IGNITION
Porsche’s next 911 GT3 will be officially revealed in February 2021, but we caught up with GT boss Andreas Preuninger during a final development drive to discover what to expect
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‘IT’S STILL IN GOOD SHAPE,’ SAYS Andreas Preuninger, director of Porsche’s GT product line, taking a step back like an artist from his easel to consider the car in front of him. The car in question is not actually his work, because Preuninger joined Porsche’s fabled GT department after the inaugural GT3, the 996.1, was completed. But this was the first car he used when he started the job. The car that informed his initial thoughts on the GT3 project 20 years ago.
‘I drive it from time to time. It’s kind of interesting how performance perception changes through the years.’ It is somehow very heartening to hear him say this. When Preuninger says that new is better than old, you now know that it’s an opinion that comes from a direct comparison and it doesn’t just mean an improvement in bald numbers. Of course, it’s not just the original that he has on hand for perspective, because the silver car with the swoopy wing is sitting in a garage with nearly all the subsequent GT cars. It’s quite the back catalogue.
In the middle of the garage is the latest member of this dynasty. It’s a prototype, with tape masking the badges and additional panels hiding the bodywork details, but the major aerodynamic parts are on show and there’s no disguising the aggression in its stance. All prototypes have a scruffy, gnarled sense of purpose – if they had hands they would be calloused and etched with dirt from the hard miles of testing – but even so, this looks like it is going to be the most RS non-RS to date.
As with the final look of the car, Porsche is keen to keep back some of the mechanical details for the full reveal. However, I suspect Preuninger would tell all if he was allowed. It’s like he’s found the perfect Christmas present for someone, but is so excited he now wants them to open it before the big day.
So, the 992 GT3; here are the answers to the FAQs. Yes, the engine is still naturally aspirated. Yes, there will be the option of a manual gearbox as well as PDK. No, it doesn’t weigh
any more than the last one. And yes, it’s faster around the Nordschleife – ‘devastatingly so’ according to Preuninger. Pretty much the best headlines of 2020, I think you’ll agree.
Now for something that you might not have been expecting. This is the first ever Porsche 911 with a number plate to have double wishbone front suspension instead of MacPherson struts. The 991 RSR race car, introduced in 2013, made the switch to double wishbones at the front, but this is the first road car to do so. The big advantage is better control of camber – and therefore increased contact between the tyre and road – during cornering. The big disadvantage for a 911 road car is the potential impingement on space, particularly by the upper control arms. However, somehow, the engineers have managed to package it such that the space in the ‘frunk’ is unaffected compared with a standard 992.
To balance out the added front grip, changes have also been made to the rear suspension. The wheels are also now 21 inches in diameter at the rear (still 20 inches at the front), just like on the previous GT3 RS. And behind those rims are bigger brakes. PCCB will be an option, but the cast irons, as fitted to this car (don’t be fooled by the yellow calipers), have grown from 380mm in diameter at the front to 408mm, with only a negligible increase in weight.
The other big change at the front of the car is the lid of the luggage compartment, which is now made from carbonfibre. In fact, this is a happy by-product of the two large vents that you can see in it. Because the 992 has a longer lid compared to the 991 it means that the vents we’ve seen in the noses of GT3s for many years wouldn’t fit in the front bumper, so they had to be moved to the lid. However, manufacturing such shapes in aluminium or steel wasn’t practical, so carbon was specified. Obviously this helps to reduce weight, which stands at a smidgen over 1400kg, all in, ready to go, with a full tank of fuel (the last GT3 weighed 1413kg).
At the rear of the car there has been some weight-saving too, with the introduction of lightweight glass for the rear window, just like on the previous RS. However, the most obvious facet of the rear of the new GT3 is its bold wing. There is a larger rear diffuser too, but it’s the wing that’s the talking point thanks to the swan-neck supports. On the prototype it looks incredibly utilitarian, but Preuninger promises that when the struts are uncovered it looks much more attractive. Of course, it’s not there for decoration and the performance gains from having a clean underside or suction side (the side that’s really doing the work in other words) working with the ducktail beneath it are significant. It generates more downforce, but with less angle of attack, so it harms top speed less.
Time to get in – passenger side, for now – and go for a drive. As I open the door, exposing tantalising flashes of the blue paint beneath the black wrap, and drop way down to the bucket seat, the first thing I notice is it’s a manual car. It must be because a PDK 992 would have a little toggle switch in place of the gearlever. Except it’s not a manual. Preuninger only has two pedals. He explains
IT IS AS COMMUNICATIVE AS A GT3 EVER WAS AND MAYBE EVEN A TAD MORE
he likes to have the option to shift with a lever in a PDK and as the 992 GT3 has the 991’s old seven-speed PDK they could keep a proper sequential-type shifter. It doesn’t look like the old gear selector though, it looks like a H-pattern lever, which is quite cool. And confusing.
The engine it (or the paddles on the wheel) controls is essentially the same 4-litre flat-six as found in the last of the 991 GT cars, the Speedster. Yes, it has gas particulate filters, but from the moment we roll out of Weissach the GT3’s glorious, naturally aspirated soundtrack sings clearly and loudly. It is quite an achievement to have retained this engine in the current legislative age.
Aside from the gear selector, there are a few other changes to a normal 992 interior, and the usual Comfort or Clubsport specs will be offered. The instruments, for example, have a new Track Mode, which leaves the extremities of the screens blank so that you focus on the analogue rev counter with the embedded digital speedo. If you extend the revs round to their upper reaches then yellow lights begin to encircle the rev counter, building until they flash blue to indicate an upshift is required. It’s a system that has been designed to be visible (but not distracting) in your peripheral vision.
While passenger rides are obviously no substitute for getting behind the wheel, it is nonetheless easy enough to discern certain things. Sometimes it’s actually easier as you don’t have to worry about where you’re going, and can just concentrate on the various sensations. The suspension, for example, has a noticeable extra level of pliancy to it compared to the previous generation. However, there is also undoubtedly more grip. As Preuninger attacks a long, right-hand corner on what is clearly a well-trodden test route, the amount of lateral G that I experience as my ribs lean into the seat bolsters is monstrous. I know that a 991 GT3 would not have carried so much speed or done so with quite as much composure.
Of course, speed is not everything and Preuninger is adamant that the steering is not only more direct but retains the tactility that is so crucial to the GT car recipe. In fact he is very clear that the whole car is still full of feel. ‘Nobody should be afraid that the car isn’t emotional anymore and isn’t talking to you anymore,’ he says. ‘It’s as communicative as a GT3 ever was and maybe even a tad more.’
And given that he has all the previous GT3s at his disposal, ready to go whenever he likes, you can be pretty sure that he’s in the best position possible to make such a statement. Of course, he clearly also has a vested interest in saying such things, so we still need to get behind the wheel to confirm or deny the assertions. We can’t wait.