Gemballa Porsche

Want to know what it's like to drive the Gemballa GTR600 Evo? Click here to read our exclusive flat knacker fang in Uwe Gemballa's personal car.

On physical size alone it's easy to dismiss the slightly-built boss of Gemballa Design, the man whose idea in the 1980s to improve Germany's greatest sports cars has turned into a 10 million Euro (A$17.5 million) annual business. A business which is keenly eyeing overseas opportunities -- including Australia -- to be brought into the Gemballa family.

A family where 600hp (447kW) street cars are the norm and 800hp (596kW) is easily achievable. A place where Porsches are brought to be improved, capable of accelerating from zero to 300km/h in less than 25 seconds. Capable of lapping the 181-turn Nordschleife circuit - better known as the Nurburgring - faster than any other road-legal car, and 30 seconds faster than the quickest factory Porsche.

Uwe Gemballa's cars, in fact his very own car - the one we'll drive next - also holds the production car lap record at the Hockenheim-ring short circuit. Gemballa Porsches are serious weapons, not just steroidal coupes. Power is nothing, says Gemballa, without the right chassis, suspension and brakes to use it.

We arrive at 3.00pm, the time scheduled for our interview and are told Mr Gemballa is with a customer. Five minutes, and would we like a cup of coffee?

He's delivering a wickedly-potent 996 to a young-looking German software millionaire, complete with a stunningly attractive, statuesque girlfriend. My chaperone, Christoff Berndhart, won't be drawn on the particulars of this vehicle, or the client. Confidentiality is big with Gemballa and he declines to name customers, past or present.

A few customers are referred to obliquely: A Russian client with wealthy parentage, a Swedish businessman; the closest I get to a name and a face is a small group of German businessmen called The Ringleaders, who regularly meet on the racetracks of Europe in their Gemballa-enhanced Porsches.

One of these guys wins Gemballa's outspoken respect because of the nature of his steed. This bloke started with a 911 GT3, stripped it back externally to match the standard 911 and boosted power to well over 450kW. A sleeper, if you will - just don't challenge it to a race.

Five minutes turned into an hour and four cups of coffee until we finally walked into his high-tech, highly organised yet very cluttered office. It's big, very big, and every corner bulges with Porsche parts and accessories. Replacement shock absorbers and prototype 20-inch alloy wheels hold court in the middle of the floor; Gemballa-designed luggage - tailor made to maximise your 911's carrying capacity - overflows from another floor; two of the latest, largest flat-screen computer monitors fight for desk space amidst piles of papers, magazines and folders.

On his desk is an office phone and two mobiles which ring constantly throughout our interview, despite the fact it's after hours - three hours after. Gemballa appears as a man reluctant to let go, reluctant to delegate to his more than capable staff. He simply loves to be involved. Every customer that visits the showroom gets an equal chance of Gemballa's time, though his schedule sometimes rules this out.

Even though it's long after 7pm, his jockey-esque frame is belting out enough energy to power a small town. Ice-blue eyes come alive as he warms again and again to the topic at hand. Until the question. His outspoken passion is replaced by the cold, guarded veneer of a big businessman. The warmth flows out of his eyes, his hands stop their constant fidgeting.

What makes Gemballa different to other Porsche tuners such as RUF or TechArt? "As I said before, it is a package. We improve the whole car, not just parts of the car."

His body language suggests impatience with a recalcitrant child who slept through the lesson and now asks for it to be repeated.

"When you look at our finished cars they don't look like stick on, add-on parts." He continues for the next 20 minutes explaining exactly why his cars are so much better than others. Engine part numbers and tolerances, testing, development; Uwe Gemballa knows every inch of his business, and he knows why it is the best.

"We have customers who say: 'I can get that part cheaper down the street,' and we say 'fine'. We do not lower our prices to compete because we have faith in our work, in our products. We build them to do a certain job and to remain reliable and we will not cut corners."

Gemballa is starting to thaw again, and he takes a well-orchestrated swipe at the opposition. "If we cost more, so what. We know what goes into developing our cars, and we know what that costs. We price them accordingly. What are the others doing to build these cheaper parts?"

It's after 7.00pm and our scheduled half-hour interview with Gemballa Design's managing director is way over time. The hour hand's lapped the clock three times since we began, and Mr Gemballa's enthusiasm shows no sign of waning - unlike my own jetlagged body and diminishing supply of interview tapes.

"Porsches are much like motorbikes," he says, taking another turn down another sidetrack chasing another way of explaining his passion to the luddite sitting across from him. "You either are a motorcycle rider, or you never will be."

Gemballa's passion for speed began with motorbikes back in the early 1970s. Fresh out of school and on his way to becoming a qualified mechanic, he used to race on weekends. "But I lost too many good friends, so I stopped. Now I ride just for fun."

Fast forward another hour, another tape; the late summer sun still belting brightly out of the sky over Stuttgart, most of its intensity gone. The same, thankfully, can be said for Gemballa. He's been in the office since 7am this morning, but there's still one more thing he wants to show me.

We race up to the top floor and roof of his four storey office/workshop complex and open the fire door. There, parked side by side on a freshly wetted roof, and gleaming seductively in the soft glow of the setting sun, is the perfect garage.

A couple of 911 GT3s nestle delicately up to a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan, alongside a 911 Turbo and Merc G55AMG Gelandewagen. An eclectic mix, balanced by the pristine condition BMW 850CSi parked slightly apart from the others. Down one flight and there's a Maybach 57. Business is good.

Gemballa got into this business by modifying the interior of BMWs in the 1980s. From there it was natural for a mechanic to look under the bonnet and ask "what if?"

But Gemballa did not want to improve BMWs. He searched for a vehicle with the purity of purpose of a motorcycle, and decided on Porsche. Many would say a Porsche does not need improving. Gemballa begs to differ.

Gemballa Design's core business is taking a very capable 911 or Boxster off the customer's hands and turning up the wick. Big time. Tick the right box and you could be touching throttle with anything up to 850hp (640kW), though more moderate packages ranging upwards from 450hp are available. Biturbo is the preferred method, and engine parts are replaced with stronger, lighter ones as required.

"We make driveable race cars. We start already with a very good product, this Porsche. But a factory design has compromises, yes? The car must be built with a wide appeal and for all types of drivers. We make no compromises. We make it exactly how the customer wants."

So, the customer wants a Porsche 911 with an aftermarket biturbo kit capable of tripling the power output of Porsche's 221kW 3.6-litre flat six. The customer demands carbon fibre doors with Perspex window inserts in place of the much heavier factory doors, and an uprated aero kit designed to enhance stability over 250km/h.

The customer requests eight-piston callipers with 380mm brake rotors inside a 20inch wheel and tyre package that bone-jarringly combines with stiffer, lower suspension. The customer needs a full race roll cage, complete with Recaro race seats and four-point harnesses. The customer doesn't want a back seat, or a stereo, or sound deadening. And that damn customer wants all this in a vehicle that's street legal?

"Yes," answers Gemballa, "the customers want all this. Some want more."

Eight-hundred horsepower isn't the scariest thing about Gemballa's cars. The funniest, perhaps most sadistic part of the Gemballa Design process is the Porsche factory parts that are taken out, and not replaced.

The front axle on Porsche's all-wheel drivetrain won't reliably take more than 600hp, so anything more than this and it's rear drive only. Porsche's Stability Management (PSM) traction control system chucks a wobbly with that much power and the almost constant wheel-slip that results. So that goes, too. No traction control and no all-wheel drive in a car with a better power to weight ratio than a V8 Supercar.

"Before we increase your power," Gemballa cautions, "we first have to get your car under control with brakes and suspension. We do not give extra power without making sure the rest of the car is improved to cope with it. That is very important."

The company spends plenty of time beefing the mechanicals to take the steroid injection. This includes suspension, roll cage, tyres, brakes, steering, gearbox, and just about anything else you like. In fact, 10 percent of Gemballa Design's annual turnover goes back into research and development for the next generation of weirder and wilder cars.

Take, for example, the freshly plucked Porsche Cayenne parked out front with fruity 22-inch wheels at each corner and another 100hp under the bonnet. Gemballa's putting the final touches to four tuning kits for the ultimate bush-basher; 550hp, 600hp, 650hp and 700hp - this last one's likely to wear a Brutalo badge.

Gemballa's keen to show the thoroughness of his operation - one which is in the preliminary stages of going global. Today Germany and Europe, tomorrow the world... well, Australia and the USA at least.

Gemballa's plan is to take his special brand of wickedness to any country at barely a moment's notice. Through a not-so- complicated system of engine and parts swapping, he can have an Australian-owned 911 Carrera engine swapped with one of his ready-to-install 500kW engines and back in the customer car within four weeks. All without the car itself leaving Australia.

Smaller enhancements, such as bodykits, brakes and suspension, will be done by the Gemballa representative in each country from stock parts. Engine mods of a more serious nature - up to 600kW - will be carried out by Gemballa's German-based engineering team.

"For our export partners we don't go completely to the power limit but still the cars will be powerful. First we need to check the engine is a good one and then we send back a ready-made engine with the right power he wanted."

Gemballa says this system cuts up to three months off the turnaround time. "We can do this in just three or four weeks."

There is a second alternative. Gemballa can buy the 911 for you in Germany, carry out your changes and ship the finished product to your country of choice. The cost of the 911 will simply be added to your bill. Right and left hand-drive discrepancies will likely prevent Australians taking advantage of this.

That's seems to be the only speed-bump Gemballa can't overcome. My final question: "What modifications won't you do?" His answer: Gemballa will do anything the customer can dream up, and can afford. Nothing is out of the question.