This is the best normally aspirated motor Porsche has ever built

Things you need to know about the new GT3 RS. First, the gap between it and the cooking ‘997.2’ GT3 on which it is based is much bigger than it was between the first-generation 997 GT3 and GT3 RS. I’ve tried to think of a simpler way of saying that, but I can’t.

Whereas the old RS was a slightly lighter, lairier-looking version of the GT3, this time the car has more power (up 15bhp to 444bhp), runs shorter gearing and has a much more aggressive aero package. Basically, Porsche is positioning the GT3 as its standard fast-road and trackday weapon, but giving the ever-increasing numbers of circuit-obsessives a car that is, ostensibly, designed to be used on a racetrack most of the time.

It’s impressive, then, that it’s so damn good on the road too. The car now runs wider front and rear Cup rubber (245 fronts and 325 rears), but it doesn’t tramline any more than the standard car. And while there’s no sound deadening beyond the lightweight carpet set, so it is loud, as with all lightweight 911s, you leave the engine noise behind at speed, so it doesn’t fry your brain over long distances.

There are weight-saving measures everywhere. The option to delete the hi-fi now includes stripping the speakers from the doors, 8kg is saved by using a single-mass flywheel (which is 1kg lighter than the old RS’s flywheel), and a £1000 lithium-ion battery pinches a further 11kg.

Aerodynamically, this car is a big step on from its predecessor, too. The new, adjustable rear wing is vast and, with the extended front splitter, brings 170kg of downforce at 186mph. In fact, it’s so effective at speed that above 150mph a base GT3 is just as quick as the RS, but by the time you reach that speed on a track the RS will have scarpered away from the last bend so much more quickly that it won’t matter.

It may weigh 1370kg, but the RS is still a deliciously analogue device. It sounds outrageous (a new titanium exhaust has been fitted) and the controls are heavy and communicative.

No, it doesn’t feel like a completely different car to the normal GT3, and we’ll need to drive it on a circuit to investigate some of the claimed performance advantages, but after this brief taster, it more than justifies that special badge.
 
For the full in-depth road test of the GT3 RS, read evo magazine – on sale now.