New Porsche 911 GT3 ‘street legal’ racing car
CAPE TOWN. — It’s like Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” when the cannons and bells start to make their presence known. A visceral rage of the machine that keeps you wanting more and asking more from Porsche’s new 911 GT3.
And it will gladly oblige, so much so that I reckon if you ever do get to find its limits, hopefully you’re on a track with decent run-offs and tyre barriers.
I don’t think Neil Diamond had the glorious howl of a 4.0-litre rear-mounted six cylinder boxer engine at 9000rpm in mind when he wrote Beautiful Noise but, for a petrol head, this is nirvana.
The GT3 is essentially a street-legal racing machine with a roll cage, not much sound insulation and an attitude to match.
And that’s to be expected with wide semi-slick Michelins that do an excellent job of keeping the 375kW and 470Nm of torque to the rear wheels on the black stuff with either a six-speed manual transmission or seven-speed PDK dual clutch automatic.
The new 992 generation 911 GT3 is not an easy drive and, as a daily driver, unless your route is smooth tar all the way, any road imperfection is amplified by the stiff suspension and racing seats.
You’ll also need above-average driving skills because, at speed, there’s a lot going on as it bullets its way along the straights and howls into and out of corners, with the roll cage occasionally adding its own beat to the cabin sounds.
This is especially so with the manual as it darts and bounces along while you change gears through the narrow shift gate. Add indicators and rain-wiper stalks into the equation and it gets really interesting.
The auto blips while down gearing add to the whole purist driving sensation.
The GT3 isn’t the fastest in the range but this new one covered the Nurburgring 17 seconds quicker at 6:59.9 than the one it replaces, to give you an idea.
The PDK option gets to 100km/h in 3.4 seconds and will even out at 318km/h while the three pedalled version sprints to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds with a top speed of 320km/h.
Weight saving over the predecessor is achieved by using lightweight carbon fibre reinforced plastic on the bonnet, rear decklid and rear wing, lightweight glass for the windows, forged alloy wheels and a lightweight sports exhaust responsible for that magnificent sound.