English
Italian
Porsche 911 GT3: All Of Them, On Track!
PORSCHE 911 GT3
BORN TO FIGHT
Words: Alessandro Marrone
Photography: Giorgia Rossi – Alessandro Marrone
Many call it the calm before the storm, the first thunders that pierce the sky and warn that apocalypse is approaching. The following moment the heartbeats accelerate and a sudden disorder surprises that apparent instant of quiet. At this moment the Cremona Circuit in San Martino del Lago is spectral, the sun has not yet managed to make its way through the thick morning fog, the air itself is humid, pungent and heavy like a block of cement dispersed in the air. Not a noise, not the chirp of a little bird or the typical hasty footsteps in the pit lane, no engine breath, no gear shifting on the limiter or a delayed braking with a consequent screeching of tires. Silence is supernatural and leaves us complete freedom to review the long work plan that we set ourselves to celebrate the fighters who will soon cross the gates of the track. Today we are here with some heavy horsepower, it’s time for the winged creatures, the ones that are able to change the meteorological situation. Do not even think for a moment to take them out for dinner and offer them a bunch of roses, these are amazons living on the hunt and they can do it with a voracity that sometimes becomes almost capable of intimidating even the bravest among us. In 1999 the first street legal Porsche GT3 has been unveiled, designed and used in motorsport, but fortunately also declined to satisfy those Porschists who get excited at the sight of a big spoiler at the rear, rather than the possibility of connecting their iPhone to the infotainment system. Leave the Spritz’ drivers on their own, here there is no place for those who have a heavy foot only on a three-lane straight, the GT3s have arrived, all 6, from the 996.1 to the latest 991.2, crossing the intermediate 997 generation and the respective restyling that have evolved one of the road weapons par excellence.
GENESIS.
It seems right to talk about evolution, but at the same time I would not want anyone to think that a 2017 GT3 can annihilate the first generation, nor in terms of performance, given the exceptional possibility to upgrade even the most hidden screw of the engine hang at the back, or in terms of driving experience. Each GT3, and so we speak of 3 different generations, offers so unique feedbacks, direct and different from each other, so as to be easily considered complementary models and not alternative ones. It was 1999, when the automobile world was completely analog, turbo engines still suffered from a hateful lag and a great car had to be both performance and beautiful. Porsche introduced its first GT3, based on the 996 series and voted mainly for track use. But the story would not have been exclusive to professional drivers or those who began hanging out on the first track days, the GT3 was perfectly usable on everyday roads, in the mountains, bottled in traffic behind some Fiat Panda and ready to be the queen of your weekends, putting your trailer on Ebay – it would no longer be needed. Helmet, gloves and everything else in the front trunk and you were ready to enter the track and then go back home, not before you have made a stop at the ideal restaurant to celebrate the fastest time lapped between the curbs.
GT3 meant and still means that these muscles were not there just to attract more looks than usual, but every detail covered a very precise aerodynamic function and useful for cutting seconds on your lap time. It did not matter if cockpit soundproofing was reduced, if there were no longer seats in the back, as well as the air conditioning, or if the first times you should have looked twice in the rearview mirror, surprised by a shape that was impossible to shake off, discovering that it was the new and huge rear wing. Although based on the 911 series, the GT3 actually had a 3.6cc derived from the unit used on the 911 GT1, also known as Mezger and able to deliver 360 horsepower, in spite of the approximately 300 of the standard 911. Naturally aspirated and water-cooled it forms a divine triptych together with the only rear-wheel drive layout and a 6-speed manual transmission. This was the mantra faithfully followed by Stuttgart until 2006, when the 997 series arrived, even more powerful and lethal among the curbs and even more skilled in attacking a curvy road, to the delight of a wider market. As usual for Porsche, the look has been updated according to the brand’s standards, without making the previous model old, but making it an instant classic that year after year acquires followers and prestige. In 2013 there is a substantial change, in fact the 991 GT3 gains the extra inches of the latest generation 911, but in addition to a further boost in power brings with it two innovations that divided purists, but allow those customers who have made the Sunday track day a regular appointment to save a few seconds on the lap. PDK double-clutch transmission and rear axle steering, this until 2017, the year in which the 991.2 also offers the opportunity to spec your GT3 with a manual transmission, to the delight of those who have incessantly asked for it while missing the use of the classic lever and the third pedal. A sports car with supercar performance, an almost total usability and a look that goes through half a century with the same ease with which it grinds fast laps on the track.
STREET FIGHTERS.
Finally the Cremona Circuit opens the gates, the six GT3s cross one after the other the threshold that divides spectators from protagonists. My eyes try to eagerly capture every last detail, crossing their profiles centimeter after centimeter: the front bumpers hugging the ground, those wheels that embrace untiring brakes, those spoilers that redefine the laws of dynamic, helping to press down the car at high speeds, once launched like bullets into a bottomless pit. But the secret ingredient of each of these GT3 is the one that hold the steering wheel, with eyes that shine like it was the first time, immersed in a look mixed between the utmost respect they have towards their vehicle and the desire to put ‘em – and put themselves – to the test, once again, another round, still a roller of drums that establishes how wonderful life is thanks to these pieces of metal. The cool morning breeze has given way to a pleasant sun that radiates the circuit from a sky that seems painted by the most extraordinary artists and the moment in which I walk the pit lane, next to the entire lineup of GT3s is the prelude to the unleashing of the long-awaited showdown. As they would have done in the old wild West, issues should be set properly and according to tradition, a GT3 will show what it is capable of once thrown between the curbs. The friends of Porsche Club Italia have made possible the realization of our idea and, coordinated by the fundamental support of Maurizio Gioia and Matteo Sasso, have brought together the quintessence of sportiness Made in Porsche for us and our readers.
THE 996
Legacy is something very important, we need to deserve certain names and to discover the roots and respect our ancestors is something that consolidates a meaning, not only material but moral. The violence of a 996 GT3 is brutal, violent, noisy and almost takes you back in time, where a sports car was able to scare even more than giving a certain amount of fun. You launch it through some corners as if you had to throw down a wall using your shoulders, jumps on the curbs and the sound of gravel rebounds on the bottom floor makes you finally gets in tune with what is happening – you are driving a racing car, who cares if there are number plates, lights and maybe even the radio, which will remain compulsorily switched off throughout its existence. The 996 GT3 is rough, the bare cabin is proof of this, the fact that the seats seem to be literally resting on the asphalt too, and the noise of the 3.6 coming from behind is more like the bark of a dog suffering from a dozen of strange diseases, thirsty for laps and able to subside only when the garage door closes later in the evening. Both the 996.1 and the 996.2 run with semi-slick tires, there are no driving aids and every curve faced with cold rubber is a Russian roulette with destiny. You must first learn about it and then you can apply some pressure on the throttle. The 996 GT3 is an exceptional ready-to-race contraption: rough, sometimes unforgiving, but able to communicate with surgical precision what is going on under it. The 6 cylinders are where they have to be on every self-respecting Porsche, a 3.6cc that deliver 360 horsepower on the first gen and 380 on the restyling, but talking about sterile figures would be reductive, because the most important aspect of this model is declined in the fact that both offer a total involvement for the driver, catapulting him in the center of the action and making him the sole architect of his own destiny, just as the arrival of the GT3 on the market has created a new niche of fans of beautiful cars that also have the ability to drive them as they should. Alessandro’s 996.1 has all the ingredients that a track car needs, including a black stripe that runs from nose to tail, the 996.2 owned by Matteo is instead the result of a maniacal upgrade process, the one that is easy to describe with “… this is the last modification, then I keep it like that … “- and needless to say the next time you meet him he entertain you hours and hours explaining how the latest changes to the gearbox have allowed him to save a few hundredth of a second on his previous lap time. It is a visceral man-machine relationship, one in which you perceive exactly what happens and in which the car is a prolongation of your consciousness. With the 996.2, in addition to an increase of 20 horsepower compared to the Mk1, there are also + 15Nm of torque (385 instead of 370), a more powerful braking system and updated headlight, but these are details referring to stock models, not yet finished in the hands of people like these two, that do not know what’s like to keep a car collecting dust in the garage.
THE 997.
Jumping from a 996 on a 997 is just like spending the bachelor party in the company of Marty McFly (from “Back to the Future”), but without the embarrassing performance of the DeLorean. Although from the outside the shape of the 911 is undeniably similar, you are facing a completely different car. Based on the 911 997, both the 997.1 and the 997.2 offer an aerodynamic and structural package that emphasizes the desire to go fast, but without necessarily renouncing the protection of your back. Zero lifting of the nose, despite the undoubted downforce ability obtained with the huge wing at the rear, while the 3.6 comes to deliver 415hp on the first generation and it even becomes a 3.8 on the second, for a final output of 435 horses. For both we talk about 4 seconds on the 0-100 kph (respectively 4.3 and 4.1) and some 310 kph of maximum speed, but once again I consider futile to end talking about numbers, given that all you can keep in mind during the fastest corners is how crazy these 911 are. Pressed on the ground like you intend to grab some tarmac away with you, they also face the most sudden changes of direction as if they were on a track, without any kind of hesitation and making everything seem simple, too simple. The sound is that of a beloved naturally aspirated flat-six, the engine revs up to a peak that accentuates the vibrations as the needle of the tachometer approaches the bottom of the rev counter and upshifting by ear – at least the first times – it is forbidden, because you would never expect to be able keeping down your right foot for so long. The 997 GT3, both 3.6 and 3.8, is the ideal bridge between an “old fashioned” sports car, all impulses and kicks in the back, and a new generation fighter, precise, clean and lethal. Try however to trifle with it and it will know how to punish you properly. Watching Andrea and Matteo blasting from one bend to the other with extreme ease does not transmit the real sensations that from the driving seat make the air in the passenger compartment unbearable for the faint of heart, jolting violently and demanding maximum concentration from the beginning to the end.
THE 991.
14 years have passed since the birth of the first GT3 and in 2013 here is the moment of a drastic change, once again Porsche is able to dare and the 991 is the first GT3 that only offers an automatic transmission, a 7-speed PDK double clutch, but also provides a rear steering axle that is able to virtually shorten the step of the new Stuttgart horse, which has undergone the inevitable updates dictated by the arrival of the new generation of 911, precisely named 991 series. The 3.8, however, remains n/a and delivers 476hp and 439Nm of torque, which under a total weight of about 1,430kg gives it performance figures like 3.5 seconds for the 0-100 and 315 kph of top speed. The 991 GT3 is a true track weapon, the result of great experience in motorsport and the increased use of road legal cars between the curbs of the tracks around the world. Red as blood, Mario’s GT3 runs through the bends of the Cremona Circuit like a wild beast and is perfectly capable of calling into question all our beliefs about physics and dynamics. Its engine always revs up high and you immediately realize how crazy a car with insurance could also be able to accompany your grandmother to the grocery store. Just remember to arrange the egg packs well, just as you tie yourself to the seats, otherwise you will end up cooking an omelette in the trunk. Year 2017 and it’s time for the 991.2 GT3, which introduces substantial innovations to perfect a recipe that actually seemed to us as perfect as 20 years ago. The flat-six 6-cylinder increases in size and from 3.8 goes to 4.0, horses at the back become 500 and torque is now 460, but above all, in addition to the 7-speed automatic transmission, the clutch pedal comes back together with a traditional lever to manage a 6-speed gearbox. And who better than Luigi, who – first in Italy – upgraded from 991.1 GT3 to 991.2 GT3 is able to confirm that we are dealing with the product of an excellence that has managed to reinvent itself at every step, offering numerically more stunning performance (3.4 for 0-100 with PDK, 3.9 with manual and maximum speed of 320 per hour), still keeping intact the adrenaline thrill that runs through the back at the precise moment the left hand gives life to the engine and everything around becomes just a blurred outline beyond the canvas you’ll paint with perfect lines, beyond that picture that represents the whole world of an enthusiast, the quintessence of a Porschist, such a demanding and particular creature that feels at home only with a certain combination of factors that have as their common denominator the now iconic GT3 trademark.
Now the air smells like petrol, burnt rubber, exhausted clutches, but that’s how it must be. The 6 GT3s are unleashed for a final lap and as we would have expected, certainly not to cool their brakes. As if the lights had turned green, the starting grid becomes a bedlam of noise and the amazons attack the first corners as if there was no tomorrow. The true spirit of a GT3 is to be scrambled, to be driven with violence and with the constant desire to pinch the limit of any corner, mechanical organ and its driver too. Let it jump on the curbs, crush the brake pedal as if you were about to break the chassis and do not change gear until the rev counter threatens you with death, only then you deserve a masterpiece of similar mechanical engineering. Be ready to fight, always.
Auto Class would like to thank the Porsche Club Italia, without which it would not have been possible to organize, realize and narrate this fantastic experience. Also a huge thanks to the Cremona Circuit for the amazing hospitality and an honorable mention to Vago Racing Team, tuner of 4 of the 6 GT3 here today (996 and 997) and reference point for every Porsche guy who does not intend to drive stock, but wants to make his own car a very personal object of fun.
Related tags to article
