What's all this about?
Look, we appreciate that if you're not fully up-to-date on Nurburgring Nordschleife lap records and the almost confusing litany of high-power Porsche 911 models, then what we're about to throw at you might look like a meaningless sequence of random letters and numbers. But the latest 991.2-generation 911 GT3 RS has just gone round the 'Green Hell' in a quite phenomenal six minutes and 56.4 seconds.
Umm... is that quick?
Quick? It's brutal and blistering. There are just eight production road cars that have gone round the 12.8-mile track in western Germany in less than seven minutes, one of which was a weird Chinese electric machine with 1,379hp, another two were Radical SR8s (basically clubsport racing cars with number plates; you'd about as likely use one of these on the road as you would a low-flying air-to-air missile) and the rest of this elite 'sub-seven' crew is made up of two Lamborghinis and (now) three Porsches.
Which three Porsches are those?
The GT3 RS is the second-quickest Porker to get round, after its insane bigger brother, the 700hp/750Nm turbocharged GT2 RS, which can run the 'Ring in six minutes 47.3 seconds - remember, the GT3 RS has a normally aspirated engine and, in contrast, modest figures of 520hp/460Nm. Incredibly, both these glorious 911s are faster than the 899hp 918 Spyder hybrid-hypercar of 2013-2015, which rocks in with a six minutes 57 seconds time.
Wow! So it IS quick. What do the Porsche top brass say about it?
First up is Frank Steffen Walliser, Porsche's vice president for Motorsport and GT Cars, who said: "No other Porsche model gets as close to racing as the new GT3 RS. Many innovative ideas from top-level motorsport were transferred; for example, from the 911 GT3 R. This is what our philosophy for GT models is about: highest technology must be fascinating but tangible. In this regard, there is no harder test for our ideas than the Nordschleife."
And anyone else?
Yes, Andreas Preuninger, director GT Model Line, added: "All four lap times of both drivers were below seven minutes and only tenths of a second apart. This proves not only the outstanding power of the GT3 RS, but also its extraordinary driveability at the limit. A perfectly composed overall system allows for highly dynamic performance, even with a relatively modest engine power. For a driver, each of the car's thousands of parts have to feel like one - that's an unbeatable strength of the GT3 RS."
Who was driving for this heroic lap?
Kevin Estre, a French racing driver who is part of the Porsche works team. His run came at 11.40am in ideal conditions (14 deg C air, 18 deg C track) and the GT3 RS was on fully road-legal, yet cost-optional (on the RS) Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tyres, the latest generation of track-focused rubber. "This lap was a sensational experience for me," he said afterwards. "Through the fast corners and on the brakes in particular, the GT3 RS is unbelievably close to our racing car GT3 R. This is also thanks to the new generation of tyres for road going sports cars. I like the engine of the GT3 RS a lot. Up to 9,000rpm from a six-cylinder engine just feels fantastic. The sound is a dream and the torque is massive."
Matt Robinson - 20 Apr 2018
