If Silverstone had been warm and dry on the day of our test, I might very well now be gushing about this car’s incredible lateral grip, high-speed stability and outright stopping power. As it was, in the wet, it was quite tough to judge what the GT3 RS adds over and above the already-formidably-fast GT3’s circuit capability. Tough, that is – although not impossible.
The 911 GT3 RS isn’t notably quicker-accelerating than a standard GT3, but it does have that dartier steering response and keener sense of agility that has characterised wide-tracked RS cars for so long. Even in the wet, you can feel that active aero really working – pushing the chassis groundward on its wheels and adding reassuring adhesion through quicker bends, only to ease off again through the slower ones and remind you how little pure mechanical grip a wet and greasy surface might otherwise be granting you on cold Cup tyres.
Porsche’s operating plan for the test driving was to have an instructor in a regular GT3 lead each RS-driving journalist around the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, the former adapting his speed to the competence and confidence of the latter, or so Porsche had thought. As it turned out, through fast corners like Abbey, Stowe and Maggots, it was amusing to watch the expert racing drivers up ahead struggling for high-speed grip and braking stability, their lesser GT3s squirming around and locking up, from the relative security of a car that was just sticking to the track better.
On a very wide and smooth race track, it was impossible to even begin to judge how the GT3 RS might ride on the road; and with spring rates cranked up 50% even over the already high settings of a regular GT3, it seems reasonable to wonder. We will wait and see.
The car does come with one acknowledged compromise on usability: there’s no ‘frunk’ at all on this 911. Porsche had to rework the car’s cooling system in order to make room for its active aero, and the new central radiator (based on the S-Duct concept of Porsche’s race cars) takes up the space where you might otherwise have carried your luggage.