BUYERS’ GUIDE: 996 GT3 RS
After a longish gap, the RS badge returned with the 2003 GT3 RS. As a homage to the original 1973 RS, it was available only in white and with red or blue decals and wheels. As an evolutionary homologation model, it furthered the 911’s status and competiti
Buying Porsche’s 911 road racer 116
An Rs-badged Porsche is intended as a glorious celebration of Porsche fundamentals, a re-statement that Zuffenhausen machinery can still be a pure, engineering-led package of low weight, maximum power and total driver involvement. After years of Porsche moving into other sectors of the car market, it’s always a welcome message.
The “normal” 996-model GT3, launched in 1999, was Porsche’s fourth salute to the Carrera 2.7 RS of nearly three decades earlier. After that 1972 batch of 1580 cars built to legalise a production car in motorsport, in 1987 the lightened 911 Carrera Club Sport appeared, and then in 1991 the RS title – standing for Rennsport, German for motorsport – was revived for the 964-model 911. Like the 2.7RS it was a homologation special, in this case to facilitate a promotional 911 race series, and was similarly stripped out.
In 1995 the RS label saw further action, on a 993. The 911’s normal 3.6-litre engine was upped to 3.8-litre and power 28bhp to 300bhp, and as with its predecessors was relieved of some equipment, although what the car was homologating wasn’t clear.
The next RS, the “Mk2” 996 Gt3-based model revealed in autumn 2003, and the model we examine here, did play a homologating role in international GT racing, albeit an evolutionary one. The GT3 has been racing for several years, first as the GT3R, then the GT3 RS and most recently the GT3 RSR, and it was this last car that the RS road car homologated, allowing modifications to the suspension, rear wing and air vents.
Production of the 996 GT3 RS took place from 2003 to 2005. The cars were sold (the UK launch price was £84,330), and unsurprisingly never depreciated significantly in price, and now are fast becoming premium Porsche classics, selling for well over £100,000 and fast rising. Should you be in the lucky position to raise that level of funds, what should you be looking for when buying one?
DESIGN, ENGINEERING
Previous RS road cars did not pay visual tribute to the original in the way this one did. At a time when white was deeply unfashionable, it came only in that colour, as were many of the 1972 cars, and the “GT3 RS” script along the side aped the original squiggly style. It was either in red or blue, the wheels painted to match.
The car was, and is, stunning. The 996’s elegant profile found a harsh, purposeful edge, thanks to the wheels that hunched almost inelegantly up into the wheel arches, and also the rear wing which did not in any
way blend into the lines of the bodywork. The GT3 RS looked like like it was built for hard driving, not cruising.
The GT3 RS engine was different to the normal 996 Carrera flat-six in that, although still water-cooled and with the same 3.6-litre capacity, it, along with the GT3, used the bottom end from the Le Mans winning GT1 Mezger unit. However, the RS was no more powerful than the GT3, giving 376bhp at 7400rpm (with still another 800rpm before the red line) and 284lb ft at 5000rpm. But revised induction and a lighter, single mass flywheel (also fitted to Clubsport GT3S) helped it rev even more freely.
The six-speed gearbox had the same ratios and final drive as the GT3, although the RS sported a limited slip rear axle as standard. The suspension tweaks, designed for the race car, comprised modifications to wheel hub assemblies, front and rear lateral control arms, and to the geometry.
But for many RS enthusiasts, ultimate power or suspension stiffness aren’t the key issues. What tends to be more fascinating is how kilos are pared down to improve the power-to-weight ratio and to enhance the car’s agility.
And as with the original RS, the rear seat was dispensed with, but it would have been of no use anyway seeing as every RS came with a roll cage. The rear screen was lightweight acrylic glass. Featherweight carbon-fibre was used to line the front bootlid and rear engine cover. Carbon was also employed to great visual effect for the rear wing and door mirrors, these being left in their stark, unpainted state.
The audio unit and air-conditioning were left off the standard specification sheet, and the slim-fit bucket seats lacked electric seat adjustment (the only movement was forward and rear), and were thinly padded. The saving over the normal GT3 in Clubsport trim was, said Porsche, 50kg, or a bit less than the weight of an average person. But in truth the RS was no lightweight, at 1360kg about the same as a 996 Carrera.
Air-conditioning and a radio/cd player were no-cost options, and you could choose whether or not to have the ‘GT3 RS’ logos on the side. But the most interesting option had to be the Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB) at a cost of £5356. BiXenon lights added £627, and after that it was essentially a decorative exercise: windscreen with green top tint, white finish on the roll cage, white on the centre console, front section added to the centre console, and floor mats. Porsche built some 700 and imported 130 to the UK.
DRIVING THE 911 GT3 RS
There are two GT3 RSS, the track car and the road machine. As the former, the Porsche was peerless in its day and, before values began to spiral upwards, some owners used their cars for the purpose they were built for. As a road car, the RS is also a lot of fun but not easy to live with.
Step inside, close the door and the thin glass visibly flexes when the doors are slammed shut. The seats aren’t as comfortable as they look, with so little padding you can almost feel the frame itself, and the black cloth trim looks
surprisingly cheap. Anything you want to put in the rear has to be negotiated past the high-backed seats and then fed into the space behind the seats through small gaps in the roll cage.
Below 5000rpm the four-cam, 24-valve engine responds sweetly enough, but from here to the 8200rpm red-line there’s a fabulously deep reserve of power, not to mention an intensely pleasurable exhaust howl. The clutch (described as a “sport clutch”) may be on the weighty side, but it nonetheless engages smoothly and progressively. There’s a bit of industrial sounding grinding from the limited slip differential, but that’s all part of the stripped-to-basics appeal of the car.
The RS likes smooth roads. Its big, wide boots – 235/40 front and 295/30 rears on 18-inch rims – tramline at the first opportunity, and snatch at the steering. This ultra-sensitive steering, coupled to the suspension which gets only a little more compliant as speed rises, means you have to work hard to get the most out of the car.
WHAT YOU’LL PAY
When new, the GT3 RS was priced only a few thousand pounds above the GT3, but values are now in a different league, at least double. Compared to the relatively large numbers of GT3S for sale, the RS is an extremely rare sight on a forecourt – we spotted only two, one offered by performance car specialist GVE in Kent, which is also the UK Ruf representative, a 5000-mile example for £255,000.
But the GT3 RS is a car whose value is best tracked by looking at recent auctions. In its September 2017 auction in London, RM Sotheby’s collected £126,500 for a 26,000-miler, but earlier in the year in Paris, the same auction house achieved €392,000 (about £346,300) for a car that a Swiss collection had owned since new and had covered just 120 miles.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR ENGINE
The GT3 and RS using the Mezger engine means they sidestep the well publicised issues of the ordinary 911 Carrera engine of that era, that of bore wear and gearbox intermediate shaft wear. But they do have their own problems which are age-related, as Steve Mchale, director of Hertfordshire based Porsche specialist JZM explains. ‘These engines are very reliable but they are now quite old, so oil leaks are appearing, catalytic converters are coming loose internally, allowing gas to skirt around the outside, bringing the OBD [On-board Diagnostics] light on. And exhaust systems are beginning to rust through.’
TRANSMISSION
This component is not as long lasting as the engine, Steve feels. ‘The GT3 gearbox suffers if used unsympathetically, encouraged by the fact that the standard shift is quite agricultural when the ’box is cold,’ he tells us. ‘We rebuild ten times more GT gearboxes than GT engines. Clutches become heavy from around 18,000 miles if used in traffic, so requiring replacement.’
With JZM specialising in the modification of GT Porsches, Steve has a favourite
transmission tweak. ‘A very popular conversion is to lower the final drive ratio and use a taller 6th gear ratio, as Porsche did on the gen 2 997 GT3 RS,’ he explains. ‘This gives the effect of added horsepower, and acceleration is considerably improved.’
He continues: ‘At the same time, we fit a Cup limited-slip differential plate set, this having more pre-load, and not wearing out like the standard plates. The gains are added traction, reduced wheel spin and improved stability under braking.’
SUSPENSION
Once again, trouble under this heading come down mainly to sheer age and normal wear and tear. ‘Most GT3S of this age now require new shock absorbers and springs, and all four diagonal suspension arms wear, causing a knocking at low speed,’ Steve reveals. ‘Also, the “coffin” arm bushes split – these are not available as a spare part, so we replace them with solid alloy units.’
ELECTRICS
Steve notes no significant problems here, but he is unimpressed with the batteries Porsche uses, always fitting a Bosch battery when the original needs replacing. And like many Porsches, the GT3 RS does not like lack of use: ‘We’ve noticed that low mileage, little used cars are prone to starter motor failure.’
BODYWORK, INTERIOR
Look out for crash damage and rust, is Steve’s recommendation. ‘These cars came with no underbody protection or wax coating, so if used through a UK winter the road salt will severely damage the underside,’ he warns. ‘The aluminium water and air conditioning radiators are particularly vulnerable to salt damage.’ Roll cages can creak, and Steve says that replacement seats, which were a bit flimsy in the first place, are no longer available from Porsche.
VERDICT
When launched, it was the most fabulous plaything Porsche had yet offered in streetlegal form, certainly a lot more fun than the stablemate it tended to be compared with, the refined but clinical 996 Turbo. And you can still use a GT3 RS as a track car and have the biggest smile of the day.
But would you? With prices moving up steadily, as the RS name becomes ever more iconic, the incentive to keep it safely locked away is ever increasing. But even if the GT3 RS is now a prisoner of its own celebrity, and rendered an investment chip, it is still potentially a bargain given recent demand for old style “analogue” Porsches. It might be sad to think of it in this way, but you can’t buck the market. PW