Porsche’s iconic 911 is 50 years old this year and boy did they provide some entertainment at the Geneva International Motor Show to celebrate it. Nothing says many happy returns than the purposeful launch of the fifth-generation Porsche 911 (991) GT3. The evolutionary styling hides revolutionary mechanicals.
Built on the latest 991 (991) chassis, the power plant is a heavily tuned version of the standard Carrera S’ direct fuel injection 3.8-litre flat six engine. The engine weighs around 25 kg less than the previous unit with a power output of 93 kW/litre of displacement.
Power is up by 56 kW to an impressive but now overwhelming 355 kW. These gains are possible through the use of new GT3-specific crankshaft, valve gear, titanium connecting rods and forged pistons, and joy of joys the engine revs up to 9 000 r/min. 440 Nm of normally aspirated torque is available at 8 250 r/min.
Somewhat contentiously, the only transmission choice on the new 911 GT3 is a seven-speed dual-clutch PDK gearbox. We know the seven-speed manual transmission hasn’t been popular in the latest 911 range locally, with just one car being optioned with it in the whole of South Africa (if you are that one man, we salute you) but nevertheless we’re certainly not happy about the PDK only 911 (991) GT3.
Porsche do claim however that the PDK has been tuned specifically for the GT3, with shorter ratios and faster shift times, and that the gear change algorithm has been tuned to mirror that of Porsche Motorsport racing car’s sequential units in GT3 Cup cars. Gear changes are executed in less than 100-milliseconds.
The super-fast transmission combined with the new power makes the new GT3 capable of remarkable performance figures: 0 – 100 km/h in 3.5 seconds, 0 – 200 km/h takes 12 seconds and the top speed is 315 km/h.
The GT3 even manages to lap the Nürburgring-Nordschleife faster than the outgoing turbocharged 911 GT2 at less than 7-minutes and 30-seconds. The new GT3 even comes close to matching the Carrera GT’s 7-minutes and 28-seconds. Porsche say 80% of customer’s drive their GT3’s on race tracks.
The Porsche 911 (991) GT3 sees the implementation of electrically assisted power steering. Another first is the use of active rear-wheel steering. This turns the two rear wheels into or away from the corner according to speed, aiding stability and agility. Below 50 km/h the rear wheels turn in the opposing direction to the front wheels, improving manoeuvrability, while above 80 km/h they turn in the same direction, improving stability. This new tech is joined by fully adjustable suspension.
20-inch wheels are standard, there is an electronically-controlled, fully variable rear differential lock and dynamic engine mounts as standard. The new 911 GT3 rides 30mm lower and Porsche’s PASM variable dampers are standard fit, as is Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus.
