CloseI saw my first GT2RS today. It was silver. The rear looks nice, but then the rear is not much different from the first generation GT2. I still have to get used to the matte black CF accents like the air intakes and the hood. At a silver car, these two colours don't go together that well IMO, I would rather choose white for a better matching contrast or black of course.
The secret of life is to admire without desiring.
I would say black is the colour for the black widower ReviSited :P
plus in black it just looks meaner a more a prototype racer :D
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -- George Bernard Shaw
Rossi:
I saw my first GT2RS today. It was silver. The rear looks nice, but then the rear is not much different from the first generation GT2. I still have to get used to the matte black CF accents like the air intakes and the hood. At a silver car, these two colours don't go together that well IMO, I would rather choose white for a better matching contrast or black of course.
That's interesting to read 
Best would probably be to check out the colors in Zuffenhausen before finalizing the color specs.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/254524/porsche_911_gt2_rs.html
Porsche 911 GT2 RS
The latest and greatest incarnation of Porsche's rear-engined supercar has arrived - with more power than ever before - but what's it like to drive?
Meet the maddest Porsche for many a day! The new 911 GT2 RS is faster than Ferrari’s 599 GTO, and is capable of matching or improving on figures posted by the German company’s own legendary Carrera GT.
With 611bhp and a lightweight body, it sprints from 0-62mph in 3.5 seconds, 0-100mph in only 6.8 seconds and 0-124mph in 9.8 seconds. The listed top speed is a conservative 205mph. And all of this is achieved using a regular manual transmission – there’s no twin-clutch PDK option.
To extract such performance from a standard GT2, the RS uses new intercoolers, pistons, as well as a revamped engine management system – which gives extra turbo boost – and a new exhaust. The chassis is very similar to the GT3 RS’s, sharing its wider tracks and huge tyres.
Aerodynamic modifications include a new front splitter, an aggressive-looking diffuser and a larger rear wing. The result is nearly as much downforce as the GT3 RS offers.
This couldn’t be an RS without some weight savings, so there’s a carbon bonnet, ultra-light front wings, carbon mirrors and carbon diffusers. In all, 70kg has been shaved from the previous GT2, leaving a kerbweight of 1,370kg.
It looks outrageous, with its naked carbon bonnet and vast wings, but when you get inside, the drama disappears. Apart from the snug carbon bucket seat, it feels much like any other 911.
In fact, at low speed you could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. The RS rides as well as a Carrera on sports suspension, the steering is no heavier and the car we drove featured air-con (a no-cost option) and sat-nav.
Find an open road, though, and it comes alive: the steering is superb, the damping exceptional and the engine just keeps pulling. The manual gearbox has a short throw and requires positive inputs.
In the past, the GT2 has been labelled the faster, less enjoyable relative of the GT3. Not any more: the new GT2 RS serves up all the chassis talents of the latest GT3 RS, and adds hypercar levels of speed. It’s addictive stuff.
http://www.insideline.com/porsche/911/2011/2011-porsche-911-gt2-rs-first-drive.html
2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS First Drive
Porsche has been building GT2 versions of the 911 for 15 years, and RS models for longer still — 37 years, to be precise. And yet for all this time, the fabled RS badge has been kept away from the GT2 as if, somehow, the union would prove that you can have too much of a good thing after all.
And all this time, those of us who enjoy the projects that appear from Porsche's delightfully nutty motorsports department wondered just what would a GT2 RS be like?
Well, now we know. We're driving the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, one of just 500 examples that will be built. You might want to get in line at the dock when the boat arrives from Germany in October.
A Healthy Obsession
It would have been so easy for Porsche simply to slot the turbocharged 530-horsepower flat-6 from the outgoing GT2 into the already fabulous chassis of the new 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 RS and, likely as not, we'd all have swooned over the result. But that is not the way of Porsche Motorsport.
Instead the engineers at Porsche Motorsport have taken the turbocharged GT2 engine — still basically the old racing unit that won Le Mans back in 1996 and unrelated to the motor in the Cayman, Boxster and normal 911s — and started fiddling.
Up went the boost from 20.3 psi to 23.2 psi and up went the size of the intercoolers. And up, too, went the power. The target was 600 hp, but when the engineers got there, they didn't feel like stopping. So the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS now develops 620 hp at 6,500 rpm, 90 hp more than the old GT2 engine. It's backed up by 516 pound-feet of torque at 2,250 rpm.
Less Is More
Enough? Not even close. The motorsport engineers then went to work on the chassis, lightening everything up to and including the shield of Stuttgart on the nose, which is now a sticker rather than a badge, something Porsche's racing cars have worn since the 1980s (and carrying the same part number all this time to prove it).
A carbon-fiber hood reduces overall weight by 5.5 pounds, while a single-mass flywheel saves some 17.6 pounds. Seats from the GT3 RS saved 22 pounds over those from the old GT2, while 9 pounds were saved by discarding acoustic insulation. A lithium-ion battery liberates a colossal 31 pounds, and so on, including carbon-fiber front fenders and plastic rear marker lights. In the end the Porsche engineers shaved off 154 pounds from the weight of the hardly corpulent GT2.
The result is 620 hp in a car that weighs 3,021 pounds and a weight-to-power ratio of 4.9 pounds per horsepower. No other car in the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS's class — no Corvette, Ferrari, Lamborghini or McLaren — can match it.
More Motorsport Hardware
But the Porsche engineers didn't stop there. Aerodynamic tweaks to the front splitter and rear wing plus other details increase downforce at 186 mph by 60 percent.
While the suspension configuration is similar to that of the GT3 RS, many of the control arms and links now have Heim joints for precise control. Meanwhile the rear springs have linear rates rather than progressive, and they also carry tiny helper springs to maintain some loading in the suspension on full rebound (a typical motorsport application).
While the rear tires look the same as the 325/30ZR19 Michelin Cup items that you see on the GT3 RS, they feature a completely different construction and compound and are carried on motorsport-style center-lock wheels.
An Entirely False Sense of Security
The equipment list might make you think madness lies this way, but as you register the quiet, almost boring note of the twin-turbo engine, engage the gentle clutch and pull away, you could be forgiven for being a little disappointed. The 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS just goes about its business like any other Porsche. It rides well and stays quiet at speed, despite the loss of acoustic insulation and the conversion to plastic bodywork.
And yet you know there is a monster in here. You know that this is a car even the fearless heroes of Porsche Motorsport informally refer to as "The Beast," capable of lapping the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7 minutes, 18 seconds. Most of all, you know that when you finally summon the courage to put your foot down, something unforgettable is going to happen. All you don't know is what.
Street-Legal Lunacy
If you don't like bad language, keep well away from the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS, because the first time it sends all 620 hp through the six-speed manual gearbox to the rear wheels, the cabin just fills up with the stuff.
According to Porsche, the numbers are these: zero to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds; zero to 100 mph in 6.8 seconds (a mere half-second slower than a McLaren F1); and zero to 125 mph in 9.8 seconds. If you're not an astronaut, you'll find profanities leaving your mouth that you didn't even know were there in the first place.
What makes it all the more frightening is the lack of drama. While a Porsche 911 GT3 RS howls its way through the speed ranges, the GT2 RS merely hums while accruing velocity. It's as if the car has figured out how to proceed from one speed to the next thanks to the simple expedient of leaving out all the speeds in between. One instant you're going 60 mph, and the next instant you're going 160 mph.
The engine is so flexible and civilized that you have to watch your progress like a hawk if you are not to out-brake yourself into the next curve.
But Can the Chassis Cope?
It's interesting to consider that the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS now has more than twice the power of the first water-cooled 911 (the 300-hp 996-series car that appeared in 1997), and yet so fastidious has Porsche been that every single horsepower remains controllable. As a result the GT2 RS need not be an intimidating car to drive fast. Which is to say that so long as the road is dry and you don't go getting ideas about turning off the stability systems, you can drive it and enjoy almost all that it can do in fear of nothing more than a lengthy jail sentence in the unlikely event that the law ever manages to catch up with you.
But the operative word in the last sentence is "almost." We were driven around a track in Germany by race and rally legend Walter Rohrl, who demonstrated first how well behaved and docile the GT2 RS can be with its electronic safety nets in place and then demonstrated how utterly uncompromising the car becomes if you take the electronics away.
Once at the wheel again, we discovered the car shares the GT3 RS's dislike of understeer, a trait that sets it apart from all other current 911 offerings. And it is genuinely difficult to overwhelm the tire grip at the back simply because there is just so damn much of it, but introduce some of the torque while on the limit in a lower gear and round the tail will come.
If you're quick you can catch it, and even enjoy and exploit it. But if you're at all inattentive and allow those turbos time to spool up properly, you'll be looking back at your tire tracks before you can say, "Opposite lock."
A Car for Heroes
You need only look at the spec sheet to know that the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS is not a car for the feeble-hearted, but only once you've driven it will you start to understand what Porsche has achieved here.
We'll say now that we'd prefer a standard GT3 RS with or without the extra cash in the bank because its glorious engine note, 8,500-rpm redline and scalpel-sharp throttle response mean more to us than the GT2's preposterous power. But as a weapon you can use every day and for almost every reason and then, with a flick of the foot, dispatch everything this side of a Bugatti Veyron, the GT2 RS knows no equal.
In all the years we've been monitoring the progress of the 911, we've never felt Porsche has gone too far with the concept. We still don't, really. But we do think the 2011 Porsche 911 GT2 RS is very near the limit, because we don't see what more can be achieved by loading up the 911's rear-engine design with even more power. After 45 years of ever-increasing amounts of power, we think the 911 has finally gone as far as it can.
We will await the next move from Porsche Motorsport with even more interest than usual. We don't know what the engineers will do, but whatever it is, we'll guarantee you that it ain't going to be dull.
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1007_porsche_911_gt2_rs_bmw_m3_gts_drive/index.html
Driving pleasure doesn't get much more involving than this. The Porsche 911 alerts your sixth sense even in basic Carrera form, but you can, of course, upgrade according to your budget: Carrera S, Turbo, Turbo S, GT3, GT3 RS. Last in line is now the GT2 RS, which musters an awe-inspiring 620 hp. BMW tells a similar story, with the six-cylinder 3-series models meeting their master in the V-8-engined M3, which in turn is eclipsed by the brand-new 450-hp GTS. Both top-of-the-range coupes are track-oriented, featuring adjustable wings and suspension elements along with race seats and roll cages. On the road, they feel firm, look loud, and make a fair bit of noise, but if you don't mind extra tramlining and a harsh ride, these German sportsters are perfectly acceptable everyday stimulants from spring through autumn. Feel inclined to sign on the dotted line? Hold your breath. After all, the $245,000 Porsche is limited to 500 pieces, and BMW will assemble only 136 units of the fire-orange GTS, which costs about $140,000 in Europe and, unlike the Porsche, will not be sold in the United States.
Wednesday morning, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany. The thermometer reads 82 degrees in the shade, and the one essential factory option our red 911 GT2 RS lacks is air-conditioning. "This car is for purists, and purists are used to suffering," comments chief vehicle line engineer August Achleitner, grinning broadly. I may be a purist, but by midday I'm sweating like a pig -- needlessly, because my broad six-foot, eight-inch frame carries enough surplus calories to outweigh four or five A/C units. Never mind. In this lofty pseudo-competition segment, every pound counts.
That's why Porsche will supply the GT2 RS on request with featherweight half-blind halogen headlamps instead of the much brighter bixenons. For the price of a vacation in Mauritius, you can also have a banzai lithium-ion starter battery and a pair of carbon-fiber front fenders, which together shave some 33 pounds off the total tally. All in all, Porsche engineers took more than 150 pounds out of the car that now sports plenty of dark-gray carbon-fiber body panels, spoiler lips, skirts, air intakes, and trim. There's no doubt about it: this is a very special-purpose vehicle conceived to outperform all previous 911s, including the 959 and the legendary GT1. While marveling at the tailor-made piece of ascetic engineering, though, I do wonder whether I am good enough to make full use of all these go-faster mods.
The temples throb and the discs rattle as too much man tries to bond with too little seat. Squeezing my bum into the one-size-fits-others carbon-fiber bucket adopted from the Carrera GT's is difficult enough, but fastening the seatbelt is downright painful. The driver environment is, shall we say, minimalistic. Climate controls are as basic as it gets, the inner door handles are made of red fabric loops, most cladding consists of carbon fiber, the radio slot is a gaping black hole, and the buttonless suede steering wheel sports a yellow straight-ahead marker at twelve o'clock. Right behind the torture-chamber Recaros spreads the spiderweb roll cage. The token carpets are mouse-fur thin, and the three polycarbonate rear windows distort like a large gin and tonic. While previous top-of-the-fear-ladder 911s used to be dressed in coal-mine superblack, our GT2 RS features an almost gaudy red-over-charcoal interior with contrasting Alcantara trim, real power windows, and a wafer-thin roof.
Let's get going. I turn the key above my left knee, feel that tiny flywheel kick the crankshaft into action, hear the intake snorkels cough then clear their throats, watch the needle of the rev counter tremble in anticipation, lean back and take a deep breath to fight that thump-thump in my palms, legs, and heart. Can we be friends, this Porsche and I? The clutch certainly suggests so. It is quite manageable, responds progressively, and bites with determination instead of overt aggression. The manual transmission is the same we know from the GT3. Stirring the shifter feels a bit like reaching into a sack full of antlers, but once you've got the hang of it, gearchanges are firm and positive. The effort, however, is high enough to provoke an attack of gout, and the throws are long enough to make you wish for an arm extension. Reverse requires a deep dive and then a positive push forward to the left or you'll clash with the first-gear neighbor who lives next door. Surely, the next-generation 911 GTs will benefit from the much more complete PDK dual-clutch box. Redlined at 6750 rpm, the twin-turbo flat six doesn't give you a lot of time to think about the perfect shift sequence. First gear hits the limiter before you can say "Wow!" and second is so short-legged that it will occasionally splay its cogs in protest against rushed downshifts. Sixth is a proper high-speed ratio that wrings out the engine on downhill autobahn slopes, where the red rocket will max out at an indicated 215 mph (Porsche claims a top speed of 205 mph). Where was the photographer to document this achievement? Exactly.
200-mph-plus may sound borderline insane for a rear-engine design originating in the mid-1950s, but this 911 boasts reassuring, newly found high-speed aerodynamic stability. The previous GT2 made me pale with fear above 175 mph, when the front end would pitch and waver and tramline and feel suddenly very light over bumps. That's now gone -- all of it. True, it took a rear wing that any condor would be proud of and a low-flying front splitter the shape of a giant black razor blade to fix these flaws, but the result is a 60 percent increase in overall downforce. The other major dynamic improvement concerns the substantially enhanced suspension compliance. Compliance in a GT2 RS? You bet. Ferrari reinvented compliance with the 430 Scuderia, and the rest of the gang followed suit. Porsche did so first with the new Turbo, and now the company has honed the chassis of the GT2, which feels to me even better poised than the almost equally extreme GT3 RS. Forget Sport mode -- it's suitable only for racetracks. But the Normal calibration of the adjustable PASM dampers, which was chosen to make the car shine on the Nurburgring, also works very well on highways and secondary roads.
The GT2 RS is marginally wider and lower than its predecessor. It also boasts a spicier PSM stability control setting; the tie rods, transverse arms, and spring strut lowers are attached to the body via zero-tolerance ball joints; a pair of so-called rear helper springs keep the main springs under tension even when the vehicle is momentarily airborne, which was thankfully not the case when I drove it.
Feeling and looking like a drenched wharf rat when the planet backed us into 93-degree humid heat well before noon, I had calmed down somewhat, because this obviously was no nasty beast as long as one drove it within the limits of adhesion. Which are high enough to eliminate 99 percent of competitors by simply outcornering and outaccelerating them. In the latest Swabian batmobile, 0 to 60 mph is an impressively swift 3.4-second affair. But to experience the real steamhammer effect, you need to leave the takeoff wheel spin behind you. After all, this hyperactive two-seater needs a mere 9.8 seconds to roar from naught to 125 mph, and a mere 20 seconds later you may tick the top-speed box. That's what 620 hp will do for you when it's installed in a car that weighs only 3020 pounds. This data might look invincible -- but the four-wheel-drive Turbo S nonetheless wins the sprint duel by 0.3 second, is only 9 mph less rapid overall, and costs a cool $85K less.
After half a day and many miles, the car and its driver have finally adjusted to each other. Lobster-faced and drinking water at a rate that almost matches the Porsche's thirst (about 14 mpg), I am now ready to find out whether the new GT2 is as unfriendly and unforgiving as its predecessor. Beating that model on the 'Ring by a full fourteen seconds should have been plenty of warning, but in an overly optimistic mood swing, I turned off stability control. Nah. I'll also deactivate traction control and see what happens. Let's check out whether these reflexes still work. The first run through a glassy-surfaced second-gear left-hander is spot-on. A bit of smoke, a nice slide, everything under control -- bingo. But the second run puts the alarm systems inside my brain on alert. The car understeers more emphatically, it takes a more determined effort to make the hot and grippy rear tires come unstuck, and the wide road suddenly narrows at the exit of the corner. You can guess the rest of the story: even more understeer, the slide commences even later, Monsieur Michelin's finest kiss the soft shoulder, and the car spins, which makes my heart rate go through the nonexistent sunroof.
What happened? When we stop for more water, I take a closer look at this 911's spec sheet. It reveals a maximum boost pressure of 23.2 psi, twice as much as Porsche quotes for the Turbo, along with 516 lb-ft of torque at 2250 rpm. Not to mention the 620 hp that the 3.6-liter engine dishes up at 6500 rpm. Compared with the Turbo and the previous GT2, the new model clearly needs higher revs to produce more oomph. As a result, it's an even sharper weapon, more black and white than a spectrum of grays, tuned for peak performance rather than friendliness. Second attempt, this time with a little more feeling. Stability control off; traction control on. An odd mixture -- almost every other manufacturer does it the other way around. Having said that, the setting generates a little more attitude, because it sedates the watchdog that oversees the transverse and diagonal forces. This time, I don't spin.
But this time, the car dictates the pace, the rhythm, the degree of extrovert attitude. This time, I physically feel the asymmetrical diff locking up to enhance grip and traction. This time, the chassis firms up in a semiactive manner, doing everything it can to keep the car on course. Although the tires squeal in protest, the fat and almost treadless 325/30YR-19 Pilot Sport Cup footwear in the rear sticks to the blacktop like maple syrup to your best tablecloth.
After a few haphazard tries, frustration sets in. Not so much about the sizzling, crackling, and now-parked 911 but about the obvious inadequacies of the man whose mission it is to master the monster. We spend the afternoon trying to find stretches of empty road, which ain't easy in the middle of the summer holiday period. On the autobahn, this car has no enemy but one's weaker self. Unlike the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, the Nissan GT-R, and the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, which make high speed a relatively virtual zone you enter and leave without lowering or raising your visor, the GT2 RS is intense enough to create tension, noisy enough to phonetically distract, and demanding enough to constantly readjust the focus of your field of vision. As long as you keep your foot down, though, even 200 mph is unlikely to trigger instant cardiac arrest. But the mix of midcorner lift-off and ambitious g-forces remains as hair-raisingly eerie as it always has been in Porsche's rear-engine sports cars.
Once more, it takes time to reacquire the appropriate laissez-faire attitude. This car will sort itself out. It doesn't need an extrafirm grip, minute throttle-angle alterations, or constant corrections at the wheel. It can sort itself out. Bumps may dislocate your glasses, hydroplaning grooves may induce a roller-coaster wallop, and expansion joints may slice your flight path into disorderly pieces, but the car always sorts itself out. Until it starts to rain, until crosswinds enter the equation, or until the radius of a sixth-gear eight-tenths curve is a lot tighter than you remember it.
One can brake so late in the 911 GT2 RS that it's almost ridiculous. But of course you don't, because your passenger would jolt forward like a crash-test dummy and because public roads are poor playgrounds. This Porsche is fitted with six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers, with drilled and ventilated carbon-ceramic rotors and lightweight brake pads. To make the most of deceleration potential, the GT2 RS comes with extralarge heat-dissipation ducts in the front and with trumpet-shaped air intakes in the rear. When hot, the stopping apparatus shrieks like an old freight train, but that's a small price to pay for braking performance that calls for a replacement set of neck muscles by the end of the day. It's not just the fast-rewind negative acceleration that takes your breath away. It's also the urgency with which this Porsche squashes surplus energy that establishes real confidence, for the first time during this drive. Although it always helps to set the car straight before dropping the anchors, the computers have learned to cope very well with sudden changes like weight transfer, changes of direction, marginal adhesion, and split-friction surfaces. In the wet, it's a completely different ball game, because the Cup tires are very good at water-skiing but quite poor at carving.
One last time, we go out to explore our mutual limits. In more ways than one, the GT2 RS reminds me of the old Ferrari F40. Raw, extreme, basic, and yet very high-tech. In the F40, massive turbo lag followed by a mighty underhood explosion was what kept deflecting the line in heart-stopping fashion. In the GT2 RS, the flows of power are much more subtle. The two chargers work together, not in sequence. Throttle lag has been superseded by telepathic obedience. The torque curve is now shaped like a low, long plateau.
What does this mean to the captain at the helm? That he has even less time to respond, that the forces are even more brutal, that catch and release has turned from routine to a form of art. If you can find a reasonably smooth surface, a late sidestep followed by a brief correcting flick at the wheel is about as much drama as you want to induce. But those long slides that used to paint an unforgettable smile on one's face are much harder to ride out in this 911, which is always ready to bare its teeth. Although carefully massaging the throttle sounds like the easiest trick in the book, the ultrawide rear tires keep fighting the torque wave because their goal in life is to slice, not to slide.
I'm not sure if there exist enough rich Walter Rohrl-like bravados to fully relish the true potential of the ultimate rear-wheel-drive 911. Although I did approach the car with more respect than any other Porsche currently in production, my awe for the wild thing kept growing in the course of the day, and by evening, I handed back the key with a mix of relief and reluctance: Relief, because we have all the photos in the can and the car went back unscratched. Reluctance, because I could not pluck up enough courage, competence, and confidence to work this car through its paces and stay on top of the game at all times. It's not just the random snap oversteer that makes gray hair go white, it's also the almost forgotten counterswing that follows which proves that some skills don't age nearly as well as red wine. On a track, this is bound to be an almost invincible tool for the brave and gifted. On the autobahn, the GT2 RS has all the go one could ask for but not enough refinement so that one would be comfortable relaxing. On secondary roads, the most venomous 911 this side of the various Clubsport editions has got what it takes to throw down the gauntlet to any Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Bugatti. Except, perhaps, an adequately talented driver.
Photos
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1007_porsche_911_gt2_rs_bmw_m3_gts_drive/photo_00.html
well you can always apply some vinyl film over the original paint !
this way you can choose any colour, and change it ;)
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” -- George Bernard Shaw
http://www.pistonheads.com/news/defa...?storyId=22253
DRIVEN: PORSCHE 911 GT2 RS
Just 500 people will own it, and most of us can only dream. Adam Towler drives it for PH
Time for some names and numbers. First there was 'Lighty' - that's what the 'GTX' department (the division of Porsche Motorsport responsible for all GT3 and GT2 models) christened the car as their fanatical obsession with saving grams took hold. Next came 'The Beast' - self-explanatory that one. Then there was 'Project 7m27', which was fine, briefly, and even made it onto some design sketches until that particular 'Ring target was obliterated. You get the feeling that there might be some other, perhaps more colourful nicknames, but Andreas Preuninger - head of GTX - simply smiles.
Then there are the numbers: 0-62mph in 3.5sec - unquestionably rapid in the extreme, but far more telling for any powerful, rear-drive car is the 0-100mph time: 6.8sec, and with 0-124mph in 9.8sec. Or there's the 0-186mph time of 28.9sec, that's before topping out at 205mph.
It weighs 1370kg to DIN standard (70kg lighter than the already pared-down GT2), and just 1280kg 'dry' - only 80kg more than the naturally aspirated GT3 Cup competition car. That DIN figure includes 30kg (66 lbs) of coolant alone. It has 453hp per ton, and 377lb ft per ton, the peak of the latter is available from just 2250rpm all the way to 5500rpm. It's interesting to do the same maths with some rivals.
Onto the Nurburgring Nordschleife then, which it laps in 7m18sec, some 14sec faster than a GT2, during which it's hitting 180mph approaching Schwedenkreuz, around 170mph in the Foxhole compression and 192mph at the Dottinger Hohe.
So, extraordinary numbers, and they certainly make entertaining reading, but they don't fully relate the human story of this project, or tell the complete picture of how the car actually drives. The latter, in some respects, is something of a surprise.
The GT2 RS started out as an unofficial 'hobby' project within Motorsport to create a GT2 'Lightweight'. The idea germinated at the final test session of the gen1 997 GT2 at Estoril back in December 2006. Both Preuninger and Karsten Schebsdat (development of performance manager at GTX) felt the gen1 GT2 had more still to offer and set about proving it. They created a test mule and, with brutal weight saving measures, shaved 100kg off the kerb weight, while the engine guys found another 30hp, taking the total to 560hp. A new car was born, which very quickly received the RS label from anyone who sampled it.
When Rohrl recorded a 7m32 at the 'Ring in the GT2 during the spring of 2007, there was another car tucked away in the garage which the engineers suggested he might like to try for himself. Typically, Rohrl jumped at the chance and clocked 7m29 on his first lap in 'Lighty': all the ammo Preuninger needed to approach the board with his proposal.
It's a shame, because there isn't the space here to go into every weight-saving detail of the GT2 RS but to be walked around the car by the engineers is a fascinating insight into their attention to detail. Forget the previous GT2, and imagine instead the latest gen2 GT3 RS as the starting point, complete with all its trick carbon fibre bits, the polycarbonate rear 'screen, the 'lightweight' interior with its fixed-back carbon bucket seats and the centre-lock alloy wheels.
But this car then saves further weight in the body through polycarbonate rear side glass, a beautifully made carbon fibre bonnet (a 2.5kg saving over the aluminium one), and front wings made from carbon fibre, with the wheel arch extensions now part of the mould (unlike with the GT3 RS). In fact there are carbon fibre parts all over the car now, especially inside the cooling apertures.
There's also less soundproofing that saves 4kg, and each of the 500 lighter carpet sets had to be shaped by hand; a lithium ion battery saves 14kg; there's the usual monstrous carbon ceramic brakes, and the deletion of the roof rack channels saves 500g.
Continuing through the car, 10kg was shed from the suspension components, with a number of bits now being manufactured from aluminium. The GT2 RS has 'linear' rate springs on the rear axle in conjunction with small helper springs that combined weigh less than the usual 'progressive rate' items.
One of the key objectives during the development process was moving up to a 245-section front tyre (from 235 on the GT3 RS), which caused all sorts to packaging problems for a while including wheel-well rubbing at the Foxhole on the 'Ring. But the gain has been a 10 per cent increase in the side force generated, and while it was impossible to go any larger than the already massive 325-section rears, the rear suspension now uses various rose joints to more precisely locate elements of the rear suspension.
Aerodynamics next, and the adoption of a GT3 RS-style front splitter and a larger rear wing equates to 60 per cent more downforce than the GT2. An emergency lane-change at 186mph generates 1.2g and leaves thick rubber marks on the road. Allegedly.
Meanwhile, Preuninger and his team had been cajoling the engine department to find even more power and the output kept on rising. The new engine features larger, more efficient intercoolers, a new lightweight plastic intake system and stronger conrods so it can cope with 1.6 Bar of boost pressure, passing the full range of temperature and durability tests like any new Porsche as it does so.
What I'm about to say might sound incredibly tedious, but what initially strikes you about the GT2 RS is just how easy and pleasant it is to drive. After all the talk of numbers, it's a shock to discover that it rides so well - better than a Carrera blighted by the Sport suspension 'upgrade' - and that the controls, thanks to their lightness of touch and precision, are so easy to work with in normal driving. The car feels so alert and biddable, you find yourself wishing all 911 Turbos would drive like this.
But of course, sooner or later, it's time to give it the lot and when you do you end up frantically trying to scrape your eyebrows off the inside of the rear 'screen. It's the sort of car where a cheeky blast up to 180mph on a country road is often entirely feasible; where a 140mph stroll is perfectly ordinary (at which cruising speed Preuninger reckons you'll see 28mpg!). It is insanely fast.
Fourth gear is particularly amusing: because the peak torque is so low you can be trundling along in traffic and just stretch your big toe to get past vehicles in a superbike fashion. And then you can just leave it in that gear until you're at silly three-figure numbers. It's like a bizarre automatic 'box. One speed.
But the more you drive the car, the more the speed 'thing' becomes a secondary feature. It's so far from being point and squirt: it's engaging and cohesive to drive in a manner turbocharged 911s normally can't quite reach. The steering is just sublime, and the amount of front-end grip it generates is colossal. The more you drive it hard, the better the understanding you have with it, the more you smile. You end up almost taking the performance for granted because you just know there's always going to be enough acceleration for the next straight bit of road, although that's not to say you get used to it. Even if you owned it, there'd always be a narrow, or bumpy or wet piece of road, or perhaps a shocking overtake that'd instantly remind you of its nuclear lunacy.
At 167,915 the GT2 RS looks like something of a performance bargain relative to its peers, but of those with that kind of money to spend some will quite legitimately baulk at the lack of a charismatic 8, 10 or 12 pot wail, a low, supercar silhouette that stops pedestrians in their tracks and a beautiful interior. And although it's entirely academic, I suspect there'll be plenty of people who might recoil in horror at spending the price of a new Carrera over that of the awesome GT3 RS: they'd miss that car's manic raw aggression too, its immediate throttle response, lofty rev limit and heavenly soundtrack.
But those seeking the ultimate 911 shouldn't and won't care, because they've found it. For those lucky, lucky 500, this awe-inspiring device is a reality. A machine of enormous speed and capabilities, it's an unforgettable drive: a split personality of light and dark, of cheek-splitting enjoyment and unabated terror. A beast.
On that last point Walter Rohrl has the last word in response to a question, from me (delivered with stupid grin and suitable reverence): "Is it a bit interesting in the wet then, Walter?"
The answer, from Walter (with a similarly exaggerated face of fear to the one he used moments earlier when we were chatting about the 1981 Silverstone 1000kms: driving a monster of a 935 with an experimental 800bhp motor, in the rain, he won, while going mostly sideways): "Ja...you can be sure..."
Specification:
3,600cc, twin turbocharged (VTG) flat six,
620hp at 6,500rpm
516lb ft from 2,250-5,500rpm
6-speed manual
Weight (DIN/wet) 1,370kg
245/35 ZR19 (front)
325/30 ZR19 (rear)
Top speed: 205mph
0-62mph: 3.5sec
0-100mph: 6.8sec
0-124mph: 9.8sec
0-186mph: 28.9sec
Combined fuel figure: 23.7mpg
CO2: 284 g/km
http://blog.roadandtrack.com/tags/2011-porsche-gt2-rs/
Baden-Baden, Germany—What do you get when you have the most powerful, street-legal Porsche ever—the 2011 Porsche GT2 RS, together with former World Rally Champion and road racing genius Walter Röhrl? One helluva riding experience, in the rain! See the car dance by clicking on the following link: Walter Röhrl Slides the GT2 RS
Armed with a specially-tuned, 620 bhp, 516 lb.-ft. of torque, twin-turbo flat-6 engine, the GT2 RS can lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in just seven minutes and 18 seconds, besting the Nissan GT-R, Corvette ZR1 and Dodge Viper ACR.
This car is for the hardcore enthusiast who seeks the ultimate Porsche driving experience: 6-speed manual transmission, carbon-ceramic brakes, ball-joint suspension control arms, weight-savings from pull-strap door handles inside, a/c delete and carbon-fiber components such as the hood and the front fenders. According to the factory, the RS clocks 0-60 mph sprint in 3.4 sec., with a top speed of 205 mph limited by gearing.
There will only be a limited production of 500 GT2 RS units worldwide, with a starting price of $245,000. The car will be available in the US starting October. Get your orders in now!
BiTurbo:
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1007_porsche_911_gt2_rs_bmw_m3_gts_drive/index.html
Driving pleasure doesn't get much more involving than this. The Porsche 911 alerts your sixth sense even in basic Carrera form, but you can, of course, upgrade according to your budget: Carrera S, Turbo, Turbo S, GT3, GT3 RS. Last in line is now the GT2 RS, which musters an awe-inspiring 620 hp. BMW tells a similar story, with the six-cylinder 3-series models meeting their master in the V-8-engined M3, which in turn is eclipsed by the brand-new 450-hp GTS. Both top-of-the-range coupes are track-oriented, featuring adjustable wings and suspension elements along with race seats and roll cages. On the road, they feel firm, look loud, and make a fair bit of noise, but if you don't mind extra tramlining and a harsh ride, these German sportsters are perfectly acceptable everyday stimulants from spring through autumn. Feel inclined to sign on the dotted line? Hold your breath. After all, the $245,000 Porsche is limited to 500 pieces, and BMW will assemble only 136 units of the fire-orange GTS, which costs about $140,000 in Europe and, unlike the Porsche, will not be sold in the United States.
Wednesday morning, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany. The thermometer reads 82 degrees in the shade, and the one essential factory option our red 911 GT2 RS lacks is air-conditioning. "This car is for purists, and purists are used to suffering," comments chief vehicle line engineer August Achleitner, grinning broadly. I may be a purist, but by midday I'm sweating like a pig -- needlessly, because my broad six-foot, eight-inch frame carries enough surplus calories to outweigh four or five A/C units. Never mind. In this lofty pseudo-competition segment, every pound counts.
That's why Porsche will supply the GT2 RS on request with featherweight half-blind halogen headlamps instead of the much brighter bixenons. For the price of a vacation in Mauritius, you can also have a banzai lithium-ion starter battery and a pair of carbon-fiber front fenders, which together shave some 33 pounds off the total tally. All in all, Porsche engineers took more than 150 pounds out of the car that now sports plenty of dark-gray carbon-fiber body panels, spoiler lips, skirts, air intakes, and trim. There's no doubt about it: this is a very special-purpose vehicle conceived to outperform all previous 911s, including the 959 and the legendary GT1. While marveling at the tailor-made piece of ascetic engineering, though, I do wonder whether I am good enough to make full use of all these go-faster mods.
The temples throb and the discs rattle as too much man tries to bond with too little seat. Squeezing my bum into the one-size-fits-others carbon-fiber bucket adopted from the Carrera GT's is difficult enough, but fastening the seatbelt is downright painful. The driver environment is, shall we say, minimalistic. Climate controls are as basic as it gets, the inner door handles are made of red fabric loops, most cladding consists of carbon fiber, the radio slot is a gaping black hole, and the buttonless suede steering wheel sports a yellow straight-ahead marker at twelve o'clock. Right behind the torture-chamber Recaros spreads the spiderweb roll cage. The token carpets are mouse-fur thin, and the three polycarbonate rear windows distort like a large gin and tonic. While previous top-of-the-fear-ladder 911s used to be dressed in coal-mine superblack, our GT2 RS features an almost gaudy red-over-charcoal interior with contrasting Alcantara trim, real power windows, and a wafer-thin roof.
Let's get going. I turn the key above my left knee, feel that tiny flywheel kick the crankshaft into action, hear the intake snorkels cough then clear their throats, watch the needle of the rev counter tremble in anticipation, lean back and take a deep breath to fight that thump-thump in my palms, legs, and heart. Can we be friends, this Porsche and I? The clutch certainly suggests so. It is quite manageable, responds progressively, and bites with determination instead of overt aggression. The manual transmission is the same we know from the GT3. Stirring the shifter feels a bit like reaching into a sack full of antlers, but once you've got the hang of it, gearchanges are firm and positive. The effort, however, is high enough to provoke an attack of gout, and the throws are long enough to make you wish for an arm extension. Reverse requires a deep dive and then a positive push forward to the left or you'll clash with the first-gear neighbor who lives next door. Surely, the next-generation 911 GTs will benefit from the much more complete PDK dual-clutch box. Redlined at 6750 rpm, the twin-turbo flat six doesn't give you a lot of time to think about the perfect shift sequence. First gear hits the limiter before you can say "Wow!" and second is so short-legged that it will occasionally splay its cogs in protest against rushed downshifts. Sixth is a proper high-speed ratio that wrings out the engine on downhill autobahn slopes, where the red rocket will max out at an indicated 215 mph (Porsche claims a top speed of 205 mph). Where was the photographer to document this achievement? Exactly.
200-mph-plus may sound borderline insane for a rear-engine design originating in the mid-1950s, but this 911 boasts reassuring, newly found high-speed aerodynamic stability. The previous GT2 made me pale with fear above 175 mph, when the front end would pitch and waver and tramline and feel suddenly very light over bumps. That's now gone -- all of it. True, it took a rear wing that any condor would be proud of and a low-flying front splitter the shape of a giant black razor blade to fix these flaws, but the result is a 60 percent increase in overall downforce. The other major dynamic improvement concerns the substantially enhanced suspension compliance. Compliance in a GT2 RS? You bet. Ferrari reinvented compliance with the 430 Scuderia, and the rest of the gang followed suit. Porsche did so first with the new Turbo, and now the company has honed the chassis of the GT2, which feels to me even better poised than the almost equally extreme GT3 RS. Forget Sport mode -- it's suitable only for racetracks. But the Normal calibration of the adjustable PASM dampers, which was chosen to make the car shine on the Nurburgring, also works very well on highways and secondary roads.
The GT2 RS is marginally wider and lower than its predecessor. It also boasts a spicier PSM stability control setting; the tie rods, transverse arms, and spring strut lowers are attached to the body via zero-tolerance ball joints; a pair of so-called rear helper springs keep the main springs under tension even when the vehicle is momentarily airborne, which was thankfully not the case when I drove it.
Feeling and looking like a drenched wharf rat when the planet backed us into 93-degree humid heat well before noon, I had calmed down somewhat, because this obviously was no nasty beast as long as one drove it within the limits of adhesion. Which are high enough to eliminate 99 percent of competitors by simply outcornering and outaccelerating them. In the latest Swabian batmobile, 0 to 60 mph is an impressively swift 3.4-second affair. But to experience the real steamhammer effect, you need to leave the takeoff wheel spin behind you. After all, this hyperactive two-seater needs a mere 9.8 seconds to roar from naught to 125 mph, and a mere 20 seconds later you may tick the top-speed box. That's what 620 hp will do for you when it's installed in a car that weighs only 3020 pounds. This data might look invincible -- but the four-wheel-drive Turbo S nonetheless wins the sprint duel by 0.3 second, is only 9 mph less rapid overall, and costs a cool $85K less.
After half a day and many miles, the car and its driver have finally adjusted to each other. Lobster-faced and drinking water at a rate that almost matches the Porsche's thirst (about 14 mpg), I am now ready to find out whether the new GT2 is as unfriendly and unforgiving as its predecessor. Beating that model on the 'Ring by a full fourteen seconds should have been plenty of warning, but in an overly optimistic mood swing, I turned off stability control. Nah. I'll also deactivate traction control and see what happens. Let's check out whether these reflexes still work. The first run through a glassy-surfaced second-gear left-hander is spot-on. A bit of smoke, a nice slide, everything under control -- bingo. But the second run puts the alarm systems inside my brain on alert. The car understeers more emphatically, it takes a more determined effort to make the hot and grippy rear tires come unstuck, and the wide road suddenly narrows at the exit of the corner. You can guess the rest of the story: even more understeer, the slide commences even later, Monsieur Michelin's finest kiss the soft shoulder, and the car spins, which makes my heart rate go through the nonexistent sunroof.
What happened? When we stop for more water, I take a closer look at this 911's spec sheet. It reveals a maximum boost pressure of 23.2 psi, twice as much as Porsche quotes for the Turbo, along with 516 lb-ft of torque at 2250 rpm. Not to mention the 620 hp that the 3.6-liter engine dishes up at 6500 rpm. Compared with the Turbo and the previous GT2, the new model clearly needs higher revs to produce more oomph. As a result, it's an even sharper weapon, more black and white than a spectrum of grays, tuned for peak performance rather than friendliness. Second attempt, this time with a little more feeling. Stability control off; traction control on. An odd mixture -- almost every other manufacturer does it the other way around. Having said that, the setting generates a little more attitude, because it sedates the watchdog that oversees the transverse and diagonal forces. This time, I don't spin.
But this time, the car dictates the pace, the rhythm, the degree of extrovert attitude. This time, I physically feel the asymmetrical diff locking up to enhance grip and traction. This time, the chassis firms up in a semiactive manner, doing everything it can to keep the car on course. Although the tires squeal in protest, the fat and almost treadless 325/30YR-19 Pilot Sport Cup footwear in the rear sticks to the blacktop like maple syrup to your best tablecloth.
After a few haphazard tries, frustration sets in. Not so much about the sizzling, crackling, and now-parked 911 but about the obvious inadequacies of the man whose mission it is to master the monster. We spend the afternoon trying to find stretches of empty road, which ain't easy in the middle of the summer holiday period. On the autobahn, this car has no enemy but one's weaker self. Unlike the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, the Nissan GT-R, and the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, which make high speed a relatively virtual zone you enter and leave without lowering or raising your visor, the GT2 RS is intense enough to create tension, noisy enough to phonetically distract, and demanding enough to constantly readjust the focus of your field of vision. As long as you keep your foot down, though, even 200 mph is unlikely to trigger instant cardiac arrest. But the mix of midcorner lift-off and ambitious g-forces remains as hair-raisingly eerie as it always has been in Porsche's rear-engine sports cars.
Once more, it takes time to reacquire the appropriate laissez-faire attitude. This car will sort itself out. It doesn't need an extrafirm grip, minute throttle-angle alterations, or constant corrections at the wheel. It can sort itself out. Bumps may dislocate your glasses, hydroplaning grooves may induce a roller-coaster wallop, and expansion joints may slice your flight path into disorderly pieces, but the car always sorts itself out. Until it starts to rain, until crosswinds enter the equation, or until the radius of a sixth-gear eight-tenths curve is a lot tighter than you remember it.
One can brake so late in the 911 GT2 RS that it's almost ridiculous. But of course you don't, because your passenger would jolt forward like a crash-test dummy and because public roads are poor playgrounds. This Porsche is fitted with six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers, with drilled and ventilated carbon-ceramic rotors and lightweight brake pads. To make the most of deceleration potential, the GT2 RS comes with extralarge heat-dissipation ducts in the front and with trumpet-shaped air intakes in the rear. When hot, the stopping apparatus shrieks like an old freight train, but that's a small price to pay for braking performance that calls for a replacement set of neck muscles by the end of the day. It's not just the fast-rewind negative acceleration that takes your breath away. It's also the urgency with which this Porsche squashes surplus energy that establishes real confidence, for the first time during this drive. Although it always helps to set the car straight before dropping the anchors, the computers have learned to cope very well with sudden changes like weight transfer, changes of direction, marginal adhesion, and split-friction surfaces. In the wet, it's a completely different ball game, because the Cup tires are very good at water-skiing but quite poor at carving.
One last time, we go out to explore our mutual limits. In more ways than one, the GT2 RS reminds me of the old Ferrari F40. Raw, extreme, basic, and yet very high-tech. In the F40, massive turbo lag followed by a mighty underhood explosion was what kept deflecting the line in heart-stopping fashion. In the GT2 RS, the flows of power are much more subtle. The two chargers work together, not in sequence. Throttle lag has been superseded by telepathic obedience. The torque curve is now shaped like a low, long plateau.
What does this mean to the captain at the helm? That he has even less time to respond, that the forces are even more brutal, that catch and release has turned from routine to a form of art. If you can find a reasonably smooth surface, a late sidestep followed by a brief correcting flick at the wheel is about as much drama as you want to induce. But those long slides that used to paint an unforgettable smile on one's face are much harder to ride out in this 911, which is always ready to bare its teeth. Although carefully massaging the throttle sounds like the easiest trick in the book, the ultrawide rear tires keep fighting the torque wave because their goal in life is to slice, not to slide.
I'm not sure if there exist enough rich Walter Rohrl-like bravados to fully relish the true potential of the ultimate rear-wheel-drive 911. Although I did approach the car with more respect than any other Porsche currently in production, my awe for the wild thing kept growing in the course of the day, and by evening, I handed back the key with a mix of relief and reluctance: Relief, because we have all the photos in the can and the car went back unscratched. Reluctance, because I could not pluck up enough courage, competence, and confidence to work this car through its paces and stay on top of the game at all times. It's not just the random snap oversteer that makes gray hair go white, it's also the almost forgotten counterswing that follows which proves that some skills don't age nearly as well as red wine. On a track, this is bound to be an almost invincible tool for the brave and gifted. On the autobahn, the GT2 RS has all the go one could ask for but not enough refinement so that one would be comfortable relaxing. On secondary roads, the most venomous 911 this side of the various Clubsport editions has got what it takes to throw down the gauntlet to any Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Bugatti. Except, perhaps, an adequately talented driver.
Photos
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/driven/1007_porsche_911_gt2_rs_bmw_m3_gts_drive/photo_00.html
Wow, that is specc'd exactly how I have spec'd mine! White gold wheels
I'm really liking the red. Never thought I'd say that but it looks awesome. 
Jul 29, 2010 8:06:25 PM
Porsche 911 GT2 RS review by Chris Harris
Flat out in the fastest 911 ever. Chris Harris drives Porsche's 611bhp, 205mph rear-drive GT2 RS...
What is it?
A £164,107 Porsche 911, with 611bhp and 516lb ft. It is the fastest 911 ever to leave the factory. Its sole aim appears to be putting every Porsche tuner out of business – I mean how much more power do you really need?
Technical highlights
The base engine is identical to the 997 GT2 (which is no longer built), but runs different turbochargers, new intercoolers, new pistons and a new engine management system to run 1.6 bar of boost, over the last cars 1.4bar. Claimed performance is of the ‘what-the-hell’ variety with 0-62mph in 3.5sec, 0-100mph in 6.8sec and a ‘Ring lap of 7min 18sec.
The chassis is basically slightly up-rated GT3 RS, which is a pretty solid base. There are a few adjustments to fit this turbo application and for even better response the rear axle has more solid linkages than the GT3 RS.
Aerodynamically, it’s quite similar to the 997 GT2, but runs a new splitter, new rear diffuser and an extra gurney on the rear wing. Doesn’t sound like much, but it nearly has as much downforce as the GT3 RS. All that carbon, plus plastic rear and side windows shave 70kg over the last GT2.
What’s it like to drive?
Comedy fast. I jumped out of a new 997 Turbo S into this thing and, at first, wondered what the fuss was all about. Being turbocharged, it doesn’t make much noise and it’s so easy to drive at low speed, rides so well, that you treat it like any normal 911.
The fixed buckets are identical to the GT3 RS’s, the dash is plain 911, there’s far less induction noise than you get in the normally aspirated cars. It’s actually all a little disappointing until you open the taps in third and the car drags the horizon onto your forehead.
There’s no PDK option, just a robust, short-throw manual. The clock would have you believe that a Turbo S is quicker to 62 and as fast to 100mph, but, as ever, the clock lies. This car is different-world fast to the Turbo S.
And of course it’s a challenge for the driver. No other turbocharged 911 comes close to offering the chassis balance that this car does. It has monster front–axle grip and it doesn’t set to that initial understeer that used to plague the 996 GT2. You turn, it grips, the motor lunges, the front axle grips more, then the crazy traction takes-over on the exit of turns. The steering is stunning. Drive it fast, use its potential for a few minutes and you have to back-away before the numbers get silly. The traction and stability control calibration is a masterstroke: you can use so much of the performance, so much of the time.
It’s freakishly comfortable too. Occasionally a low speed bump elicits a creak from those rear rose-joints, otherwise it rides no more harshly than a Carrera on sports suspension. In fact it might just be more supple.
I saw 334kmh on the speedo, and it was still pulling like a mentalist.
How does it compare?
It’s faster, more useable and far cheaper than a 599 GTO. But then it doesn’t feel as special, isn’t lathered in as much carbon and is virtually mute compared to the musical Fandango. Neither the Lamborghini LP670 SV or LP570-4 SL are as quick or as capable. But again they both trounce the GT2 RS for sheer drama.
Anything else I need to know?
Those front wings are new for this car. Instead of the GT3 RS’s ugly extensions, they’re one-piece items, albeit an optional one. It’s very expensive and doesn’t sound as good as the GT3 RS, and they should be making 300, not 500. But this is a remarkable car. Veyron aside, it’s the fastest road car I’ve driven – but it’s completely useable and it still involves you in the process. Want.
2010-Porsche-997-GT2-RS_Chris-Harris_Evo-article
http://www.nationalpost.com/cars/Preview+2011+Porsche/3337431/story.html
Like a million other crackpots, I have an idea to help BP wage its battle against errant fossil fuels — buy a fleet of Porsche 911s. Initially, this is going to seem like another in a long line of public relations gaffes for the oil giant whose now-former CEO so famously lamented that he’d “like his life back.” After all, nothing sums up insular ambivalence quite like buying a gas-guzzling supercar right in the middle of the biggest waste of natural resources in the history of oil exploration.
Nonetheless, I think the oil company should persevere, not just because, well, Porsches of all stripes are a barrel of fun, but because I honestly believe that with a few modifications, Porsche’s phantasmagorical new GT2 RS may be the solution to the Gulf of Mexico’s spillage problem.
You see, in making the new RS version of its turbocharged supercar, Porsche extracted all manner of horsepower — 620 ponies, in fact — from its relatively minuscule 3.6-litre engine. In so doing, the automaker turbo’d the poor little boxer-six within an inch of its life, force-feeding it 23.5 psi of turbo boost and putting the motor right on the edge of going “kablooey” (an exactingly precise technical term for the implosion of connecting rods, crankshafts and anything else rotating, which occurs when overly enthusiastic turbocharging frags an engine). Here’s where BP might be able to finally garner some brownie points. In order to deal with all that power, the RS engine boasts no less than nine oil pumps. And making my plan even more perfect, only one of those actually pumps oil — I think you can see it coming together here — while the other eight scavenge oil from the various dark recesses of the GT2’s engine. Lash on a couple of pontoons, hook up the rear axle to the mother of all propellers and you have the world’s fastest — 330 kilometres an hour, says Porsche — oil skimmer. Hey, these pumps must have prodigious sucking ability; the GT2 RS carries an oil tanker-like 11 litres of fossil funk in its race car-inspired remote reservoir.
Even if it can’t solve the world’s greatest environmental catastrophe, the 2011 GT2 RS has a lot going for it — such as the aforementioned 620 hp. Then there’s the fact that they only have to motivate 1,370 kilograms, giving the RS a power-to-weight ratio roughly equivalent to a Saturn rocket.
In remaking the GT2 into this lightweight RS format, Porsche has really busted open the piggy bank. The entire exhaust system is God-knows-how-much-it-costs titanium, there’s enough carbon fibre to outfit a Formula One car (you can even order carbon-fibre front fenders) and, if you are really dedicated to your weight watching, you can order a lithium-ion battery for $2,400, which saves a whopping 10 kg over that archaic lead-acid monstrosity.
The end result is a car that is well near demonic and as terrifying as cars get, though a quick perusal of the RS’s spec sheet might initially be disappointing. Porsche claims the GT2 accelerates to 100 kilometres an hour in 3.5 seconds — impressive, yes, but behind the Turbo S, which boasts 3.3 seconds from just 530 horses. Don’t be deceived. The Turbo S benefits from the extra traction of its all-wheel-drive system (the RS tries to transmit all its 620 hp and 516 pound-feet of torque through the rear wheels), and its seven-speed PDK system’s launch control optimizes clutch operation during takeoff (the GT2 is only available with a six-speed manual). Meanwhile, GT2s make do with only two driven wheels and a ham-fisted human such as Yours Truly to modulate the clutch, so both traction and power regulation are inferior.
Delve a little deeper into the spec sheet, however, and you discover the RS will sprint to 200 km/h an hour in a positively frightening 9.8 seconds and will hit 300 km/h in less than 30 seconds. It’s absolutely breathtaking from behind the wheel. From 2,500 to 4,500 rpm, the RS accelerates about as hard as a Turbo S; not surprising since the two cars share the same maximum torque. But, around 5,000 rpm — when the 911 Turbo’s progress is starting to tail off — the GT2 RS seems to gain two more pistons and an extra turbocharger, snorting like a angry rhino on steroids. The steering wheel starts getting light, the chassis seems to coil up like a giant spring and then the RS is launched as if it was a 1,000-cubic-centimetre superbike at full honk. Anyone saying he’s not intimidated is either lying or Walter Röhrl. By the way, the 63-year-old Röhrl (named the Rally Driver of the Century by the European motoring press) just set a new record for production cars around the famed Nürburgring race circuit in the RS, navigating 20.8 kilometres in seven minutes 18 seconds, faster than either the Dodge Viper ACR or Nissan GT-R.
In most conditions, a Turbo S would just be so much easier to drive. It’s not that the GT2 handles badly. Au contraire, it’s nigh on perfect — pinpoint sharp on turn-in, with non-existent roll and exquisite balance thanks to the sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Comps (P245/35ZR19s in front and huge 325/30ZR19s in back) putting all that power to the ground. But, where the standard Turbo is a big, friendly puppy, its all-wheel-drive managing all that torque with relative ease, the rear-drive GT2 RS always feels like an angry Rottweiler, ready to sink its teeth into anyone not giving it his full attention. Driving this car without switching on Porsche’s Active Stability Management (PASM) would be madness — it’s barely sane with it fully engaged.
So, absolutely, give me one as a race track toy. In capable hands — and mine are barely that — the GT2 RS is a weapon. It is the most powerful and fastest production Porsche of all time (yes, I’m counting the Carrera GT). It is also, strictly speaking, street legal, so it would be the ultimate Porsche to drive back and forth to track day shenanigans. But, for everyday riding and even for playing silly bugger on twisty backroads, the Turbo S is easier, more fun and, in most people’s hands, probably also quicker. It also costs about $100,000 less.
Be careful what you ask for goes the adage. Sports car drivers constantly demand more power. Porsche just delivered it. I hope the nine Canadians who have ponied up the requisite $297,000 are up to the task.
http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/news/octanenews/255196/first_drive_porsche_911_gt2_rs.html
When word seeped out that the new GT2 RS would have 88bhp more than the now defunct GT2, yet weigh 70kg less (at 1,370kg), instant iconic status seemed assured: this would be the most powerful Porsche road car yet made.
But the latest RS is about much more than just horsepower, even if that does tend to weigh heavily on your mind before driving it. It’s best viewed as a current gen2, GT3 RS, complete with all that car’s weight-saving modifications - such as the polycarbonate rear window and ‘lightweight’ interior - and then with more bespoke items fitted like a carbon fibre bonnet, carbon-plastic front wings and the small matter of a ferocious twin-turbo flat six mounted in the rear.
Throughout the GT2 RS there are signs of meticulous detail engineering, from the rose joints in the rear suspension to the integrated front wheel arch extensions, the polycarbonate rear side screens and even the deletion of the roof rack holders in the roof skin. The latter might save just 500g, but their omission is a testament to the work that’s gone into creating this car.
Strangely though, the first thing that strikes you when driving it is not the incredible performance, but the ease with which it can be driven normally, and its relative comfort. The ride quality is surprisingly good, the controls fairly light and totally precise, and there’s an agility about it that you can sense immediately.
Of course, what you’re really waiting for is that moment to fully open the taps: the moment you first feel ‘the force’. And what a force it is. This is a car where 160mph seems ridiculously within reach on a wide range of differing road types. With 0-100mph available in just 6.8sec, and 0-186mph in 28.9sec, unleashing the GT2 RS is like hanging onto the tail fin of an air-to-air missile.
But there’s so much more to this car than just straight-line speed. The way it steers is sensational, the front-end grip prodigious, and you find yourself relishing the corners even more so than the straights. Yes, it sounds business-like rather than multi-cylinder operatic, and for some it’ll be ‘just another’ 911, but this is surely one of the very greatest 911s yet made, and accolades don’t come much higher. At £167,915, when you consider the performance, it almost seems like something of a bargain. Iconic status? Totally.
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