George Clooney got himself a little birthday present this year: a brand new Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Starting at a measly $175,000, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS is a top-of-the-line performance car that keeps racing fans drooling.
The 2016 model is set to premiere next year. In an interview with Sportscar 365 , Head of Porsche Motorsport Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser confirmed the 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS will debut next January at an International Motor Sport Association (IMSA) competition at Daytona. And if that’s not enough to get you salivating, Porsche also has released much-anticipated details about the next generation 911 GT3 and the GT3 RS.
The Porsche 911 will run in The Roar Before the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2016, forgoing racing this year to concentrate on a debut in Florida. “[Right now] we’re [focusing on] testing, testing, testing, refinement and reliability. This is our target for the car,” Walliser told Sportscar 365 .
The expected due date to release the Porche 911 was pushed back by a late decision to switch to the four-liter, flat six engine to appeal to the manufacturer’s customer base, according to Walliser.
“It was a late decision in the project but I think the right decision because we are now close to the street car. We have to also look at run time costs for our customers, so we have a production-based engine as the old engine was running out, that was well known. We’re concentrating on testing and building new cars and bring it to the customers. Shipping them to the U.S. will be a big logistics behind it, in order to have the spare parts ready [for Daytona].”
And with an unbelievable 500 horsepower engine that does 0-60 in 3.1 seconds, 338 pound feet of torque, and a new “pit lane mode” that keeps a set speed when entering pit lane, the wait will be worth it. These features combined means the 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS shaves five seconds of lap time off, bringing its times at Nürburgring to a new standard of seven minutes and 20 seconds.
Walliser is expecting four or five Porsche 911 GT3 RS contenders at Daytona in January for the season-opening TUDOR United SportsCar Championship round. “You know we have a long history in supporting customers [in the U.S.],” he said. “We’re figuring out now and are in discussions with customers on what will be their programs. For sure, as Porsche Motorsport, we always support the technical side and with [works] drivers and so-on. If it’s a more factory based support, then we have to decide. It depends a little bit on the customer side.”
The company also revealed details about the next generation Porsche 911 GT3 RS, reports Digital Trends . Porsche’s head of GT series production Andreas Preuninger divulged that the secret to a better Porsche 911 GT3 RS isn’t power, but shaving off as much weight as possible. Improving the power to weight ratio, rather than simply adding more power, will be the key to improving the already carnivorous GT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zxs_RJu5E10
[Image credit: YouTube]