Porsche Index: 991.1 GT3 RS
It’s the most populous Porsche Rennsport of all time, and for good reason. Total 911 presents the full dossier on the 991.1 GT3 RS, with technical and market insights from specialists
Your comprehensive guide to the most populous Porsche Rennsport of all time
The Rennsport moniker was first applied to the 1973 Carrera 2.7 RS, and ‘RS’ would become the epitome of the lightened and simplified competitionoriented 911. After a pause of 18 years, two more RS versions followed, the 964 and 993 RSS, before Porsche switched its 911 racing focus to GT3 competition for the advent of water-cooling. The production 996 GT3 in 1999 was initially a standalone model, but in 2003 an RS version was added. With harder suspension, Cup manifolds (raising power by about 15bhp) and optional Clubsport cabin, the 996 RS was almost too extreme for street use, but it established a template for the three subsequent versions of the 997 GT3 RS. The RS would be a dynamically enhanced GT3, not necessarily much lighter or more powerful, but offering considerably more competition technology and aerodynamics. The final 997 RS 4.0 was a limited edition special with no GT3 equivalent. Porsche knew that expectations would be high for the 991.1 GT3 RS. The previous 4.0, ‘the last Mezger’, had left fans ecstatic. They would not be disappointed: with pressure release vents in its front wings, a competitionheight front spoiler and a spectacular fullwidth rear wing, the new 991 GT3 RS looked special indeed. Underneath that sensational exterior, topped by a magnesium roof with double-bubble profile, was an equally sensational engine: instead of sharing the GT3’S 3.8, an impressive unit in its own right, Andreas Preuninger’s engineers had increased the bore to 102mm to make a round 4.0 litres. Historically important because of the final hallowed 997 RS, this bespoke engine bore no relation to the revered ‘Mezger’, which in any case Porsche was no longer equipped to make in volume. Compared with the '9A1' 3.8 from which it was derived, its innards had been reworked with different camshafts, valve springs and pistons, and revised oilways. Above all it used a crankshaft from the same heat-treatable steel alloy as the 919’s. An exotic brew of remelted steel with elements of vanadium, molybdenum, carbon and chrome, usually supplied by Böhler Edelstahl to jet-engine builders, this material was, as Preuninger put it, “a highly clean metal that is melted and solidified several times to get it as pure as possible and more durable. It makes it a horrendously expensive part, but it works.” Rated at 500PS (493bhp) Preuninger indicated that the real output was nearer 515PS. The 991.1 GT3 RS’S aerodynamics were a visible advance on those of the 997 GT3 RS 3.8, and they were effective too: intensive wind tunnel testing showed venting the front wings alone contributed massively to frontend downforce, balancing the rear downforce of the big spoiler. This overcame the previous tendency of the steering to lose precision because the spoiler was pressing the rear axle down so hard. At 150kph, the new RS generated half its possible downforce, which was already more than the RS 4.0 achieved at 300kph. A rear steering axle, an option on lesser 991s, was standard.
THE VALUES STORY
The 991.1 GT3’S well-publicised connecting rod problem, graphically demonstrated by the fires that consumed two cars in early 2013, meant the launch of the RS version was delayed by nearly a year and the car was not finally shown until Geneva in March 2015. With the 991.2 range already on the horizon, this meant the 991.1 GT3 RS enjoyed a career of less than two years, but it proved popular: Porsche had intended to make about 2,000 units, but ended up delivering well over 4,500 and outselling the base GT3. An estimated 400 RSS were allocated to the UK with a base price of £131,296, while the Euro price was €181,960. Most UK cars ended up costing nearer £150,000 with common options. Demand for the 911 GT3 RS, absent from the market since the 997 RS 4.0 in 2011, pushed resale prices beyond £200,000, with some touching £300,000 in the height of 2015's flipper-fest madness. The advent of the 991.2 GT3 RS in summer 2018 brought them back down to around £140,000, and prices have held fairly firm in this bracket for the last year or so.
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO DRIVE?
Those fortunate correspondents invited to try the new RS at Bilster Berg in summer 2015 anticipated they would need their full repertoire of superlatives. They had not underestimated. The acceleration was reported as “electrifying”, 100mph in 7.7 seconds and 160mph in 23 seconds, Autocar would later record, praising the Porsche’s “fluent, poised, gregarious, multi-faceted track handling.” Veteran Porsche observer Andrew Frankel went into more detail: “Grip levels are withering, the steering as good as anything with electric assistance, and traction from those sticky Michelins is simply superb. This is a car with a level beyond any 911 I have driven, and I don’t mean just grip. A level that lets you drive it in another way and reach an intensity of experience no GT3 has ever imagined let alone approached.” Frankel remarked though that the RS was “not an easy car to drive extremely fast, and if you’re not going to drive extremely fast, then there is little point in having one. The RS will challenge you as a driver and not be shy about punishing your mistakes.”