Time and again, Porsche has made sure to break the barrier between the road as well as track performance and the legacy of 911 stands testimony to the same. Learning from its motorsport heritage, Porsche has always struck the perfect balance between a daily driver’s car and the weekend track scorcher on the 911 as eloquently as possible. With the new generation 911 GT3 RS, the Stuttgart-based car maker has equipped the maximum amount of motorsport technology that can be offered on a street-legal 911 while also putting the sports car on a diet.
Now, the Porsche 911 is not really known for any radical changes to its design and that is exactly how we like it. With the 911 Turbo used as the donor model, the new GT3 RS comes with a host of race-specific modifications including aerodynamic enhancements. The familiar front comes equipped with the new spoiler lip, which along with the large rear wing offers a dominating look. For weight-savings, the roof is made of magnesium and also helps reduce the centre of gravity on the RS for those quick cornerings.
Furthermore, Porsche has extensively used carbon fibre for the compartment lid, engine and other components in a bid to keep things light at all costs. Interestingly, not only does the roof and the compartment lid highlight the largest lightweight components on the GT3 RS, but also pay homage to the older 911s that came with air-cooled engines. Another characteristic unique to the RS is the front wheel arch air vents that have been inspired from race cars and offer increased downforce at the front axle. Unarguably, this is the best looking 911 ever. Period.
The chassis on the 911 GT3 RS has been tuned for maximum precision driving equipped with Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus and wider tracks at the front and rear for minimal body roll. Power comes from the good old fashioned naturally aspirated 4.0-litre six-cylinder engine (no turbo business here) located at the rear that pushes out 500 horses and 458 Nm of torque. The output hasn’t changed much when compared to the outgoing GT3 RS, but this time round the engine is paired to the PDK dual-clutch automatic transmission, replacing the six-speed manual gearbox. So what does the PDK gearbox bring new to the RS? Several seconds shaved off the lap times, of course.
For the number cravers, the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS does the 0-100 kmph run in 3.1 seconds and is 0.8 seconds faster than the outgoing GT3 RS. On the coveted Nurburgring circuit, the GT3 RS takes just 7:20 seconds to lap the track and is a whole 5 seconds faster than the 10 kg heavier GT3. Porsche also says the quarter mile run is achievable in 11.2 seconds while the top speed achievable is a whopping 310 kmph.
Living those numbers inside the cabin, drivers of the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS are greeted with a familiar interior that has been carried over from the 911 GT3, but comes with a more track biased appeal. New to the cabin is the carbon fibre bucket seats trimmed in Alcantara leather that are based on the ones from the 918 Spyder; while the optional Sport Chrono package allows drivers to track their drives via Porsche’s Track Precision app.
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