- The 911 GT3 R Rennsport debuted at the 2023 Rennsport Reunion in Monterey, California. It will be a limited edition of 77 cars.
- The naturally aspirated six-cylinder revs to 9400 rpm and makes 611 hp.
- Only the hood and roof are shared with the standard GT3 R.
Redefining the idea of a track toy, Porsche has released a version of its 911 GT3 R that has so much power and downforce, it’s illegal. Well, it’s illegal by FIA competition rules. The competition 911 GT3 that the Rennsport is based on was designed specifically to be raced in FIA or IMSA events like Le Mans or the Daytona 24, where strict rules govern the “Balance of Power” as to how light a car can be, what gearing it can use, and how much horsepower and aero is permitted. The 911 GT3 Rennsport asks, “What if those rules didn’t apply?”
Designed by Grant Larson and Thorsten Klein from the Style Porsche team—which heads up many of Porsche’s one-off and special-edition projects, the 911 GT3 Rennsport is low and long. The hood and roof are shared with the standard GT3 R, but all other body panels are different from the homologated race car’s. All the air intakes and ground effects are also specific to the GT3 R Rennsport. Even the mirrors are gone, replaced with a three-camera system that shows the driver traffic via a monitor in the cockpit.
By traffic, of course, we mean only other racers. The GT3 R Rennsport is about as not–street legal as you can get, and you’re unlikely to go unnoticed if you try to take it through a fast-food window. If you did, though, there’s plenty of room to rest your lunch on the massive rear wing, which is based on the Brumos Porsche 935/77, which won the 1978 24 Hours of Daytona. The wing works as more than a picnic bench. Downforce is so extreme that Porsche had to add additional supports to hold it up. You’ll be eating alone, though: like the GT3 R, the Rennsport model is a single seater, with most of the interior taken up by a roll cage.
Underneath, the GT3 R Rennsport is almost the same as the GT3 R. The car rides on a bespoke Michelin tire. The front suspension has unequal-length control arms and the rear is a multilink setup. The KW Shocks are five-way adjustable and Porsche Motorsport delivers the car with the chassis already tuned for general performance. Additional fine-tuning can be done using available shims.
The AP brakes are aluminum monoblocks, with titanium backing plates behind the pads which reduce unsprung weight by a little more than two pounds. The fuel tank is lighter too, by about the same amount. There’s no air conditioning. The driver is cooled by a ventilated seat. The planned curb weight is 2734 pounds.
You can get your GT3 Rennsport in seven different colors. The standard is Agate Grey and raw carbon, but if you’d prefer Ruby Star—as you should—it’s possible. Three liveries based on Porsche history will also be available, one designed around the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, one in classic Porsche Motorsport red and white, and one in various shades of blue. All GT3 Rennsports sit on 18-inch BBS wheels which do meet the tech requirements of a center-locking competition wheel, even if the car they are bolted to is a right-ole cheater.
One of the major limitations in FIA competition is power, and the GT3 R Rennsport doesn’t play by those rules. The Rennsport uses the 4.2-liter naturally aspirated flat-six engine from the standard GT3 R, but rather than a limited 557 hp, the special edition makes 611 hp and the direct injection is specifically tuned to run on E25 bioethonol and eFuel, although it can also run on conventional gasoline. All that power goes to the rear wheels via a sequential six-speed gearbox. Paddles on the wheel control the shifts, and the transmission ratio has a different sixth gear, making the GT3 R Rennsport 12 mph faster than the GT3 R on the top end. If you want to hear it, an unmuffled version is available, but for those who might ever want to hear something else—or run at a track with decibel limits—two muffled and catalytic convertor versions are also on the order sheet.
Get your orders in now, as Porsche is only making 77 examples of the $1,046,000 GT3 R Rennsport.
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Senior Editor, Features
Like a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
