One thing you won't do at Litchfield is get bored. Tucked away in every corner of its sprawling site you'll find just one more interesting car - each one a hidden treasure. I won't list every one, but just to give you a flavour of the gems, these are a few that caught my eye: an E39 BMW M5, a Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9 (with the most fantastically 80s Pioneer stereo and graphic equaliser setup you could imagine), an immaculate W140 V12 S-Class, a sleeper-look beige Mercedes W123 Estate rocking a Chevy V8, an E46 BMW M3 CSL, the odd touring car and, of course, several examples of the Toyota GR Yaris and many, many Nissan GTRs. Oh yes, and Litchfield's latest creation: the 992 Porsche 911 Turbo S with 800-plus horsepower. You won't get bored of that, either.
So what's this power station all about? Well, it's a relatively simple day-in, day-out upgrade from the tuner, but don't think it's just a remap and a bit more boost. It isn't. I sat down with Iain Litchfield to discuss the development process and it's been extensive, utilising the company's in-house engine dyno and rolling road, which is made by the same manufacturer that supplies VW Group - because the company only invests in the best equipment. The team already had a baseline to work from using their upgrades to the 991 Turbo S, but even so, the 992 has been a year in the making.
The 3.7-litre flat-six turbo engine remains mechanically identical, as do the transmission, diffs and driveshafts. Litchfield said that the engine and gearbox, for instance, could take up to 1,000hp without detonating. In fact, he is full of praise for Porsche's engineering prowess. "The beauty of tuning Porsches," he explains to me, "is that everything is so over-engineered - we're very lucky that we get to see all sorts of cars and there's nothing that competes with Porsche in terms of engineering quality." Why doesn't it produce 1,000hp? Well, firstly, you'd have to question the mindset of someone who feels that 831hp at 7,000rpm and 705 lb ft at 4,500rpm isn't enough, but really it's about keeping the Turbo S's ethos of the everyday sports car.
"The Turbo S is the benchmark for supercar usability," Litchfield states, "but with this relatively simple, bolt-on option, we've given it hypercar performance and retained that usability. So where a 720S will be struggling for grip, this Turbo S will be gone." The bolt-on bit is key. If Litchfield had gone mental and given it 1,000hp, that would have meant bigger turbos and intercoolers, which means more expense and more complexity. "We could've extracted another 20-30hp by adding bigger intercoolers, or up to 1,000hp by adding bigger turbochargers, because the limitation of power is how fast the turbos will flow." But they didn't. Instead, they've developed something that can be fitted and removed quickly (it's fully reversible) in the time it takes to do a major service.
Now, making all that horsepower is the easy bit. Making it driveable is what takes the time. A lot of effort has been spent on the throttle response and making it feel linear. It isn't actually linear in operation, but it's giving you the sense that it is. This makes it seem predictable, so you won't vanish instantly and reappear in a tree like a DeLorean reappears in 1955. For instance, in the standard car, when the throttle pedal is depressed to around 75 per cent, you'll be near enough at full throttle. That wouldn't work here - there's too much power. Instead, you only get the maximum wallop as you bear down on the pedal stop. Torque has also been limited in first gear (to around 65 per cent) and second (to around 80 per cent) to keep it controllable. It still runs on the standard Turbo S wheels and tyres, which would struggle with everything unleashed in the first two ratios.
That's not the only submission to prevent tyre shredding. Litchfield says they could've delivered peak torque earlier, at around 4,000rpm, but to give the tyres a chance, they've move that up to 4,500rpm. And just in case you're thinking this is sounding a bit limp, here's a stat that should appease you: it's still making 650lb ft at 3,200rpm, which is roughly 60lb ft more than the standard Turbo S has at its zenith. In total, the Litchfield Turbo S adds 120lb ft more torque. They also tried to flatten the twist as much as possible through the whole rev range, because Litchfield says you lose the feeling of acceleration if all the torque comes in early and tails off. Another issue was heat management. To keep the car reliable, there are intercooler temperature sensors that will monitor the heat build-up and pre-emptively reduce ignition timing and boost pressure before they become excessive, to protect the engine's internals.
Next up was the breathing. There are performance air filters on the inlet side and a full bespoke exhaust system at the other end. The manifolds are made of Inconel, because it's the most heat resistant material for exhausts. Even stainless steel loses a large percentage of strength with high heat, whereas Inconel doesn't, so you can make the manifolds thinner. Plus lighter than the standard Porsche cast iron manifolds, which are a log design and port the gases together straight away. That's not good. The Litchfield manifolds are branched, with near-equal length pipes from each cylinder. This is about keeping each of the cylinder's exhaust pulses separate for as long as possible, so they don't interfere with each other. Instead, they blend smoothly into one pipe as far down the line as possible. Doing this doesn't make vast difference to peak power but improves response, the efficiency of the turbochargers and fills out the top-end performance, keeping the engine pulling cleanly.
The particulate filters and standard cats that strangle the sound have been removed and replaced with stainless-steel-encased sports cats. These will still pass an MOT, but you can ditch the cats completely if you're using the car solely on track. The rear silencers are made from titanium, with a 61mm primary pipe and a 76mm secondary, switched pipe - the switching motors are original, but the exhaust flaps are bespoke. A huge amount of time has been spent tuning them, not just for performance but for sound. They started off using their 991 Turbo S system but, surprisingly, that was way too boomy. So they added a balancer pipe between the two sides of the exhaust to reduce the noise, which helped, and ended up adding another that improved it further. Now they are playing with different restrictors in the balancer pipes to get the car's voice just right - it's 90 per cent there, but there's still a bit too much drone at around 2,000rpm. Nevertheless, the performance element is signed off, and the system produces far less back pressure and reduces overall weight by 20kg, which is a lot when you think it's all from way past the back axle.
So, what's this weapon like out on a public road? Well, it looks like any Turbo S outside, so you wouldn't know its capability at a glance or even a stare. It's only when you start it up that things take a turn. Stand behind the Turbo S when it's idling with the sports exhaust switched on and there's a dirty, rich-old burble that makes you smirk. When you're driving around it does resonate a bit too much inside for my taste, so I was quite happy deactivating it - at which point, I don't think it's much noisier than the standard system. Apart from the artillery fire when you back off. And I do mean artillery fire. I'm not talking 'pops and crackles'; these are proper bangs - the kind that you can feel occasionally through your body as well as hear. Apparently, Litchfield hasn't done this. They are so loud because the standard exhaust was so restrictive and now it's freer flowing, it's summoned the Gods of war.
It's fair to say I treated the throttle with a bit of respect at first. I sized it up, you might say. Up to 2,000rpm there's not a lot of torque, but between then and 3,000rpm there's what you could describe as more than enough. Then, somewhere between 3,000rpm and 4,000rpm there's more than every episode of Loose Women combined. And the reason I say 'somewhere' is because it's hard to tell. You try concentrating on a small needle when you're being booted down the road with your brain compressed against the back of your skull. It's not easy, let me tell you. This thing is blip, blip crazy.
It doesn't build speed like anything I've ever driven, bar perhaps a McLaren on a dry day. But this day wasn't completely dry - there were various damp patches - and yet the car stayed pointing largely in the direction I was intending. It does still fight you at times, more so in third gear when it's delivering its full fire and fury. I'd never experienced wheel scrabble in a 911 Turbo until this day. It's a really strange sensation, I can tell you, and if you think that 911 Turbos are a tad boring, then you should try this one. It isn't. Straights disappear in a lot of cars these days, but not in a series forceful lunges. That's what happens here. It's like sitting astride a rabid, steroid-induced pit bull as it goes for multiple kills. And as the front tyres begin to cry enough there's even some torque steer. Not the rampant kind of torque steer, like you feel in a Focus RS, but enough to summarise the forces at play. You want to be hanging on to the wheel, that's for sure.
What I did feel is guilt. I mean, with this level brutishness being divvied up through those standard components, I was consumed by the thought that something would explode. It had to. But it didn't. The floor didn't rip open like it was spot-welded to two sides of a fault line, and I never got hit in the face by a flying driveshaft. Just a lot of G-force. So I decided to trust in what I had been told: that the drivetrain is capable of stomaching 1,000hp. All I needed to do was trust the force... in this case, that it wasn't too strong.
The brakes are mighty and very capable of coping when you arrive at a bend with more speed than you expected, which happens a lot. Again, they are the standard ceramic brakes from the regular Turbo S. And when you're not ragging it, that's how this car feels: like a regular Turbo S. Which is rather the point. It has vast reserves of grip, steers accurately and even rides well. The worst bit, when it comes to its consummate continent-bashing credentials, is the road noise, but that's what they all do, sir.
You may be wondering why this car is red with brown leather, which is an undeniably odd combination. Well, underneath it's black, but Litchfield was concerned that, as it's being launched in the depths of winter, black wouldn't stand out. It's not a straightforward wrap, though. It's sprayed with a clear liquid coating overlaid with ordinary paint and lacquer. It looks like normal paint because it is, but can still be removed when required.
So what does all this cost? You can opt for the ECU remapping alone, which costs £1,000 plus VAT and offers up 720hp, or the full kit, including the exhausts and air filters, for £10,318 plus VAT. Is it worth it? Well, that's for you to decide, but I'd say compared with its hypercar rivals, it represents good value - and it's still a useable 911 with four seats, remember. There aren't any performance figures yet because the weather has been too cold and wet to run them, but Litchfield expects 0-60mph in under two seconds and the standing quarter in a low nine. What a difference a day makes, aye.
Specification | Litchfield 911 Turbo S
Engine: 3,745cc, twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: 8-speed PDK, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 831hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 705lb ft @ 4,500rpm
0-60mph: under 2.0 seconds (est)
Top speed: More than 200mph
Weight: 1,620kg|
MPG: 23.5
CO2: 278
Price: £164,650 (for the Turbo S) + £12,381 for the kit
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