Your wish is granted in the latest Porsche 911 GT3 RS, seen as the ultimate manifestation of what a road-legal race-bred car should be.
Porsche Malaysia recently launched the Porsche 911 GT3 RS in conjunction with the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia which returned to the Sepang International Circuit for a second time this season.
The first thing that catches your eye with the 911 GT3 RS is the ‘significantly large’ swan-neck supported two-part rear wing that underlines its motorsport breeding.
Hunter (centre) unveiling the 911 GT3 RS with Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific managing director Alexandre Gibot (left) and Sime Darby Racing Team race driver Nazim Azman.
Porsche notes that for the first time on a Porsche production vehicle, the upper edge of the rear wing is higher than the car’s roof.
And that’s just one of many sporty items that distinctly stands the 911 GT3 RS out from the normal traffic.
In the words of Sime Darby Auto Performance CEO Christopher Hunter: “The new 911 GT3 RS resembles a race car more closely than ever before, offering near Cup car-like performance for our growing base of track enthusiast customers.”
Taking that cue is the front that used to serve as a luggage area in this rear-engine sports car; there is a meshed grille in the bonnet section that highlights the large, angled centre radiator to cool the 4.0-litre engine.
In the 911 GT3, the engine cooling system features a three-radiator layout while the RS central radiator system is successfully used in the Le Mans class-winning Porsche 911 RSR.
Porsche says the new central radiator system frees up space on the sides to integrate active aerodynamic elements.
One of them is the continuously adjustable wing elements in front and when combined with the two-part rear wing and other aerodynamic elements provide 408kg of downforce at 200kph.
This is said to be double the downforce generated by the preceding model and three times as much over the current 911 GT3; at 285kph, the total downforce is 860kg.
A car’s downforce is what keeps the vehicle firmly on the road at high speed and the greater the downforce, the more stable it would be.
Another highlight is that the DRS (drag reduction system), often heard in Formula One racing, is fitted in a production Porsche for the first time.
The DRS is used to achieve low body drag and higher road speed on straight stretches; in the 911 GT3 RS, the DRS allows the wings to be flattened out at the push of a button within a specified operating range.
To ensure that the 911 GT3 RS would decelerate confidently, the airbrake function is activated during high-speed braking.
Helping the braking performance are the wing elements at the front and rear, which are automatically set to the maximum to create an aerodynamic deceleration effect.
Another Le Mans-winning element (Porsche 911 GT1) is the louvred strakes above the front wings that reduce turbulent pressure in the wheel arches.
A neat feature is diverting hot air from the centrally located radiator via large nostrils on the front bonnet and having fins on the roof to direct air outwards so that cooler air would enter the engine intakes at the rear.
In the new 911 GT3 RS, Porsche says the openings in the widened rear wheel arches are used exclusively to improve aerodynamics and are not to draw in process air.
The detailed aerodynamic focus has also led to the suspension components being optimised; Porsche says the components of the front double-wishbone suspension are designed with teardrop-shaped profiles to increase front axle downforce by around 40kg at top speed.
The 911 GT3 RS comes with three drive modes, Normal, Sport and Track; the third one allows individual settings to control suspension damping performance, rear differential lock and DRS.
This Porsche comes with ‘road-legal’ sports tyres fitted to forged light-alloy centre lock wheels that are of the size 275/35 R20 in front and 335/30 R21 at the rear.
The 4.0-litre naturally aspirated engine is further optimised over that in the 911 GT3 RS; power is increased to 525PS and the maximum torque is 465Nm.
This is achieved with new camshafts with modified cam profiles while motorsport elements are in the single-throttle intake system and rigid valve drive.
The transmission is a seven-speed PDK with which the 911 GT3 RS accelerates to 100kph in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 296kph in seventh gear.
Lightweight construction is what the Porsche RS models are all about and the 911 GT4 RS is no different.
Despite the sports car having many larger components, it only weighs in at 1,450kg (DIN kerb) due mainly to the extensive use of CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced polymer or plastic).
These include the doors, front wings, roof, front bonnet and bucket-type seats.
Outrageous race-bred sports cars don’t come cheap and the latest 911 GT3 RS could be exclusively yours with a price starting from RM2,630,000.
