KEEN AS MUSTARD

Themk2 wins the speed table stats – though not significantly. Biggest difference is at 100mph.

very noisy over anything other than billiardtable smooth surfaces. But when the GT3’S handling moment arrives it is a truly devastating thing to experience.’ Something to aim for, then.

But despite the pundits’ assertive views expressed back in the day, there’s still an underlying element of connoisseurship amongst 996 GT3 owners and aspirants, manifest in niggling light-hearted rivalry, trafficlight jousting, and conflicting views on the relative values of earlier and later models, as Mk1 owners contend their cars are better than Mk2s, and vice versa. And it goes without saying that the more evolved Mk2 version is an improved car. Yet, on paper at least, the two cars seem so alike that we are in splitting hair territory. There’s much to commend about the first series of any car in terms of purity of concept and specification, and however rationally applied, improvements don’t necessarily bring a more desirable result. So, what are the disputed points? Some claim Mk1s are slightly more involving to drive, others cite the Mk2’s ability to rev more freely, produce more torque, sound better, with a more positive feel to the gearshift. We’ll discover the truth for ourselves in a minute.

We’ve come to Cambridge Motor Company’s garage beside the A10 at Shepreth, just south of Cambridge. The showroom is fronted by a pair of 996 GT3 RSS and a 964 RS; it’s high-end classics territory, and we squeeze past a CAV GT40, Ferrari 430 and an Aston Martin DB9. Salesman Jonny Royle greets us and, soon enough, Martin Pearce rocks up in a Viper green 997 GT3 RS. Not trying to outdo us, just that it’s typical of MCP Motorsport’s fare up at Sheringham on the north Norfolk coast. The yellow Mk1 GT3 also gracing the showroom is Martin’s car, displayed at Cambridge on a symbiotic basis: they have the viewing platform, he supplies some of the goodies. He’s soon followed by Jonathan Sturgess in the second of our feature cars, the Mk2 996 GT3.

It’s Martin who is selling the Mk1, having recently driven the car back from Sicily, where he bought it from a member of the, er, wellknown Gambino family. My head swims with images of Al Pacino in The Godfather. ‘He told me there were several other people after it – the oldest trick in the book – and he wanted all the money up front,’ laughs Martin. ‘The delivery driver bringing it to my hotel literally stopped the car in the middle of the road and wouldn’t hand it over till I coughed up another 1000 euros for his fee!’ The GT3 has had two wealthy owners since 1999 and been stored for a long time, hence less than 30,000 miles on the clock (though the speedo is in kph). It’s been repainted, though you wouldn’t guess; it just looks like an immaculate Mk1. Martin checked it out with a friend at Porsche Palermo and it ticked

all the boxes so he did the deal. It has black leather sport seats with yellow belts, plus usuals like climate control, carbon pack, CDR 22 radio, stainless-steel kick-plates embossed with the GT3 logo, and 18in GT3 alloy wheels. Its Porsche service history includes the most recent service carried out on March 18, along with a new MOT, when a brand-new set of Pirelli P ZERO Tyres was fitted. It’s priced at £69,750 and, as I write, it appears to be the only Mk1 GT3 for sale in Great Britain at the moment. ‘They’ve all been swallowed up,’ says Jonny Royle; ‘people are just sitting on them waiting to see what happens to the marketplace.’ It’s also a matter of logical market progression; as air-cooled RSS disappear over the fiscal horizon, the GT3 is obviously the next best thing.

Today’s Mk2 version belongs to Jonathan Sturgess, who owns the Autostore car storage facility in a nearby village, and he was affiliated to the Cambridge Motor Company in so far as it was once Autostore’s sales outlet as well. The yellow Mk2 is Jonathan’s pride and joy, bought in Scotland from an owner grateful to find a buyer keen enough to travel to the Highlands to view it. ‘Apparently, I was the only punter prepared to make the journey to his remote location on the off-chance it would be worth buying, and it turned out to be a cracker,’ muses Jonathan. He’s right about that. He also runs a silver 996 Turbo as his daily driver, so the shout-out GT3 is strictly for high-days-and-holidays only.

Using my 986 Boxster S as camera car, we ease the yellow twosome onto the web of country lanes that bisect the arable prairies hereabouts, a nice mixture of long straights, shallow curves and acute field boundary corners. Pearcey drives, Amy snaps, and Jonathan and I handle the yellow perils. It’s been sunny and dry for days so the surfaces are ideal, and where there’s a clear view I straightline the bends for sustained velocity potential.

I’m driving the left-hooker Mk1 first, and it feels very comfortable being back in what’s become for me the ‘correct’ driving position. Its purposeful stance suggests that a GT3 might be a daunting prospect, but this one doesn’t overawe, it’s not a hostile, unfriendly car. At a standstill there’s a much looser, rattly sound about the exhaust and transmission, quite different to a normal 996’s flat-six. The growl it emits from 3500rpm upwards becomes a roar at 5000rpm. Steering is sharp, nicely weighted so there’s some resistance to it, but it’s effortless as well. I’m absolutely in touch with the road; the front end is feeling every nuance of the camber, nosing around like a hunting hound, though at speed on the straight ahead it does jink and weave a little. On the other hand, it also rides and absorbs bumps like railway level crossings very well. This chassis is supremely alive, communicative, and out for a game; if you’re up for a thrill, it’s right there with you.

And then we swap over. I’m not expecting any major differences in the driving experience, in spite of Autocar’s earlier verdicts, but it turns out there is a big surprise

in store. In the Mk2, the first thing I’m aware of is how much firmer it feels compared with the Mk1; it’s not that the Mk1 is in any way loose, just that the Mk2 is tauter. It’s more planted, less inclined to dance around. In hard cornering the Mk2 is much better controlled, less wilful. The smoothness and awesomely fast acceleration are impressive. I think it’s a significantly more compliant car than the Mk1, though Martin proposes getting his charge’s suspension reviewed by Center Gravity. In fact, a number of Mk1s have Mk2 calipers fitted retrospectively, and though the 381bhp Mk2 has another 21bhp, mild engine work would enable a Mk1 to match that.

The gearshift of the Mk1 feels notchy, a bit ‘clink, clunk’, though never recalcitrant, while the Mk2 is a bit slicker. This Mk2’s actually a Comfort that’s had most of the Club Sport kit retrospectively bestowed on it, so I’m aware of the roll cage in the back and the classy racing bucket seats and Schroth harnesses, and I wonder if it feels a tauter chassis because of the rollcage adding structural rigidity. Visually, I prefer the quirkier aesthetics of the Mk1, which make it a bit more purposeful, otherworldly even, while the Mk2 looks standardised by comparison. Some might “perceive that the Mk2 has a cleaner cut look to it. As for driving them, the Mk2 will be the easier of the two to live with; it’s like a topnotch Olympic sprinter compared with a gutsy amateur club-class athlete.

And the verdict? As for Autocar’s scribes, they reckoned the Mk2 GT3 ‘is one of, if not the most, exciting handlers this magazine has ever tested.’ Well, put it there, boys; I couldn’t agree more. It’s the one I’d have, money no object, at least in water-cooled terms. And though it would be the Mk2, I’d mess about with the detailing so at least it had that elegant Mk1 swan-neck wing.

My journey from Cambridgeshire back to my Somerset billet provides a reality check. As a cross-country missile, the Boxster S is so effective that I don’t reckon either GT3 would have done it any quicker. Plus, I had the top down all the way. But much as I like the Boxster imagery, it’s the GT3 that does it for me, and to coin that arch rebel yeller Billy Idol, I want ‘more, more, more!’ More GT3. It does grow on you. PW

I’m not expecting any major differences, but there’s a big surprise