Cars in the Wild

There is nothing like a Porsche. There are plenty of manufacturers in the same market, other cars in the same category, but no one does it like the boys from Stuttgart. Some of its competitors are better, while many others get their doors blown off, but the people who own Porsches and drive them and race them are Porsche to the core. The purest iteration of the Porsche language is embodied in the 911, the iconic sports car the company has been making since 1963. And of the innumerable variants of the glorious 911 stands the GT3 – the pure, track focused version of Porsche’s purest automobile.

The GT3 follows a pretty genius marketing plan – charge more and give customers less. Sounds sheisty, but it isn’t. The only things you get less of are weight, distraction, and time spent on each lap of your favorite race track. This particular example (doesn’t it look epic in black?) was spotted at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway two weekends ago during the 24 Hours of LeMons race. Mounted at the back of the GT3 in quintessential 911 fashion, is a 3.6-liter flat-six engine that develops 415 horsepower and manhandles the ever important dash to 60 miles per hour benchmark in 4.1 seconds. Interestingly, Road & Track Magazine recorded a 60 mph run in 3.8 seconds. Competitors and posers will be admiring the size of the GT3’s diesel rear wing all the way up to the car’s top speed of 193 mph.

But, this car isn’t focused only on outright speed – world class handling and neatly slicing a race track to ribbons are the GT3’s true calling. There are very few cars with the balanced nature, communicative feedback, and pure tenacity of a GT3 on full attack. For as much as Top Gear is the outlet TDC turns to for videos and commentary, auto-geek Chris Harris (@harrismonkey) composes some of the most insightful car reviews you can find anywhere. Check out his breakdown of the GT3 by clicking HERE.

Another great thing about Porsche is they are always creating newer and faster variants of their already bonkers cars. Recently they created the GT3 RS 4.0, a car that makes pretty much everything else a few classes up and down the social ladder wilt with terror. A colossal 4.0-liter flat-six that makes 500 horsepower has been shoehorned into the back of the 4.0, resulting in low-3 second sprints to 60 mph. The 4.0 also inherits a range of parts and technology from Porsche’s racing program which make it a barely street legal racecar. Check out another excellent Chris Harris on the GT3 RS 4.0 video HERE.

Thank you, Porsche, for making cars like the GT3 – they are the stuff of dreams!