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Updated: Sep 25, 2019


It's always good to have a home grown build especially when it's one that wears an aero kit of your own, to actively promote and have around you at your disposal Is so good to have, especially when the build in question is owned by one of your close friends Iby the owner of Speedwell Wheel Refinishers, personally I'm extremely pleased he took the bull by the horns and took on this epic build, as I know how anal he is when it comes to perfection and that's exactly what this 997 Turbo is... utter perfection.

Porsche 997 Turbo-R

As most of you know that follow the blog or our social media news, this 997 Turbo started life as the Dragon performance demo car, you can read all about that in an older blog as the car has come an awful long way since that stage in its life, the less said about that look the better, and the first 12 months of its life with Iby the 997 remained in its basalt black colour-way but I always knew it wouldn't stay that colour as a black 997 was never really on the shopping list to start with, but right car, right place and above all the right money the deal as we know was done, with a colour change at some point in the near future.

Now we loved the car in its black form, but it did hide a lot of the beautiful touches the R aero kit has and with the new colour you get to see those touches in all their stunning glory, as they just stand out, like the front fender vents, the rear bumper vents, and just how wide the car really is, it’s so wide, at roughly 7 feet and it just oozes road presence, I personally was pretty sceptical when Red was discussed with regards the potential colour change and I have to say he nailed it, because it really is stunning.

As with any build you get to collaborate and get involved with various companies, and although Iby did most of the work himself there are a few companies that need a mention with regards the input and help that has been fantastic, especially Taj and Perfection Midlands Limited who just so happens to reside next door to the Speedwells empire, he applied the first round of paint, giving the build its first lease of life

Shoot location, the custard factory Digbeth Birmingham

The boys at MSL Customs who have totally transformed the look of this R conversion, I must say the wrap is the best we have seen to date and I have personally been around a lot of wrapped cars, this one they smashed it out the parts as this is not an easy one to pull off, the beauty of this is it looks like paint, the finish is that good.

We would also like to thank Bilstein uk for not only supplying a first class set up for this Turbo, but also for the bespoke specification we so desperately needed for this conversion, which we now offer exclusively for the 997R conversion, along with the up and coming 991R.

Markski Tuning has also been an absolute legend with the tuning side on this Turbo, with his Intercoolers sitting either side of the R bumper and his ECU mapping skills makes for one seriously fast road car, with the best part of 700 HP now on tap, it certainly has the go to match all that show.

With the Build now complete and Iby content for the foreseeable it was time to take the car out for a little shoot, so we paid our friendly neighbourhood Spiderman a visit down in Digbeth Birmingham which is a great location for such an epic car.

It’s now time to enjoy the build and get to as many shows as we can this year and it will soon be joined by another GT3 road car with our very own BMW Z4 V8 coming to the end of its build and if you fancy building your very own 997R then get in touch with us, we will be more than happy to discuss your individual requirements.

Speedwells Porsche 997 GT3-R Turbo

 

The 8th & 9th of November will be a couple of days we remember quite fondly, as two builds that we have collaborated on took to the track in anger and we are pleased to say they did pretty well.

We have discussed David Haagsma on a few our our blog posts over the past few months as we have been watching his GTR come to life, Scott over at Sicchops being the man responsible for updating the look for the 2018 season fitting our aero kit and totally transforming the look, and with David's finishing touches we couldn't wait for him to hit the track and he didn't disappoint.

Considering its a new look its also a new set up, same amazing engine spec built by the GTR gurus SP Engineering, but a new JRZ suspension set up, along with new RPS Carbon brakes, and other bits of carbon aero to enhance the wider look David came 4th overall in the Super Battle class, and considering there is over 80 cars, thats pretty impressive, we are really looking forward to seeing the car back out in February 2019 next year when it competes at Circuit of the Americans ( COTA)

David Haagsma Nissan GTR GT3, 4th overall at Buttonwillow Raceway

Another one of collaborations to hit the track which we must admit came as a bit of a surprise, albeit a nice one, the Sleepers Speed Shop Porsche 997 GT3R belonging to Chad Kobayashi, being driving at Buttonwillow by Tommy Contino, who managed a very respectable 7th in class.

We supplied the aero kit for this particular build back in January 2017, and its one we are quite fond of, the fact that we got to work with Len Higa the owner of Sleeper Speed Shop in California was a big pull for us as the company just ooze quality, and the fact that Len is so highly respected, so its always going to be a very special Porsche to us, the fact that Chad has just the very best in the way of parts on this 997 Turbo-R its the pinnacle.

Porsche 997 GT3 R Bi-Turbo Sleepers Speed Shop

Sleepers Speed Shop Porsche 997 GT3R Bi-Turbo, Buttonwillow Raceway November 2018

Rear Shot of the R aero clad Porsche 997 Turbo, Sleepers Speed Shop

Front of the R aero clad Porsche 997 Turbo, Sleepers Speed Shop

We offer these aero kits for both the Nissan GTR and the Porsche 997 Chassis in various engine configurations, the 997R styling kit is only available in light weight carbon fibre, where as the Nissan GTR aero kit we manufacture in carbon fibre and also GRP, although our GRP is a woven cloth over the old school matt strand, so still a light weight and super strong product without the premium price of carbon.

Our parts for these conversions are extensive, we have our own JRZ or Bilstein suspension that is built to our own specification, big brake upgrades for the serious HP hunters as well as custom exhausts, which includes full bespoke inconel systems, wheels are another product we offer with forged aluminium, forged magnesium, with a magnesium and carbon fibre hybrid wheel also available for the customers looking for the pinnacle super light weight wheel product.

Get in touch with us if you like the look of any of these conversions for road or track use, we can supply all the parts to build as well get these cars put together, we work with a highly skilled teams that love nothing more than building these stunning creations.

For the UK market we have the Speedwells 997 Turbo-R thats under going some serious modification to not only the colour change but the power output too, so thats one to watch out for early next next, and we are also looking to get our own BMW Z4 GT3 V8 back on track, watch this space.

 

Our Porsche 997 parts list just seems to grow by the day, especially the GT3R parts list, with parts now being added for the track day race car purist.

All of the main body parts are available for road application, as well as supplying more and more people globally for time attack Porsche builds, with the Australian market getting extremely popular for our 997 GT3R parts. So what is new or should we say what is available that many road builders over look, the parts that really are not needed for road going builds.

Firstly, we now have the bumper grill front and rear with a nicer mesh design, the older version is expensive to manufacture, but in our opinion looks a little cheap with the old school mesh design, with the new more modern looking mesh it just looks that much nicer, albeit the track guys still seem to prefer the older design, but it’s nice to have the option of both styles.

Porsche 997 GT3R

We have never really showcased the fact that we do extremely lightweight carbon fibre cup doors, which are ridiculously light, around 5 KG per door to be precise, we also do the complete set of Polycarbonate windows, front and rear with all of the side glass replacements.

Other parts that we have added to the list is the carbon fibre roof and the flat bottom under floor which runs the complete length of the floor, the front floor interlocks with the splitter, so with this kit even if you didn't want to run the complete floor you have to fit the front section, to fit the front splitter. The middle second links into the gear floor, which then links into the rear floor (the diffuser ), if you fit the gear floor you can then fit and run the rear brake cooling channels, which is crucial for track use, as are the front brake channels which run from the front bumper to the front brake which we also have in our parts list.

Porsche 997, 981, 991 Cup Light Weight Carbon Fibre Door, Porsche 997 GT3R Diffuser with brake cooling channels

Sleepers Speed Shop Porsche 997 GT3R Build

The parts we have that are rarely used are the Kevlar arch liners, possibly down to the fact that there are 2 parts to each arch and they are an expensive part of the basic conversion, most people want to fabricate their own liners, but these kevlar really do finish off the build to absolute perfection.

The rear engine cover we now offer different variations along with the wing size, for the GT3R conversion we still have the large 1970 mm carbon blade with larger aluminium supports, fitted with the ducktail engine cover with the two large intakes that the R is renowned for, as well as a smaller wing set up, we are also working on a 993 GT2 Evo rear engine cover for the 997 which should be available all being well the first part of 2019.

No conversion is complete without the suspension set up and we have custom Bilstein PSS10 as well as JRZ both being manufactured to our own specification for the R conversion, along with our full arsenal of adjustable suspension arms front and rear.

Other additions that we will be discussing in the coming weeks are our Inconel exhaust system for the R conversion and out super lightweight Magnesium wheels as well as our all new deep concave Monoblock forged wheels that we can now manufacture specifically for this conversion.

To view all of the additional Porsche Parts click the link https://www.vaddesign.com/porsche-parts

 
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Unit C21
Rose Hill Industrial Estate
Rose Hill Road 
Market Drayton
 
Shropshire
TF9 2JU


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