Watch new Porsche 911 GT3 smash Nürburgring record for manual cars
Chassis tweaks, not engine power, knocks 3.5 seconds off old GT3 lap time
Porsche has just sent its latest 911 GT3 — fitted with a manual gearbox, no less — around the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife race track in a time of 6 minutes, 56.294 seconds. That’s a blisteringly fast pace at which to cover 12.9 of the most difficult miles in motor-dom. Even better, Porsche has released a video of the hair-raising lap, which you can watch above.
Any Nordschleife lap time south of seven minutes is worthy of note, especially if it is a road-legal car, with numberplates and treaded tyres. But to put it the achievement in further perspective, the time set by the new 911 GT3 was more than 9.5 seconds quicker than the previous record and 3.6 seconds faster than the time set by the old 911 GT3 that was fitted with the PDK automatic transmission — these days considered quicker than a manual ‘box.
And it took about a minute and a half longer than the Porsche 919 Evo, which is very impressive indeed given that car was a highly modified version of Porsche’s Le Mans 24hrs-winning 919 hybrid racing car, specially set up to go around the great race tracks of the world setting lap records.
The new 911 GT3 lap record was set by Jörg Bergmeister, former racing driver and a long time Porsche alumnus, with wins in the American Le Mans Series to his name. Bergmeister was driving the latest, updated, version of the 911 GT3, which is indeed a road legal car but one that’s perilously close to being a racing car.
The car used was fitted with Porsche’s optional “Weissach Pack”, named after the company’s own test track, which includes more carbon-fibre and magnesium parts, a bolted-in roll cage, a six-point safety harness, and modified suspension. All of which helps to save some 22kg in weight compared to the standard GT3. And still, let me remind you, road legal.
Surely the car could have gone even faster with the PDK automatic, and its racing-style paddle-shifters, though? Well, it seems that Porsche wanted to make something of a #SaveTheManuals point with this record run.
“More and more 911 GT3 customers are opting for the six-speed manual transmission,” said Andreas Preuninger, something of a legend himself, and the head of Porsche’s GT model division. “And more and more often we are asked by these customers how fast a 911 GT3 with manual transmission would be on the Nordschleife.
“We have now answered this question and — although we know that the variant with PDK is significantly faster — we drove our official lap time with a manual six-speed gearbox.
“Even without the automated, super-fast and precise gearshifts of the PDK, and with a conventional instead of electronically controlled limited-slip differential, the new 911 GT3 shaved around 3.6 seconds off the time of its predecessor with PDK.”
The lap time was set on a mild day, with a 12C ambient temperature, and a track temperature of 27C. The 911 was fitted with road-legal Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 R tyres (255/35 R20 at the front and 315/30 R21 at the rear). The manual 911 GT3’s time was verified by an on-hand notary, just so it’s nice and official.
To make the 911 GT3 faster, Porsche didn’t give its flat-six, naturally-aspirated, 4-litre, 525hp engine any more power, but it did make some tweaks to the chassis, gearbox, and suspension to make the car more controllable.
What was it like behind the wheel? Bergmeister was effusive in his praise, of course.
“The new 911 GT3 inspires even more confidence at the limit than the previous model. I was faster in almost every corner,” he said.
“We learnt a lot from the 911 GT3 RS, especially with the chassis. The car is much more stable on bumps and over the curbs. And thanks to the eight per cent shorter gear ratio, there is noticeably more drive from the rear axle when accelerating with the same engine power.
“Even if it would have been a few seconds faster with the seven-speed PDK — with the six-speed manual gearbox I definitely had more to do on the fast lap — and it was therefore even more fun.”
In production car terms, the 911 GT3 manual isn’t the fastest Porsche on the ‘Ring — Bergmeister himself went 12 seconds faster in an RS version of the 911 GT3, running on slightly racier Michelin tyres, and there’s also a seriously rapid big-turbo 911 GT2 RS, using a performance kit provided by Porsche’s semi-works racing team, Manthey, which went around in 6.38.835.
Just for comparison’s sake, the last time Formula One cars raced on this long Nordschleife circuit, was in 1976, and pole position was set by the late, great James Hunt driving a McLaren M23, powered by the famous 3-litre Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine. Hunt was precisely ten seconds slower than the manual gearbox, road-legal, 911 GT3.
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