1st PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS

CONSIDERING THE WAY LAST YEAR’S CAYMAN GT4 RS struggled on many of these very roads, and the fact that Porsche itself bills its big brother as a track car you might occasionally take on the road, you’d be forgiven for thinking the GT3 RS’s victory comes as something of a surprise. But not if you’ve been lucky enough to drive it.

“The Porsche is a crazy thing and it makes a real statement and I love it, absolutely love it!” shouted Dickie between mouthfuls of a well-earned end-of-day Doom Bar. “I think it’s the first time a 911 has felt like a supercar in terms of its sense of occasion. You feel excited simply dropping into the driver’s seat.”

Beneath the aero, the cut-down bodywork and the GT racecar-style cooling ducts and vents, the GT3 RS is simply a car that delivers the purest driving experience, regardless of the conditions. Wet or dry, on smooth or lumpy tarmac or through standing water and sodden leaves, the RS not only works, it alerts every one of your senses to the fact that you are driving something genuinely special.

“This is a landmark car, a watershed moment in the history of the performance car, of that I have no doubts whatsoever,” claimed Adam. “I had one drive that will stay with me forever. I found myself on a steep hillside with a road as straight as an arrow: the flat-six was spinning where it likes to work, up high, and the exhaust echoed off the hillside. We jinked left and right through some fast curves, and I realised I was laughing out loud. I can genuinely say the smile didn’t wear off for hours.”

Henry, who had driven the car on its track-only launch, was equally in awe of its road performance. “I simply didn’t think something that could behave so much like a race car through

Maggotts and Becketts could also work as a road car.” Where the Cayman GT4 RS had crashed and thumped over the same roads and in similar conditions (better, if anything) last year, the GT3 RS felt like it had come from a different manufacturer. Its damping and steering had everything to match the sublime McLaren and Alpine’s. It had the reassuring feel of the BMW’s all-wheel-drive chassis despite being rear-wheel drive and wearing Goodyear SuperSport tyres cut to suit a circuit rather than a gnarly B-road. And when you wanted, it was as straightforward and simple to use as the Carrera T.

“I was in the 911 T, just ahead was Dickie in the GT3 RS,” John started. “I know he’s handy and you expect him to nail it, but I didn’t understand how the GT3 RS, looking the way it does and wearing the tyres that it does, could be stretching away on this wet, cold, horribly bumpy road. And then, of course, Dickie reminded me that in Track mode you can adjust the dampers, remotely, on the fly. We both know that when you do that in the Caterham evo25, for example, you suddenly find a lot more wet grip, and that’s what Dickie had done. Are you sure this is a road car?”

Everyone fell under its spell. “Initially I felt rather in awe of it,” admitted Peter. “But once I’d got past that I realised it’s not a scary supercar at all, that it really talks to you and draws you into the whole experience. And then I just wanted to keep on driving and not bring it back!” James offered a voice of reason as the plaudits rained in: “I’d rather have a GT3 Touring and a dedicated track car. But the fact this can do both, so well, is magical and I’m not sure I’d believe it if I hadn’t driven it.”

Believe it. The 911 GT3 RS is something very special, and a standout evo Car of the Year winner.