3 PORSCHE 911 GT3 RS (997.2, 3.8)

OF COURSE THERE WAS GOING TO BE A PORSCHE in evo’s Perfect 10. Some of you (some of us included) probably thought there would be ten different 911s on the list. But there isn’t – this is the only one and it’s on the third step, not the top step of the podium.

Some 91 issues ago we declared this 911, the secondgeneration 997 GT3 RS in its 3.8-litre guise, to be the best car evo had driven during its first 200 issues. And objectively it still is. But the Perfect 10 is a much more personal selection of cars we would like to own, which is why, while all of us had a Porsche in our Perfect 10, only Catchpole and Porter selected the 3.8, both having it as their number one choice.

Henry favoured the 3.8 over the 4.0 (Jethro’s vote) because he prefers its road manners; its steering, chassis and engine combining to make every journey an event no matter the road or the speed at which you find yourself travelling along it. That’s the 3.8 RS in a nutshell: it feels special all of the time. Involving and engaging, as satisfying to snick between the gears in traffic as it is nailing the perfect downshift on the approach to the most challenging corner on whichever track you might find yourself on.

Porter doesn’t think he’d drive anything else if he actually had one, mainly for the reasons described by Henry, but he is also drawn in by its (relatively) compact dimensions that make it feel like you’re comfortably wearing it rather than carrying it around with you. Although in Porter’s eyes the looks could be improved by removing the rear wing; this, though, from a man who doesn’t attend many evo group tests and therefore has little appreciation for its role as a bacon roll serving counter.

Tellingly, of the five GT3S that appear in our judges’ personal Perfect 10s, all but one – Harry’s choice of the 991-series GT3 – are from the 997 generation of 911. It’s an era when manual gearboxes were the only option, Hans Mezger’s engine was still the beating heart of Porsche and chasing aerodynamic performance and ultimate grip were in their infancy. And while subsequent generations have raised the performance bar when many thought the ceiling had already been reached, in terms of pure engagement and charisma, the 997 remains a tough act to beat.

The GT3 genre’s unbreakable run of brilliant driver’s cars is unlikely to be surpassed. And had Porsche not given us such a wide portfolio to pick from, including GT4S and 918s, a GT3 would most likely be sitting at the very top of our table.

‘IT FEELS SPECIAL ALL OF THE TIME, INVOLVING AND ENGAGING’