What's all this about?
You're looking at the Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport, which has just been revealed at the Rennsport Reunion 7 meeting at Laguna Seca, California's famous racetrack. And yes, we'll stop talking for a minute or two, let you drink in precisely what you're looking at... *quiet humming*... right, seen enough? Absolutely glorious, isn't it?
I'll say. How much is it, and where do I sign on the dotted line?
Have a word with yourself. The chances of you getting hold of one of these beauties are somewhere between 'utterly non-existent' and 'so far-fetched, it wouldn't even make a plausible storyline in the Marvel Cinematic Universe'. The Rennsport, which Porsche itself renders without the capital 'R', will number just 77 examples once it is released into the wild. And you'd need €950,000, or about $1,050,000 - yes, that's right, Dr Evil fans; one MEEELLION dollars - to secure one. It's £822,000 or thereabouts, in case you're wondering, but that's all largely irrelevant because they're almost certainly all allocated to a select lucky few ultra-rich Porsche owners who have got about 30 other models of the German company's finest products tucked up in their dehumidified mega-garages. Not that we're bitter or anything, you understand...
No, I can... see that. Anyway, moving swiftly on, what's the GT3 R Rennsport all about?
It is - and we hesitate to use this worn-out old cliché - a race car for the... oh wait, it's not for the road. It's for the racetrack. Which is good. However, this is 'more than race car'.
What do you mean by that?
Well, the Rennsport takes as its source material the 992 GT3 R. That, for the avoidance of any doubt, is Porsche Motorsport's full-on racing version of its latest 911 model, the GT3 monster that competes all around the world in some seriously competitive race series. Only, the GT3 R has to deal with boring racing regulations and things like Balance of Performance, which means it is limited to 'only' 565hp at most. The GT3 R Rennsport, however, must conform to no such racing regulations. It is, as Thomas Laudenbach, vice-president of Porsche Motorsport claims, something which "offers the experience of driving a nine-eleven-based racing car in what is probably the most primal form".
Ooh, unfettered 911 goodness! What are the details?
The monster 4.2-litre flat-six engine in the rump of the GT3 R Rennsport delivers a whopping 620hp, meaning it churns out 148hp-per-litre. It revs to a giddy 9,400rpm and is mated to the same six-speed constant-mesh transmission as the full racing version, only here with some minor modifications. So the Rennsport actually runs the same ratios for fourth, fifth and sixth that the competition GT3 R would be using if it was racing at Daytona. However, a different final drive for the Rennsport means that it will be doing an additional 20km/h on top of the GT3 R, if both were at 9,000rpm in sixth - because the racing version has to have an FIA-homologated, shorter ratio.
It's not so much the power which tantalises, but the potential noise of this thing. Porsche Motorsport, which is handling the sale of all 77 Rennsports, will kick this thing out of its factory with a completely unsilenced racing exhaust system fitted. Can you imagine a 9,400rpm horizontally opposed six singing through those pipes? We can, and we're trying very hard not to pass out at the sheer excitement of it all. Sadly, some tracks have 'boring' noise restrictions (booooo!), so Porsche will provide two more set-ups with silencers and catalytic converters to make sure it meets the levels required.
Right, but Porsche Motorsport has surely turned the chassis intensity down a bit, right?
Wrong. The company describes the underpinnings of the Rennsport as 'basically identical' to the Gt3 R, so there are double wishbones for the front suspension, a multi-link rear, and then KW five-way adjustable dampers with a blow-off valve. Motorsport will sell the car with a 'basic' set-up dialled into it, but will also provide owners with a set of shims that means the suspension can be minutely adjusted without having to be measured every time.
Elsewhere, gorgeous 18-inch centre-lock BBS alloys are wrapped in a specific compound-tread rubber that's bespoke to the 911 GT3 R Rennsport, these tyres being Michelin Pilot Sport M S9 items, and then the whole wheels are bolted over a set of AP Racing aluminium monobloc brakes with titanium backing plates for the pads. An FT3.5 racing safety fuel tank with a capacity of 117 litres provides plenty of lapping capacity while keeping the car's weight down, and with a clever seat-cooling system lifted from the GT3 R, it means the engineers can target an overall vehicle weight of just 1,240kg for the Rennsport.
Wow, that is light! And is the bodywork how the GT3 R looks?
Absolutely not. Only the bonnet and roof are carried over from the racing 992; everything else on the Rennsport is bespoke. Including those widened arches, the lack of door mirrors (three cameras do all the work of looking backwards), the fully aerodynamically optimised shell and, of course, that mahoosive rear wing which mimics that fitted to the Brumos Porsche 935/77 that took victory at the 1978 running of the 24 Hours of Daytona. The bodywork, finished in pure carbon, can be coated in a number of paints, but also comes with three motorsport-inspired designs too. Even the 'Porsche' lettering on the back of the car lights up - this is real attention-to-detail stuff from Porsche that is bound to delight the collectors.
Cool. And what about within?
Pretty much the same as the GT3 R, which means one seat, a pukka racing steering wheel, the fully digitised instrument stack and a super-tough rollcage. The only differences are the three screens for the external rear-view cameras, ambient lighting that can adopt the theme of the colour-adjustable headlights, and graphics for the centre display and the limited-edition numbering on the instrument panel that evoke the shape of the racing 911.
OK, but are you absolutely, positively sure they're all spoken for?
Seriously; give it up.
Matt Robinson - 29 Sep 2023
