We look back to consider this family at 25 years old.
For 25 years, the 911 GT3 has been Porsche’s favorite car among driving enthusiasts.. The 911 Turbo delivers more real-world speed, while the convertible lets the sun and wind take over. But The GT3 is a car that’s full of sensation, from the punchy flat-six engine to the incredibly stiff suspension. Now that Porsche has unveiled the new 992.2-generation GT3, we take a look at the GT3 family tree.
996: A Champion in Dark Times
In the late ’90s, Porsche’s switch to water cooling for the 911 sent the 996 generation into something of an uncanny valley.. The development of air cooling went as far as it could go, at least in production cars, but with the engineering changes came a lightly plasticky interior that wore poorly, questionable exterior aesthetics, and much-publicized bearing failure. . The intermediate shaft bearing, or IMS, had a failure rate of about 10 percent, but even that was enough to worry the Porsche faithful.
The 996 GT3, first shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1999, dispelled all doubts. Created as a special model homologated under Le Mans GT regulations, it was powered by a 3.6-liter flat-six engine that took its roots from Porsche’s air-cooled racing engines. The original version, called Metzger in honor of Porsche racing engineer Hans Metzger, developed a speed of 7800 rpm and a power of 355 hp.. The GT3 was also lighter, lower and stiffer, and in the hands of Walter Röhrl it lapped the Nürburgring in under eight minutes, a first for a road car.
Four years later, now in the USA, the car arrived even improved. Now it produced 375 hp. and revving to an impressive 8,200 rpm, the highest-revving variant of the 911. These 996.2 GT3s are no longer a hidden gem, but they are genuinely sweet, with narrow hips compared to more modern beasts more willing to dance down a twisty country road.
997: First step from analogue to electronic
Both the 996 and the later 997 GT3 were only available with a manual transmission. By comparison, only a quarter of other 911 models are sold with a manual transmission.
The 997 GT3 truly introduced technology that is part of all Porsche today, as it was the first variant with Porsche Active Suspension Management.. Prettier than the 996, but still relatively maneuverable. The 997’s flat-six engine increased in displacement from 3.6 to 3.8 liters and finally to 4.0 liters.the largest engine offered in a 911.
2007 also saw the 997 get the RS suffix for the first time, adding even more race-ready quality to the GT3.. The RS stands for RennSport (“racing sport”) and was wider than the standard GT3, but was also around 44kg lighter thanks to the use of carbon fiber and lightweight windows.
991: Return to Purity at High Speed
In modern endurance racing, no one drives a manual transmission race car, so The introduction of Porsche’s PDK dual-clutch transmission for this generation of 911 GT3, which arrived in 2014, was simply a natural evolution. In this generation, the 991 six-cylinder boxer engine now produced up to 469 hp. and the Nürburgring lap time was reduced to 7 minutes 25 seconds.
However, if the fastest way to get around the track is to throw away the clutch pedal, that’s not necessarily what GT3 customers were looking for. Porsche heard the complaints and brought back the stick shift for the updated 2018 911 GT3, this time paired with a 500-hp 4.0-liter version of the flat-six engine. and a maximum rotation speed of 9000 rpm. PDK or six-speed transmission was a no-cost option.
Porsche introduced even more features with the GT3 Touring, a manual-transmission 911 that did away with the huge rear wing and became more discreet.. Speculators who bought a similar 911 R in the hope of selling these cars for speculation are sure to be upset. But not for those who dreamed of driving a real 911.
992: Le Mans Street Car
Porsche has released the 911 GT3 992 in 2021 with a number of racing improvements over the previous model. The easiest to notice is the rear wing with the curved neck.the signal of intent focused on the track would be as clear as if the checkered flag had been waved. Hidden underneath was a new multi-link front suspension designed to help the GT3 corner.
The 992.1 GT3 RS had a rear wing that used a DRS system similar to that used in Formula One cars.. Despite all those crazy aerodynamics that create real downforce, the GT3 RS managed to stay on par with an impressive 1.16 g in our tests.
Perhaps best of all, the GT3 RS can be as extreme as Porsche can get, but it can still be used in everyday life.. It can be used as a street car, despite the stiff suspension and brutal spoiler. The cabin has plenty of space and good visibility. The GT3 may be the best version of the 911 for enthusiasts, but it’s still a 911.
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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He grew up driving British cars, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sports compacts, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection of humanity and technology, be it racing. the career of Walter Cronkite or the half-century-long obsession of Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki with the Citroën 2CV. He taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for their excuse to buy Hot Wheels all the time.
Antonio Ramos Ochoa, who specializes in the world of engines, competition and technology, is the editor of Car and Driver magazine. They say that before getting out of the car, he already named the names of the cars he saw on the street. Several years later he is still here talking about one of his passions. A fan of motorsports, movies, video games and history, he even blows off some steam behind the wheel of a go-kart or simulator from time to time.