Home Acura NSX Holy Crap, The Lightweight Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport Makes 612 Glorious, Naturally-Aspirated Horsepower

Holy Crap, The Lightweight Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport Makes 612 Glorious, Naturally-Aspirated Horsepower

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Holy Crap, The Lightweight Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport Makes 612 Glorious, Naturally-Aspirated Horsepower

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Unveiled at Porsche’s annual Rennsport Reunion festivities, the Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport is undeniably the most insane new 911 on the market, especially since it isn’t even street-legal. Fundamentally, it’s a version of the track-only 911 GT3 R with some of the rules-mandated stuff peeled back, because wealthy clients just want to go fast.

20230907 Porsche 911 gt3 r rennsport Profile

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See, classed, homologated sports car racing typically involves a balance of performance [BoP] to lift naturally slower cars up and hold naturally faster cars back. Typically, this involves detuning engines and/or adding weight until the fastest car in the field hits a power-to-weight ratio that grants slower cars some competitiveness. However, the 911 GT3 R Rennsport isn’t a homologated race car. Therefore, Porsche was free to turn the wick up. Way, way up.

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How does 612 horsepower from a 4.2-liter naturally-aspirated flat-six sound? That’s right, Porsche’s posting up these numbers without forced induction, without all the combustion cycles of a big V12, and without many rules to get in the way. The red end of the tach doesn’t arrive until 9,400 RPM, the engine makes peak power on a mixture of 75 percent gasoline and 25 percent ethanol, and gears four, five, and six in the six-speed sequential transaxle match up perfectly with the Daytona gearset used on the homologated race car.

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Oh, and did I mention that the 911 GT3 R Rennsport only weighs 2,734 pounds? Yeah, that’s a full-on supercar power-to-weight ratio in a low-volume trackday special, so you bet this thing comes with some sticky rubber — Brand new race-spec Michelin Pilot tires that Porsche says “benefit from a new construction associated with a new compound tread that result in an improved warm-up and drivability compared to the Michelin Pilot Sport M S9 (S9M).” Color me intrigued, as tires are arguably the most important parts on a car, next to the nut behind the wheel.

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So what about bodywork? Well, the hood and the roof are taken from the 911 GT3 R, but every other outward-facing panel has been strategically altered with the sole goal of aerodynamic optimization. From the faired-in flics to the revised bumper grillework, this thing means business down to the smallest lines. Of course, it still looks like a 911, which means that despite its ultra-wide carbon fiber coachwork, this trackday toy should still be recognizable by many. I’m particularly fond of the enormous RSR-throwback wing, but that’s just me.

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However, not everything on this apex predator is a thorough improvement. Porsche has replaced the exterior mirrors with cameras, tech that’s hot garbage for very scientific reasons. Between latency, physics of light, depth of field, and luminance, these flashy pieces of tech may offer an aerodynamic advantage over traditional mirrors, but they’re far less user-friendly. If you want to learn more, Jason has an excellent explainer.

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Minor mirror gripe aside, this insane 911 certainly has the goods to back up its looks. It’s powerful, relatively light, and completely bonkers in the best way possible. Porsche only plans on building 77 911 GT3 R Rennsport examples, which is just as well, seeing as the global pool of well-heeled complete lunatics is, erm, small. Still, imagine pulling up to a trackday and seeing one of these in the paddock. Point-bys, anyone?

(Photo credits: Porsche)

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