► New GT3 RS is finally revealed
► Most aggressive aero package yet
► Starting at £178,500 if you can get a built slot
The time for spyshots is over, the new 911 GT3 RS is here, and it’s the most extreme, most extreme 911 road-going ever made. Positioned even closer to the track-only GT3 R than before, the newest GT3 RS features lots of technology and carryover Stuttgart’s motorsport programs.
What’s new?
The next GT3 begins with the 992 bodyshell, but features a range of aerodynamically driven nips, tucks, slashes and vents. Instead of the three-radiator system in previous cars, the new GT3 RS relies on a large, angled radiator in the nose; this means no luggage compartment and bladed nostrils that cut into the 993-inspired bonnet.
Throughout the car you’ll also notice a range of new carbonfibre furniture, all designed to contort air and stick the newest RS to the road. Adjustable wing elements, as well as a new two-part rear wing (with F1-style DRS) and air blades around the car mean the RS produces 409kg of downforce at 124mph; double the amount of the previous model. That figure grows to 860kg at the top speed of 177mph.
Elsewhere, hacks and air blades – another talking point of our spyshots – feature around the front and rear wheel arches, moving turbulent air away and reducing pressure build ups. It’s another feature that we’ve already seen on the 911 RSR, but we’ll soon see on the road.
That wing is HUGE
It looked almost too big to be real in our spyshots, but it turns out the GT3 RS is getting what can only be described as a GT3-spec wing. Even taller than the roof of the car (a first on any production car from Stuttgart) it features a swan-neck mounting for cleaner airflow and also has a drag-reduction system to reduces downforce and importantly drag on the straights. During heavy braking it’ll also act as an air brake.
Power and performance
GT3 is still Porsche-code for naturally-aspirated flat-six, though power is up again to 518bhp. Predominantly achieved through a new camshaft design and modified cam profiles, the tweaked powerplant also gets a motorsport-derived single intake system and valve drive.
RS also means PDK-only rather than a choice of auto or manual, though Stuttgart’s engineers have tinkered with the gear ratio for the RS; the final drive is shorter than the GT3’s and uses underfloor air intakes to keep cool.
Top speed is 184mph in seventh gear, and the GT3 RS will do 0-62mph in just 3.2 seconds.
Need more?
A stripped-out Clubsport package adds a steel rollover bar, fire extinguisher and six-point seatbelt for the driver, and it’s available at no extra cost. A Weissach package goes further, adding carbonfibre weave to the bonnet, roof, bits of wing and wing mirrors. The front and rear anti-roll bars are also fashioned from CFRP if you wish, saving six kilograms in the process.
Interestingly, the Weissach pack also adds a sim-racing wheel and motorsport-derived magnetic shift feel to the PDK paddles, effectively giving gearchanges a more obvious click. As you’d expect, magnesium-forged wheels are also offered with the Weissach pack, saving eight kilograms over the portly standard ones.
You can, in theory order a GT3 RS now for £178,500, though you’ll need to add £25,739 or £22,515 (without the CFRP rollover bar) for the Weissach pack.
Of course, in reality every build slot is probably already allocated to customers with a proven Porsche buying habit. But regardless, doesn’t this thing once again have an ‘end of the combustion-era’ sense of throwing everything at it – we’re sure it will be just incredible to drive.