Porsche has long had a model in between the one-make-series-special 911 GT3 Cup and the Le Mans destroying 911 RSR: the GT3 R. The new GT3 R will ensure that Porsche 911s stay ubiquitous in every sportscar race ever, around the world.
The new 991-generation GT3 R is based on the production GT3 RS, so 991 RS owners: get ready for a whole new generation of fun parts swaps. The GT3 R’s engine has been tuned for more than 500 hp, lightened and prepared for racing with all the latest safety gear, right out of the box. It’s a fully-prepared customer race car. No need to bust insulation off the floor with dry ice or scrape foam craplets off the ceiling to prepare it for racing. Porsche does all of that for you, because they need to see their car dominate every race it can possibly enter. They’re Porsche. It’s what they do. They pretty much have to.
Okay, so why should you trade in your last-gen 997 GT3 R? The new 991 is 8.3 cm longer than the last generation, which means it’s bigger, sure, but Porsche swears that means that translates into a better-balanced race car with more predictable handling.
(Read: it’s still rear-engined, but the engine nudged up just a bit farther into its butt.)
More carbon fiber body panels and aluminum-steel composite construction ensures that it’s a featherweight for its size, and that you will leave the cockpit with a big, dopey grin across your flat-six-powered face. For the first time ever, even the windshield is a polycarbonate composite. Break out the tear-offs! They lowered the center of gravity further by ditching the usual side radiators for a low, center-mounted radiator mounted in the front—a trick borrowed from the Le Mans GTE-class 911 RSR. From the GT3 RS street car, it keeps the aggressive vents above the wheels for added downforce and grip.
That flat-six has been bored out to 4.0 liters, just like the most desirable 997 of all time. It’s mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox, good for rapid-fire shifts and the sweet, sweet whine of a proper racing transmission.
Porsche revealed the car today at the Nürburgring and released this video along with it. Crank it up and drool at that flat-six wail.
For $485,995, you can get me the best birthday present ever this GT3-pwning customer 911 racer can be yours.
Full specs can be found on Porsche’s web site here.
Photo credits: Porsche
Contact the author (and let her drive this?) at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.