cars that have never seen an engine dyno.
No one has provided proof of concrete drivetrain loss numbers for any car. Even then different cars would have different amounts of loss based on the different engineering and loads placed upon them by their accessories, transmission, etc.
I especially don't but drivetrain loss as a percentage. If I place a motor on an engine dyno and it makes 100 horsepower at the flywheel, then place it in a car, strap it to a chassis dyno and it makes 85 horsepower at the wheels; I am supposed to believed that the car has a 15% drivetrain loss? So if I double the horsepower (at the flywheel) it will still take a 15% loss at the drivetrain? I don't think so.
If the car "uses" 15 horsepower through the drivetrain at 100hp, it supposedly uses 30hp at 200? And so on and so forth...
Flywheel horsepower numbers are useful for nothing but press. Just because the power has been increased does not mean that the drivetrain absorbs a set percentage of that power regardless of what it may be. Just because this car is putting 850 horsepower to the wheels does not mean that it is using 150hp through the drivetrain.
This is not a 1000hp car.
Jon 6:15PM (1/13/2009)
Richard hit the nail on the head. This is not a 1000hp vehicle, it's an 850WHP vehicle. There is no way to accurately measure crank HP based off WHP, especially considering different dyno's read differently. My car dyno'd at 295WHP on a DynoDynamics (lowest and most accurate reading dyno). On a DynaPack, that would equate to about 360WHP (DynaPacks are known to read very high), so would that mean that I can take that 295 and correct it to a DynaPack reading, then add another 15% for a crank reading? No. If that was the case, I'd have about 405HP, I don't. I have 295WHP.
To put it simply, this car has 850WHP.
madgamer 8:53PM (1/09/2009)
I have a very hard time believing that the engine or trans would last much more than a few launches or minutes of hard driving at that kind of power with fully stock guts. I don't doubt it is a great factory setup, but there is no way it was designed to take anywhere near that..
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Tang 9:02PM (1/09/2009)
At least it'll last longer than the transmission in the GTR #666 next to him unless he doesn't use launch control...
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greyscale 9:11PM (1/09/2009)
50k is a bargain. MTM charges the same for the RS4/R8 supercharger.
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BoxerFanatic 9:13PM (1/09/2009)
In the words of Jim Carrey.... HOLY HELL!!!
Make it a Cayman S with HALF that horsepower, and it would be an insane car, let alone having that much power.
I love Porsche sports cars in general... but I am much more enamored with mid engined than front or rear engined.
I can only imagine what Cayman would be capable of, with better balance, and this sort of power, or even just a fraction of it. Although it might be harder to cool an engine in the middle of the car without some sheetmetal work to the rear trunk area, and much larger fender intakes.
I will continue to wish for Porsche to let their mid-engined car shine. If it were to get 3.6-3.8 liter engines, turbochargers, a slightly less domed roofline, and sweeping rear quarter lines more like 996 and 997 have... it would be the belle of the ball. It is already more lithe without even vestigial rear seats, and thus lighter weight, and with a more advantageous center of mass and polar moment of inertia.
Even RUF has gone toward that with the CTR3, which aside from some aesthetic oddities, is quite the mid-engined boxer-powered monster. It only makes 700hp... Imagine it with more gracious styling, and this Sledgehammer's power levels! Flat 6 super car, there.
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Hamhock 9:36PM (1/09/2009)
I'd like to see a vertical rear window with flying buttresses like the 904 on the Cayman...I don't like the idea of the engine compartment being part of the cabin....
Yago Bal 11:55PM (1/09/2009)
@Hamhock:
That was already done... :)
http://www.studiotorino.com/en/auto/coupe/pagina.htm
Craig 8:25AM (1/10/2009)
Those flying buttresses look stunning
Chris 9:54PM (1/09/2009)
I love the sound of the turbos around 50 seconds into the dyno test vid. They sound completely evil as they howl like banshees.
I gotta get me one of these cars, someway, somehow.
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