991 GT2 RS vs 991.2 GT3 RS
Two blistering lightweights at the top of Porsche’s GT game, one burning question: which is best?
Representing the pinnacle of the GT department, the blown and nat-asp Rennsports go head-to-head
Lambourn, Berkshire, UK. It’s a cloudy yet hot, muggy summer’s day, the mercury creeping into the high 20s by early afternoon. The countryside, booming with life after a soggy winter, is awash with vibrant greens and glorious yellows, vegetation clambering high for the sun above.
However, the most striking shade of green today doesn’t come courtesy of British shrubbery – in fact, it won’t be found in the fields of Berkshire at all. Instead you’ll have to look on the roads cutting through them, the vibrant Lizard green hue adorning those wide, aggressive hips of Porsche’s new
GT3 RS. The ‘Lizard’, as it has affectionately become known as by enthusiasts, storms along an undulating B-road, its low-slung nose glued to the asphalt at the front, its striking wing towering into the sky from behind. Following closely behind is another visually arresting 991: a Miami blue GT2 RS, no less, offering a hot pursuit as it too bobs along, its chassis stubbornly hugging the contours of this bumpy British back route.
Currently the hottest two products from Porsche’s famous GT line, seeing – and hearing – these two 911 Rennsports as they tear through the countryside is one of the most visually arresting sights anyone will have seen for a long time. Boasting gargantuan presence on the asphalt, their rarity (not to mention value) means it won’t be often you’ll see even one of these blue-chip 911s on the public road, let alone both at the same time, side by side.
These are two 991s married by their devotion to delivering the ultimate in modern Porsche performance in focused, lightweight packages, divorced spectacularly in exactly how that performance is administered. It’s 991 GT2 RS v
991.2 GT3 RS – and we’re the first to put these two titans to the test.
Delve a little deeper and you’ll notice the two cars have many similarities in their spec: the most obvious is simply outrageous aero on a superwide Turbo body. Then there’s a PDK gearbox, an electronic differential and rear-axle steering, not to mention a comprehensive weight-saving program which includes thinner glass, a deployment of different materials and a removal of sound deadening.
But there are key differences too, beginning, of course, with their respective flat sixes. The 4.0-litre unit in the back of the GT3 RS has been carried over from the 991.2 GT3, albeit with revised breathing (in the form of modified intakes and a titanium exhaust) for an extra 20hp, its 520hp total an astonishing feat for a naturally aspirated, six-pot motor. That maximum output is realised at a heady 8,250rpm, though its redline is the headline snatcher, it being a mighty 9,000rpm. This is the first Rennsport to spin all the way up to a full nine grand after the 991.1 was pegged back to ‘just’ 8,600rpm.
The GT3 RS’S engine credentials are mighty, but its Miami blue brother takes things further still
“If the GT3 RS is akin to a scalpel knife, the GT2 RS is more of a sledge hammer”
– to the tune of 700 maximum horsepower and a ludicrous 750Nm peak twist. The GT2 RS achieves this via alternative means to the atmospheric GT3, bolting bigger turbochargers to the 3.8-litre 9A1 engine found in the 991.2 Turbo S. A remap sees this blown Rennsport achieve what is unprecedented power and torque figures for any road-going 911, ever.
But how do these polarities in power delivery translate on the road? Or do their similarities justifiably pull them together? Most importantly of all, which of these 991 Rennsports offers the most thrilling drive? We had better find out.
We begin in the GT3 RS, perhaps out of newsworthiness more than anything: it’s the 911 of the moment, providing either a fit of excitement or a stark bone of contention among enthusiasts, depending on how a given individual fared in the allocation process. Its Lizard green tone is already well known in Porsche circles, Andreas Preuninger having apparently ‘rediscovered’ the colour on an impact-bumper car at Rennsport Reunion in 2015, it now set to enter the pantheon of iconic 911 hues thanks to this 991.2 GT3 RS launch.
There’s a hint of yellow to it when viewed in person, likely contributing to its borderline luminous glow. It’s striking, but suits the car’s lines, broken up here by carbon and black plastic addenda. Changes to the car’s bodywork over the Gen1 GT3 RS are plainly evident – the Gen2’s revision of air management has resulted in a more chiselled front end, those front arches now following the GT2 RS’S mantra of having externally-flared vents. There are additional vents in the bonnet feeding air to the front brakes too
(and better managing airflow through the car, as we reported on our first drive in issue 166), plus the car’s near Cup-spec rear wing now sits slightly higher. It looks absolutely incredible.
The green theme very much continues inside, Porsche GB’S press team having gone ‘full Lizard’ with green seats, grill surrounds and even the 12 o’clock marker finished in the exterior launch colour. Sliding into the carbon-backed 918 Spyder bucket, the view ahead feels familiar. Changes over the Gen1 here are negligible, but that’s immaterial: the engine and chassis holds our attention most.
It’s a slightly bassier note than the GT3 on startup, though as we head out from Lambourn and onto the bumpy, undulating blacktop of the B4000, we soon discover its tone further up the rev range is more of a gilt-edged howl than the banshee note of that lesser GT3. You can thank the Rennsport’s titanium exhaust for that.
That engine quickly establishes itself as possessing all the magic we’ve come to appreciate from the 991.2 GT3, its throttle response ludicrously snappy, its ability to rev willingly – insatiably – at almost any point utterly intoxicating. Never before has that rev needle swept so vigorously around the GT3 RS’S tachometer, it bearing down on that mighty 9,000rpm redline seemingly without any let-up. It just pulls so strongly, and better still, there’s barely any drop-off between peak power at 8,250rpm and the full nine thou. It is a simply relentless machine, its hasty travel met with a cacophony of noise from within the stripped-out cabin. Changing gear doesn’t bring even a momentary halt to proceedings, either. Such is the instantaneous relationship between the driver pulling the up or downshift paddles and the PDK ‘box swapping cogs, it is as if the system knows the precise moment you’re going to pull the paddle and reach for a new ratio.
Perhaps the most impressive element of the new GT3 RS, though, is its chassis. Particularly evident on this lumpy country route, the naturally aspirated Rennsport’s ride is revealed as being far superior to that of its predecessor. On paper, this just shouldn’t work: a chassis with ball joints and solid mounts is not the environment to tackle such poor quality roads with 520hp worth of pace, yet such is the sophistication of the car’s ride you’d barely notice the Cup-spec set-up. This is largely down to the
GT3 RS’S helper springs, which take the crashiness out of the ride comapred to full Cup spec but does not affect the car’s roll. Where the Cup chassis characteristics do become evident is in cornering. Turn-in is razor sharp, it possessing a directness not seen before on a 991-generation 911. It really is hard to believe this car has made the Gen1 so numb by comparison. Revisions to the rear axle steering system ensure the back of the car remains settled, particularly through higher-speed corners, the pace we’re reaching on these roads meaning most of the grip is achieved mechanically rather than via aerodynamic means. Amplified by a wonderful steering system which is beautifully weighted, providing welcome feedback without pulling the RS all over the road, it is astonishing how much sharper the Gen2 car is, while also appearing more polished. It’s an absolute scalpel knife.
Porsche’s latest GT3 RS is still undoubtedly a car for the track, but whereas the 991.1 GT3 RS was largely uncompromising on the road, the 991.2 has successfully sought to install a greater compliance, and therefore finesse to its drive. Revision has equalled precision, but what can the blown GT2 RS throw into the mix?
Whoever says turbocharged Porsche engines are too quiet obviously hasn’t sat in this latest blown Rennsport. Twisting the key while applying the brake pedal, the GT2 RS emits a thunderous boom as that 3.8-litre flat six instantly rumbles into life. Blasting right through the pared-back cabin, it takes me by surprise. Not only is it loud in here, it’s louder than the naturally aspirated Lizard car sitting next to us. It is just the start of the GT2 RS’S blitz on a driver’s senses.
The chassis of this turbo’d Rennsport shares much of the GT3 RS’S Cup suspension (indeed, the 2 was the trailblazer for it), with the addition of carbon anti-roll bars and drop links to save further weight. In fact, weight saving has been taken to the next level by the GT2 RS, which employs carbon fibre nearly all over the car to keep overall mass reduced. In addition, that optional Weissach Pack, saving another 30kg of mass, is not as elusive on blown
GT2 RSS as its naturally aspirated rival, and brings with it magnesium wheels, a titanium cage and a carbon roof instead of the magnesium found on the GT3 RS. The GT2 RS weighs only 100kg more than Porsche’s current lightweight genesis, the 2016 R, with a mere 40kg penalty over the GT3 RS beside it. Given the presence of turbochargers, intercoolers and associated plumbing, including innovative jets which spray water from a five-litre tank over the GT2 RS’S intercoolers to reduce temperatures by up to 20 degrees, this small difference is staggering.
Rolling out on to the same triangulation of the B4000, B4507 and B4001 (‘the Total 911 Triangle’, anyone?), the GT2 RS takes around 2.8 seconds to underline its prowess at the top of the 991 tree, this being the time it takes to reach 62mph from a standstill. Even on paper the time is incredible, especially when you consider power is being fed to the rear wheels only. In its presence, the word ‘incredible’ doesn’t do the GT2 RS’S accelerative prowess justice. Its power delivery is simply explosive, chucking your insides backwards in a way I’ve not experienced in a road car before.
The redline starts at 7,200rpm for the GT2
RS, and it takes absolutely no time to reach that whatsoever. There’s more of an event to the rev needle in the GT3 RS surging round its tachometer, partly because its redline is so high, but the pace with which it surges around the GT2 RS’S central dial is frightening. It lashes for the redline and, once a hasty change up is executed, it’ll lash round again. There’s less of a pull needed on the GT2 RS’S PDK paddle, which is carbon here (what else) instead of the aluminium found in the GT3 RS. The feel is more akin to a click as you pull back on it, such is the lack of travel offered, and the gears are revised, now shorter and fully utilising that final seventh cog.
Needless to say, ground is covered quickly in the GT2 RS, which comprehensively thrusts you back in your seat while its lightweight titanium exhaust bellows a bassy chorus of noise into your ear drums. It’s overwhelming at first, there’s so much to take