Spied: Porsche 911 GT3 RS sheds camo ahead of rumored Goodwood debut
If “free-breathing, maximum track attack 911” is a phrase that gets you all hot and bothered, good news: Spy photographers at the Nurbürgring have captured camouflage-free images of Porsche’s latest, erm, free-breathing, maximum track attack 911. The 992-generation 911 GT3 RS will likely continue right where the outgoing 991.2-gen car left off: wings, wheels, and walloping power. Let’s dig in.
The hallmarks of Porsche’s RS—short for Rennsport—lineup are the massive wings, and track-first tuning mentality applied to every nut and bolt of the car. Think 911 Cup Car with a license plate, and you’re on the right path. This new car certainly has the wing to imply track-day hero: a massive, goose-necked ironing board hangs aft of the iconic sloping roofline. Interestingly, if you look closely at the pictures below, it appears that the upper horizontal component of the wing moves—akin to the DRS (Drag Reduction System) flap found on modern Formula 1 cars. Is the GT3 RS finally getting into the active aero game? That rear section would lay flat during the straights to reduce drag and increase top speed, then flip nearly vertical under braking or cornering to provide more stability and downforce in the twisty bits. Active wings on Porsches certainly aren’t a new thing—the 964-generation 911 Carrera had an electronically-deploying wing all the way back in the early ’90s. Still, we haven’t seen this treatment on the GT3 RS yet—in any of the previous generations.
Elsewhere, every part of the bodywork on this brute looks optimized for airflow, cooling, or some mix of the two. Vertical endplates shroud both sides of the front wheel to help stabilize the air zipping around the massive, center-lock front wheels, and the same sort of endplate can be found behind the rear wheels as well. Menacing air exhausts in the front fenders will probably help relieve pressure built up in the wheel wells, in addition to providing exits for the air used to cool the pizza-dish-sized front brakes. The huge cooling nostrils in the hood don’t look all that sexy, but when your car’s mechanicals (engine, gearbox, differentials, and more) are generating this much heat, you gotta flow healthy gusts of air over strategically place radiators.
Speaking of engine goodies, expect an updated and even more high-strung version of the naturally-aspirated four-liter flat-six found in the previous GT3 RS (and the new Cayman GT4 4.0, this car’s spunky mid-engined little brother.) That engine was good for 520 hp and 346 lb-ft of torque in its last go-around, and we’d expect those numbers to grow, if only by a touch; 355 lb-ft and 530 hp would be plenty, as this car isn’t about raw pace exclusively—the 640-hp 911 Turbo S has that area covered. Porsche’s telepathic PDK dual-clutch automatic will likely be the only box on offer here. If you want three pedals, the 911 GT3 has you covered.
It’s rumored that Porsche’s new apex predator will bow at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The marque has made no such allusions, but we wouldn’t put it past a well-oiled machine such as Porsche to come out with a mic drop like that. Whether it’s this weekend or sometime later this year, we can’t wait to see the new 911 GT3 RS revealed in all its bewinged, yowling glory.
