Flying Lizard's Patrick Long tests the Porsche 911 GT3 R hybrid

Porsche 911 GT3R Hybrid – Click above for high-res image gallery

Earlier this week, Porsche announced that its flywheel-equipped 911 GT3R hybrid would be coming to America in October for the Petit Le Mans. Driver Patrick Long, one of the factory-backed drivers for the Flying Lizard teams in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), recently had a chance to test the experimental car.

Long was understandably skeptical about the hybrid given the limited success of the poorly funded Corsa Motorsports Ginetta-Zytek hybrid in 2009. Instead, Long found that the Porsche worked very well and provided up to 160 horsepower extra to put down through the front wheels via the electric motors. The Porsche engineers have developed some pretty sophisticated controls for managing the output of the flywheel system developed by the Williams formula one team. The drivers can select electric boost via a paddle behind the steering wheel, but the controls limit the power based on the steering angle, speed and lateral acceleration in order to preserve the handling.