992 Porsche 911 GT3 RS – the ultimate road and track car _ evo REVIEWS

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enforeign however good you think the new 992 GT3 RS might be to drive double it and then have another little think again because from its mind-boggling new aerodynamic grip to its raw and possibly for the last time holy atmospheric flat six performance the RS is a true Line in the Sand kind of car one that Porsches GT department has gone to a brand new place to create knowing that this might well be the last of the last as such the GT3 RS has little more power than the GT3 on which it's based it's fully to Flat 6 producing just 14 BHP more nor is it any lighter at 1450 kilograms despite its 911 Turbo based body shell being made mostly from new carbon Composite Materials instead the new RS is all about aerodynamics and the level of grip and pure track speed it can generate as a result its fast new single front radiator for example is there to make the air that flows above and beneath its new skin work as efficiently as possible and alongside a simply massive new electronically adjustable rear wing this helps it produce 860 kilograms of peak downfalls above about 170 miles an hour and you know what to hell with the fact that there's no boot inside there's a new steering wheel that's festooned with buttons these enable you to adjust the settings for the bump and rebound characteristics of the dampers through eight different stages and also the preload and on power load settings for the diff the level of intervention from the traction and stability control systems plus the shift speeds of the Dual clutch gearbox and that's before you go anywhere near the button Mart d r s which allows you to alter the angle of that vast rear wing to increase or just ditch the downforce through any given corner it's a potentially bamboozling set of upgrades to a car that was already pretty complex and just for good measure the Silverstone GP circuit was damp in places when they threw us the keys oh well in for a Deutsche Mark as they say 860 kilograms of downforce admittedly that's not until full beans need you know needing 170 odd miles an hour that you get that downforce but it's still got more than two times as much down Force as a regular GT3 but a GT3 has quite a bit of downforce it's got this DRS system I've left it in Auto so basically the DRS works out what it wants to do works out the best grittiest setting I really don't need to be in that gear through here out onto the hanger straight they say this engine only really gives the full effect of the difference between this and the GT3 engine in the last 1500 revs because there are different cams the intake system is different you've only got another 15 horsepower and you've actually got a touch less Peak talk than in a GT3 but the torque just below the peak is a lot stronger so the overall effect even when you're kind of lightish throttle is of more torque and of quite a lot more power foreign wow I mean there's understeer there's a tiny bit of understood because this track is so wet brakes are warming up the tires are still freezing cold you can tell I mean that's just understeer understeer I need to mess around with the diffs a bit to get rid of that and the dampers but I'm not going to do that at the moment I'm just driving it for the time being do you know what you come onto a straight and you want more go that's outrageous oh man this thing is lovely lovely through here it feels really Stiff The Springs are 50 percent stiffer than in the regular GT3 50 so the guy in front of me is driving a GT3 a regular GT3 and I reckon he's trying quite hard I'm right up his job so you've got a slightly wider rear tire on the RS slightly wider front tire which means the aspect ratio is the same because the tire is that much wider you've got a tiny bit higher sidewall so you get a tiny bit more compliance a few of these brakes very good is the answer to that what I can tell you in the here and now though is that this thing is absolutely nothing I've been looking forward to driving this car for months and months and now that I have I think it's even better I know it's even better than I thought it was going to be I do not know how these guys do it it's got so much downforce it's so sharp it's so lovely to drive and yet it feels quite friendly I'll have another go in it a bit later on and maybe get a bit of fruitier with some of the settings particularly with the diff and the dampers and the TC but for the time being and after quite a few laps of the Silverstone GP truck in it who'd have thought I'm in love as in the regular GT3 there are three basic Drive modes to choose from normal Sport and track but only in track mode do you get full use of all the toys which means you can't leave a GT3 RS set up like a track monster accidentally for someone else to then climb into and get bitten by which is nice the brakes are fractionally bigger than the gt3s at the front but are still made of steel as standard with carbon Ceramics only being available as options just as they are on the GT4 RS the tires with the ubiquitous Pilot Sport cut twos on the car we drove although P0 trafales and Goodyear Eagle F1 Super Sport RS are also available so after I'd come in and had a little think they let me have one more go in the RS this time with a bit more understanding about the car itself and the various toys it contains but also with a nice clear circuit I.E no GT3 to follow right then go number two in the new gc3 RS it's still a little bit damp unfortunately what I've got the dampers in a slightly more aggressive setting than before I've got the diff in a slightly more aggressive setting than before if anything there's less grit this time dynamic wow foreign I'm not saying much this time because we are going quite a lot faster so sorted under brakes it really is amazing under brakes there is definitely more happening at the top of the Rev range definitely definitely foreign not quite sure what they're coming from there in the end it isn't the Aero grip that defines the RS thank heavens it's the whole package the engine the gearbox the brakes the steering the sound it makes the excitement it's still quite clearly delivers to anyone fortunate enough to climb behind the wheel in the end it feels to every inch like a conventional GT3 RS but with more of everything wow what a vehicle I need to spend more time in this car we need to spend more time in this car to work out just how good it is but I have an inkling already a very strong Inkling this is right up there with the very very best of all time just proves that you don't need loads of horsepower 500 and something team what is it 16 horsepower acted to fully understand the RS to find out what really Lies Beneath its dramatic new carbon composite skin you do need timing it to uncover its secrets to play with the various toys it has to offer because if you don't the magic within will lie mostly untapped it's not an especially easy thing to unlock and it shouldn't be finally get a glimpse of what this car is truly capable of it's pretty mind-altering possibly because you always climb out of it knowing there's more to come sometimes a lot more yeah this could well be the best 911 RS yet and therefore you'd assume ever and as you know there have been some quite good ones over the years foreign\n"