The Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport Is A 612bhp Track Car With Retro Aero

A few years ago, Porsche brought out a modern-day version of the 935 as its top-tier offering for track day addicts. It was expensive, but that didn’t stop the German manufacturer from shifting all 77 units very quickly. Now, that car has a successor of sorts, and it ups the ante considerably. 

While the 935 used a 911 GT2 RS Clubsport - the track-prepped version of the road-going 991 GT2 RS - this new 911 GT3 R rennsport (lowercase ‘r’ intended) instead uses a proper racing car as a base. 

The starting point is the 911 GT3 R, but since Porsche doesn’t need to worry about pesky racing regulations, it can fully uncork that car’s 4.2-litre, naturally aspirated flat-six. By binning the air intake restrictors the racer is forced to use, the power output grows from 562bhp to 612bhp. Less than the new/old 935, but who cares - that’s still plenty, and this engine will sound better and rev higher, topping out at 9,400rpm. 

Oh, and we've been told it kicks out 140dB, and can confirm it sounds extremely loud IRL. For circuits with noise restrictions, it will be possible to turn that down a touch.

The engine also gets bespoke pistons and camshafts for better performance, “especially when running on [part-ethanol] E25 fuels”. You can also run it synthetic efuels, or if you’d prefer, good old-fashioned unleaded petrol. Power makes its way to the rear wheels via a constant mesh, six-speed sequential gearbox, rather than a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission as on the GT3 RS. 

Along with the GT3 R’s air restrictors, much of the bodywork went in the bin too, with only the bonnet and roof carried over. There are no wing mirrors, with the rennsport using cameras mounted on the ends of the front wheel arches. Oh, yeah, and there’s a ginormous wing at the back. 

The eye-catching aero piece echoes the design of the Brumos Porsche 935/77 which won the 1978 Daytona 24 Hours. So it has one foot in the past, but Porsche insists the rennsport “hails back to the sports car manufacturer's motorsport history without drifting into a retro look”. 

Porsche didn’t really bother fiddling with the chassis, because why would you? We have double wishbones at the front a multi-link setup at the rear, and a set of five-way adjustable KW dampers. AP supplies the brakes, which feature monoblock callipers and pads with titanium backing plates. Over those stoppers go 18-inch centre-locking wheels from BBS shod in a bespoke Michelin slick tyre.

The GT3 R rennsport is a strict one-seater, as two seats wouldn't work with the roll cage. On that subject, all of the safety bits and pieces inside the cabin are made to FIA specs. 

You’re probably wanting to know the price now, and there’s no easy way to say this - it’s €951,000 plus VAT, so by the time you slap that on, you’re looking at over a million quid in the UK. As with the 935, though, Porsche will surely have no trouble at all finding homes for all 77 due to be made. 

Porsche is being careful about who actually gets one, which hopefully means they'll all be used properly, rather than stuffed away in private collections. "Currently, we have our application phase so customers can show their declaration of interest online," Porsche motorsport sales specialist Alex Thieße told Car Throttle at Rennsport Reunion in Laguna Seca, where the car was revealed, adding, "We're going to review all the interest... [and] select the best customer."