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by Richard Lane 27 July 2018 Follow @@_rlane_ Share
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Variously faster, wider, stiffer, more powerful and more ‘motorsport’ than any road-going 911 that Porsche has yet made, the 911 GT2 RS – Weissach’s range-topping GT-car godfather – steps up for examination by the Autocar road test microscope this week.
With this car, Porsche comfortably surpasses the official engine output of even the 1990s-era 911 GT1 in competition trim. Leaving aside tuner specials, this is by some margin the most potent version of the firm’s celebrated sports car ever fitted with numberplates.
Carbon weave finish to the bonnet and roof is a signifier of the Weissach pack. A brightly coloured car would look a bit less garish without themRichard LaneDeputy road test editor
And you’re about to find out if it can, in line with its well-publicised success on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, eclipse Lamborghini ’s Huracán Performante to become the fastest road car we’ve timed around a lap of our dry handling circuit.
In the hands of Porsche test driver Lars Kern, the GT2 RS recorded a lap time of 6min 47.3sec at the Nordschleife last year, making it the fastest road-legal car to be timed there. What’s less well known, and arguably even more impressive, is that its record-setting lap was one of five flying laps done in the same stint, all of which were under the 6min 50sec marker – and any of which would have been quick enough to steal Lamborghini’s thunder.
The new GT2 becomes the latest in a line of five namesakes, the first of which appeared in 1995 as a homologation version of the 993-generation 911, built to allow Porsche’s motorsport department to make 911 race cars to suit GT2 sports car racing regulations, hence the derivative suffix.
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Although the original GT2’s 444bhp of peak power would hardly worry a modern supersports car driver, this was the car with handling wild enough to earn the GT2 the nickname that follows it around to this day: the widowmaker. Uniting all GT2s that have been sold since is a mechanical recipe consisting of a fiercely blown turbocharged flat six, lightweight construction, stiffened motorsport suspension and rear-wheel drive.
Related Porsche 911 GT2 RS 2017-2019 reviews
Porsche 911 GT2 RS 2017 first drive
And yet none has turned the performance dial up to 11 quite as boldly as this new 691bhp 991.2-generation GT2 RS. So is this a car of fearless brilliance or just one to be a bit afraid of?
Verdict Model tested: Rating:
Porsche 911 GT2 RS
GoodEngine-centric hot-rod charm unusual among 911sLooks as purposeful as any supercarPorsche’s trademark usability and motive character BadTrack handling is not quite in a GT3’s leagueFlat six isn’t as hair-raising as Porsche’s very best