Porsche 911 GT3 RS | evo REVIEW

this is the fabulous Porsche 911 GT3 it was our car of the year in 2013 and is a Monumental piece of engineering it is also so fast and so focused that we wondered what they were going to do to lift the RS above it well now we have the answer intimidating isn't it the engine has swollen to 4 liters it has the wider body from the turbo and squeezed into those archers of the wheels and tires from Porsche's hypercar the 918 spider despite the heavier body the RS has riddled with Myriad weight saving features to ensure it is 10 kilos lighter than the standard GT3 features like that sculpted roof which is made from magnesium just 1 mm thick and which saves a kilo compared to an aluminium roof and 800 G compared to a carbon one for a full list of the weight saving measures have a look at the magazine next month then there is the arrow those distinctive new vents on the front wheel arches are the key enabling downforce on the front axle to be increased by 30% which in turn meant the huge rear wing could be put further up into the breeze overall Porsche claims that this RS produces 80% of the downforce of a GT3 Cup car the launch was based initially at the incredible bilberg circuit and rather than watching me Potter around its huge elevation changes is the drop that makes Laguna Sea's Corp crew look like Child's Play we thought you would rather watch yber Master set what turned out to be a new production car lap bre enjoy [Applause] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] oh ah a on track the RS is simply stunning not only is it monstrously fast it is so confidence inspiring most impressive for me was its predictability and security when breaking late and deep into corners or when encountering midc Corner bumps and when you do breach the limits of grip it won't hang you out to dry remaining precise and controllable annoyingly we weren't supposed to turn the ESP on off at bburg so I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little longer for the side shops that through this much as the RS is a car designed for the track however a large part of its appeal for me at least is that it's a car for the [Music] [Applause] road so we've left the track and we've come out onto the road and the good news is that for all this car look looks wild and intimidating it is actually a very civilized and very lovely road car we've criticized the 991 generation 911s for their electric parister steering but this is undoubtedly the best iteration yet and it really does feel to all intensive purposes just like a mechanically hydraulically assisted system you get lots of lovely feedback through both the steering and the car and all those Rose joints and suspension mean that even just pottering around like this well it feels you can feel things and it's it's a lovely car just to Posh in which is something I hadn't expected I thought it was going to be so furiously intimidating and so furiously fast that to be honest the track was going to be the only place for it but the real surprise is that it's a beautiful car to drive on the road the suspension well despite the fact it's stiffer you've actually got a slightly taller Tire because you've got the bigger wheels and so the ride's perfectly good and it still feels like a 9/11 as well you're definitely aware of where the engine is but then you pick up speed drop a few [Music] gears and it just blows your [Music] [Applause] mind this 4 L engine's got 493 rake horsepower 339 F of torque and it feels but it feels as muscular as the old Metar engine now it's going to be used in 911 race cars from this moment [Music] onwards it's absolutely culating this car is just phenomenal in what it can do in the corners grip can sometimes have sort of almost negative connotations in the way that has got so much grip this car just feels agile the contact patch means it'll do things you just didn't think possible The Wider front track means you can turn in and despite what my mind tells me a 911 can do this can always seemingly do more this RS makes you feel more like a superhero than any 911 ever before just staggering and the Precision of it and down to everything so the gear shifts are so short so precise and it's matched across the whole car the actual throw of these paddles is slightly shorter in the RS which I understand I mean the shift is so quick why would you lengthen the action needed to change gear but having said that does make it feel perhaps don't know little [Music] emotionless I'm a big fan of this smaller 360 mm wind that's taken straight from the 918 I love the way you can see the paddles through the open spokes but it just fits with the whole sort of extra Precision of the car and [Music] yet that top end is just it still feels crazy it's going quite Brave to go there somehow but it's so worth it just listen to it [Music] [Applause] I really do think we've got the best color as well ultraviolet silk cup dairy milk whatever you want to call it of just [Music] purple so those are our first impressions of the GT3 RS we will undoubtedly get it back and take it to a track and go and do some big skid shots when we got a track that's slightly more amable to us doing that for the moment you'll have to trust me that it is a beautiful car on the limit we wondered if they could build a car that was even better than GT3 and they undoubtedly [Music] have the GT3 RS really is a staggering car its immediacy is intoxicating the grip gargant the wing and well it's enormous The Wider axles front and rear combined with the greater contact Patches from those huge cup two tires give it a stunning combination of agility and stability the latter particularly noticeable under breaking seeing how those fine tolerances in the wheel archers cope with bigger British lumps and bumps will be interesting but on the evidence of the rare bumpy sections being encountered in Germany I suspect it will be just fine yes a manual gearbox would be more involving but in terms of performance there is no question about the fitment of pdk the engine might not R quite as high as the standard gt3s motor but it has greater mid-range and feels ridiculously stronger oh that noise this might have only been a brief first encounter but I cannot wait to drive this new RS again to see videos of two of the GT3 rs's closest Rivals click on the left for lap times in the 458 Speciale and on the right for the 911 Turbo S

Channel: EVO

Views: 488,661

Keywords: Porsche (Automobile Company), Porsche 911 GT3 (Automobile Model), Porsche 911 (Automobile Model), Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Cars, Evo (Magazine)

Id: AZRKZsm8krc

Length: 9min 56sec (596 seconds)

Published: Fri May 29 2015