Porsche takes a taste of the track to the streets
Peter Atkinson |
Viewers of the recent Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix probably couldn’t help but notice one of these little monsters.
Porsche’s Carrera Cup competition has become an indelible sight every time the F1 circus comes to town, with its single-brand, single-model series established as the world’s premier “road car” competition.
The recipe is simple: gather 20-30 thoroughbred identical German sports cars to race each other to decide the best driver. It’s really motor racing in its purest form.
And this car, Porsche’s phenomenal GT3 – is the weapon of choice.
The GT3 has been around, in various guises, since the turn of the century, during which time it has remained in a state of continuous evolution (as has the 911 for almost seven decades). This one, codenamed 996, is the best one yet.
As the race-ready variant of the 911 Carrera it’s a reminder that the very austere Germans can still deliver a machine that’s every bit as emotive and invigorating as that served up by the big Italian marques.
Best of all, it’s not necessary to be a budding Max Verstappen to drive one.
The GT3 arrives as a straight-out-of-the-box, track-ready $369,000 weapon. The test car added some additional trinkets including a new hue of premium paint, called shark blue ($7500); carbon fibre racing seats ($11,250); a leather and race-tek interior package ($11,210) plus $7470 for a carbon roof. All that meant an eye-popping drive away price of $481,442.
The good news: buying the seats comes with a free club sport pack, including a half roll cage and six-point harness seatbelts. Bargain.
While it’s built for the track, the GT3 can also be used to pop down to the shop for a loaf of bread. But don’t expect to do it completely without complaint.
Despite its staggering performance and general lack of any comfort or luxury items, the car can be sufficiently tamed for domestic use.
Well, kind of.
There are a couple of small concessions expected of the driver. Like getting into it – a manoeuvre requiring remarkable contortion including a limbo-like move to slide feet-first into the cockpit. Then grab a hand-hold from above and heave the remaining portion of backside into the amazingly firm, supportive and grippy racing seats.
Then there’s the roll cage. What some might deride as a giant piece of wankery is, in fact, part and parcel of the club sport pack required to compete in track activities and the like.
After all, this is a racing car and there is no point buying so much capability without intending to use it at some point. It will also make neighbours jealous every Sunday morning.
The main purpose of this machine?
To go fast. Very. Fast.
Its engine is truly a thing of wonder.
Consider this: the four-litre, six-cylinder, normally-aspirated, flat six engine is almost identical in capacity to what might have once been found beneath the bonnet of a typical Ford Falcon, back in the days when there was such a thing.
Yet from an engine of the same capacity, Porsche has extracted 375kW (at a sonorous 8000rpm) and 470Nm (from 6100rpm). Scary. And not a turbo-charger in sight (most other 911 models have two of them).
The GT3 might feel uncivilised, and it most certainly is not subtle. The sound is visceral, spine-chilling.
A giant wing on the rear boot lip makes its intentions clear. Most non-essential equipment has been sacrificed to reduce the GT3’s weight down to svelte 1445kg.
With soundproofing removed, coupled with the proximity of the snarling six cylinders, it develops a wickedly wild and yet polished note from the rear pipes.
The car twitches and shakes as that wondrous waft of power makes its way down to the fat rear wheels, wrapped in wafer-thin performance tyres.
The GT3 sits alluringly, but inconveniently close to the ground – riding 20mm lower, even, than a standard Porsche 911.
Turning into a normal driveway causes it to lift a wheel well off the ground, so taut is the chassis (there’s even a button to further stiffen it).
There’s another button that, when pressed, raises the front suspension by 40mm to avoid gouging the driveway, or spoiler. It even activates the function when it senses home is not far away.
It is not a car that particularly enjoys being driven at slow speeds, particularly if that also involves being at close quarters with other vehicles.
It is most uncomfortable on rough and rutted inner-city roads which expose its ridiculously low ride height and its vice-like chassis stiffness.
But all of these pale far, far into the driver’s consciousness the very second the GT3 is pointed at a piece of open road, preferably one with a maze of winding bends, plenty of undulations and an absence of speed cameras.
Value? How is it possible to put a price on 70 years of engineering and improvement? It is a machine for the privileged few. One based on nothing more, or less, than the charms of a machine focused and honed for one singular purpose.
That’s a rare quality in these days of competing gadgets and gizmos.
The simple magic of the GT3 just has to admired.
Raw but refined. Brutal yet beautiful.
PORSCHE 911 CARRERA GT3
* HOW BIG? Strictly two seats, and virtually no cargo space once the roll cage is fitted. Truth be told, it’s best when only one seat is occupied.
* HOW FAST? It will scorch the 100km/h sprint in 3.4 seconds.
* HOW THIRSTY? Official consumption is 12.6L/100km.
* HOW MUCH? Base price $388,600 plus on-road costs. As tested $448, 590.
AAP
