Minus 28 the thermometer is reading, but Porsche’s GT boss Andreas Preuninger has just raised the temperature in Finland by uncovering his department’s latest creation, the refreshed GT3 RS. Porsche’s lighter, even more focussed model will be officially unveiled at March’s Geneva Motor Show.
The engine is now the GT3’s naturally-aspirated 4.0-litre flat-six, neither rumours of a bigger capacity or turbocharging manifesting here. Internally it’s all but identical to the GT3, though the RS’s differing induction, new, freer-breathing lightweight exhaust and changes to the electronics sees the power rise by 20bhp for a 513bhp maximum output, while torque rises by about 10Nm, too. The redline matches that of its GT3 relation now, up 200rpm for a dizzying 9,000rpm, all that allowing the GT3 RS to reach 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 194mph.
As ever it’s the combination of incremental gains to elements like the rear-wheel steering system, the brakes and PDK paddle-shifted transmission and differential that define the whole car. Indeed, every element of the GT3 RS’s make-up has been finessed in the pursuit of greater efficiency and speed. Borrowing heavily from the recent GT2 RS, it rides on the same ball-jointed suspension, while visually it wears the same NACA ducts on the bonnet that help channel cooling air to the brakes and smooth airflow over and under the car. That signature rear wing is now repositioned to exploit that cleaner airflow, allowing this new car to generate the same levels of downforce as the outgoing car, but with less drag.
The culmination of all that will be a lap time around the Nurburgring of around 7 minutes 5 seconds, suggest Porsche insiders. That sizeable cut over its predecessor is largely down to the chassis and tyre development rather than the increase in power. As ever weight plays its role, too; Porsche removing it wherever possible, the carpets alone some 5kg lighter than its predecessor.
Those slimming options include a Weissach Package, which alone drops 29kg thanks to carbon fibre roof and bonnet panels, as well as magnesium wheels. Choose PCCB ceramic carbon brakes and you’ll drop a further 12kg, while doing without air-conditioning and a radio sheds even more, but with corresponding losses in civility and usefulness.
Strapped in it, not driving, but sitting beside Walter Rohrl underlines that, like the ex-World Rally Champion himself, the GT3 RS has lost none of its raw speed. We’re on an ice lake, and Rohrl’s doing that professional driver thing of generating incredible speed and finding grip, yet making it all look so effortless in the process.
The cabin is filled with rousing shriek as the flat-six reaches its redline. The ride, despite the rutted, bumpy surface of the ice, revealing that the suspension manages the same incredible trick of providing control yet fluency that defines the chassis of the GT2 RS. That’s about as much as we’ll learn from the passenger seat, so I ask Rohrl, his opinion of it. “Much better,” is his response. That’s good enough for now, at least until we get the chance to find out properly ourselves.
- Model: Porsche 911 GT3 RS
- Power: 513bhp
- Torque: 470Nm
- 0-62mph: 3.2 seconds
- Top speed: 194mph
- Price: £141,346
- On sale: Now
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