For those who didn't care too much about the lap times, Porsche managed to take more than 12 seconds off the time of the previous Porsche 911 GT3 at the Nürburgring.
More than just an aesthetic renovation, with the new Porsche 911 GT3 the "House of Stuttgart" wanted to further improve the driving experience of its sports car. The model is again available with a six-speed manual gearbox, appealing to driving purists. The success of the limited 911 R, we believe, may have played a key role in this decision.Regardless of the driving pleasure a manual transmission can provide, the dual-clutch PDK gearbox remains the most efficient way to deliver the 500hp of power to the wheels. Power achieved by a 4.0 liter six-cylinder boxer engine, the same that equips the current GT3 RS.
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When equipped with the seven-speed PDK gearbox, the 911 GT3 weighs around 1430 kg, which equates to 2.86 kg/hp. A weight/power ratio that allows breath-taking performances: 3.4 seconds from 0-100 km/h and 318 km/h top speed. Porsche could not resist trying to surpass the previous record of the 911 GT3 in the return to the “Green Inferno”, the «fire test» for any sports car:
7 minutes and 12.7 seconds that's how long it took the new Porsche 911 GT3 on the Nürburgring, 12.3 seconds less than the previous model. According to Porsche test driver Lars Kern, the conditions were ideal to get the best time possible. The air temperature was 8º – excellent for the boxer's “breathing” - and the asphalt was 14º, enough to keep the Michelin Sport Cup 2 N1 at the ideal temperature.
“If you can drive fast on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, you can drive fast anywhere in the world,” concluded Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche racing model manager. We don't doubt...