THE FIVE GREATEST PORSCHE 911s

1 1967 PORSCHE 911 R

The first factory-developed 911 intended primarily for racing, the original 911 R was and remains the lightest 911 in history. An obsession with weight reduction — the enamel badge on the bonnet was replaced by a sticker and the door hinges recast in aluminium — brought the car in at around 800kg, while a full-race, twinplug 2.0-litre engine was rated at around 210bhp. Only 20 were made because it was so expensive, but four prototypes were also built, one of which won the 1967 Marathon de la Route, an insane 84-hour race (that’s right, 84 hours) at the Nürburgring helmed by, among others, Vic Elford.

2 1973 2.7 CARRERA RS

If one car deserves to be thought of as the iconic 911, this surely is it. Vastly outnumbered by replicas based on far humbler 911s, the 2.7 was built to help homologate racing 911s but found fame as one of the sweetest and quickest road cars of its era. Far cheaper and much quicker than its contemporary, Ferrari’s Dino 246 GT, the 2.7 nevertheless holds true to the 911’s core values by remaining a perfectly viable everyday car. Built in touring or lightweight specification, it probably did more to establish the legend of the 911 than any other version before or since.

3 1995 993-SERIES CARRERA RS

The ultimate ‘classic’ 911: air-cooled, normally aspirated and designed to be built as either a devastatingly effective, all-purpose road weapon or a super-successful racing car. With a 300bhp 3.8-litre engine, fully adjustable suspension, magnesium wheels and vast brakes, lightweight panels and thin glass, this RS was a completely different proposition from the standard 993, itself already a notably fast car. It was also probably the car that did more than any other to inspire the series of Gt-spec Porsches that continue to wow us to this day. Rarer than a Ferrari F40 and not a lot less fun to drive.

4 2011 997 GT3 RS 4.0

Porsche billed this car as a ‘thank-you’ to its most loyal customers, building just 400 and selling them to only its most favoured clients. It was an incredible confection, comprising the structure of the hardly shabby GT3 RS with the lightweight carbonfibre body parts from the GT2 RS and a 493bhp 4.0-litre engine plucked from the boot of the RSR racing car. There probably hasn’t been a more involving watercooled 911. When I drove it, I said: “Ask if there is a car on sale today I’d rather drive on a combination of road and track over the course of the next 20 years, and I’ll tell you that if there is, I haven’t driven it.” I still haven’t.

5 2017 991 GT3 (GEN 2)

So explosive, so loud, so powerful and so intoxicating is the new 4.0-litre motor in the latest GT3 that it is terrifyingly easy to forget about the car to which it is attached. The engine is Porsche’s finest yet: pretty much everything you’ve ever wanted from a naturally aspirated motor, wrapped up in a snarling, shrieking flat six configuration. But the car is no less memorable, offering absurd point-to-point pace, and now that a manual gearbox has returned to the fold as a no-cost option, it is the most fun since the 4.0-litre 997 GT3 RS. Is it better even than last year’s fabled 911 R? To me, the answer is yes, and by a fair margin.