2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS: Lots of power, lots of want
When carmakers show up at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, they tend not to arrive without a panoply of vehicles. This year, Porsche brought a slew of fast things, including the 1978 935 racecar affectionately known as Moby Dick, the new 911 Turbo S Exclusive Series, and the 919 LMP1 fresh from its win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans less than two weeks earlier. It also chose this occasion to reveal the most powerful, most expensive, and most insanesounding 911 in history: the 2018 911 GT2 RS.
This is the first 911 to wear the GT2 suffix since the shortlived 2011 GT2 RS, which was introduced at the end of the 997 model generation with a thencrazy-sounding 620 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque from its turbocharged 3.6-liter flat-six, a six-speed manual transmission, and a feathery curb weight of just 3085 pounds. It could hit 60 mph in 3.3 seconds on its way to a claimed top speed of 209 mph. Its massive Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires also clung to the asphalt with 1.07g of lateral grip. The arrival of that limited-production, $246,000 car was accompanied by no shortage of hyperbole: “Porsche at its most extreme;” “the most serious 911 ever;” “a 620-hp, rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive terror.”
Seven years on, it appears we may have to find some new ways to describe “terror,” because Porsche has tapped into even deeper reserves of power for the 991-based 2018 model, to the tune of an unholy 700 horsepower and 553 lb-ft of torque. Technically, that’s in line with recent reports that the car would boast more than 641 horses, but it’s far more than was anticipated. The engine is based on the Turbo S’s 3.8-liter flat-six but with larger turbos, a water injection system for additional charge-cooling, and a lightweight titanium exhaust system. The 2018 GT2 RS is offered only with a customized version of Porsche’s sevenspeed, PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission that “enables power to be transferred with uninterrupted traction,” according to Stuttgart.
Just as the previous manualtransmission-only GT2 RS went on a strict diet to achieve its astonishing performance, so has the new car received comprehensive mass-reduction measures — Porsche officially claims 3241 pounds with a full tank, or
nearly 300 pounds less than its official figures for the current Turbo S coupe, and just 92 pounds more than the superlight GT3 with the PDK transmission. Porsche avers that the new GT2 RS will catapult to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds and top out at an astronomical 211 mph. Porsche also promises an “emotional sound without precedent.” Yes, please.
Helping to keep the GT2 RS’s wheels on the ground and pointed the right direction is a race-bred chassis with rear-axle steering and a modified PSM stability-control system (with a Sport mode, of course). Staggered-size rubber? You bet: 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels wear ultra-high-performance tires in 265/35 and 325/30 sizes. Carbon-ceramic brake rotors are standard.
Visually, the new GT2 RS makes the 2011 model appear quaint. Nearly every exterior panel has been modified or replaced, culminating in a fiendishly extreme rendition of the basic 911 shape. These include GT3 RS-style front fender vents, a “frunk” panel made from carbon fiber, and a front clip that basically has become a huge, three-part grille. The roof is rendered in magnesium while carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic makes up the mirror caps, bodyside air intakes, and much of the rear valance and decklid. A massive rear spoiler stands up like a lunch counter above the engine cover to assist in downforce.
Not light enough? An available Weissach package further reduces weight by a claimed 40 pounds by swapping in lightweight magnesium wheels and extending the use of carbon fiber to the anti-roll bars, their attendant coupling rods, and the roof panel; the last bit plus the frunk panel are left unpainted save for a body-color stripe.
The GT2 RS’s interior is unburdened by rear seats, just as before, and the two carbonfiber-backed chairs that remain are much like those of the GT3 and the 918 Spyder, but with their own upholstery treatment featuring red-and-black leather and microsuede. Not surprisingly, the rest of the GT2 RS’s confines are awash in carbon fiber, too. Extreme as it is, the GT2 RS will nonetheless come with a respectable amount of creature comforts such as Porsche’s PCM infotainment system with navigation, plus the Porsche Track Precision application that make detailed driving data recording available via one’s smartphone. A Chrono package adds a clock on the dash (like the Sport Chrono package on lesser 911s), a performance display function for the PCM system, and a lap trigger for use with an external track recording device.
As ever at Porsche, with great power comes great MSRP, and this most powerful street-bound 911 in history also is the most expensive street-bound 911 in history — by a lot — at $294,250 to start. The Weissach package adds another $31,000 to the bottom line. Customers who still have money to burn can have their cars delivered with a nifty 911 GT2 RS chronograph by Porsche Design that features, among other things, a tungsten winding rotor modeled after the car’s wheels, a carbon face, and displays that stylistically match the car’s instruments.
While its predecessor was limited to 500 units worldwide, the new GT2 RS has no stated production cap. It is available for order immediately, with the first U.S.-market vehicles expected to arrive in early 2018.