This gravity-cheating material is also used for the roof, rear wing sideplates, exterior mirror components and front airblades. The interior features leather and Race-Tex upholstery, with the dashboard covered in antiglare Race-Tex. CFRP door handles and storage nets contribute to a lighter interior design. Optional features include a CFRP roll cage and a set of lightweight forged magnesium wheels, the latter saving a further 9kg.
For the 911 GT3 with Touring package, Porsche offers the Leichtbau package. This package includes a roof in the exterior colour, CFRP components for the stabiliser, coupling rods, and rear axle shear panel, as well as magnesium wheels and lightweight door panels. A shortened gear lever from the 911 S/T is included with the standard six-speed GT sports gearbox. An exclusive “Leichtbau” plaque is positioned in front of the gear lever.
Additionally, the 911 GT3 with a rear wing comes with the option of the Clubsport package, designed for track use, at no extra charge. This package includes a bolted steel roll cage, six-point harness for the driver, and a hand-held fire extinguisher. The optional lightweight sports bucket seats are a prerequisite for this package to be installed.
Porsche presents new 911 GT3 and GT3 Touring
Image: Supplied
Porsche on Friday unveiled its updated 911 GT3 and GT3 Touring models. It's a subtle update bringing with it sharper exterior styling, revised suspension and interior tweaks.
Both 911 GT3 models hit the asphalt with a re-contoured front diffuser, refined spoiler lip and modified underbody fins to increase downforce and optimise the air flow. Redesigned Matrix LED headlamps (available on the 911 GT3 with an optional white accent ring) combine all light functions and eliminate the need for additional lights in the front apron. Porsche said this enables an enlarged air inlet area as well as neater, more structured look.
At the rear of the car you'll find the diffuser, air inlets and engine lid have all been treated to a redesign, while the spoiler wears new angled sideplates. Filling the wheel arches are new alloy wheels staggered in size and 1.5kg lighter than the ones bolted to the outgoing model, effectively reducing unsprung mass. While the front axle gets 20" wheels wrapped with 255/35 rubber, the rear axle boasts 21" wheels shod with 315/30 tyres. Porsche also installed a new lightweight 40Ah lithium-ion battery saving another four kilograms.
Upgrades less obvious to the naked eye include specially developed, aerodynamically shaped trailing arms with a teardrop profile on the double-wishbone front axle. Porsche says this increases downforce in the wheel arch at high speeds and improves brake cooling. To ensure the downforce balance between the front/rear axles is maintained even when braking from high speeds, Porsche's savvy engineers have reduced pitching (anti-dive) by setting the front ball joint of the lower trailing arm lower on the front axle.
The road-biased 911 GT3 Touring model makes its presence felt with the addition of a new “911 GT3 touring” logo on the rear lid grille. It also sports a unique extendable rear spoiler with a tear-off edge — the famed Gurney flap — and an adapted underbody fin design. Inside its cabin you'll find a high-quality leather interior with a classic sporty ambience and an optional rear-seat system; a feature Touring customers have long been keen on.
The interior of the non-Touring 911 GT3 adopts a two-seater configuration and comes with track-focused features such as a rotary ignition switch. There's also a new digital instrument panel with a contrasting colour scheme that lets drivers read the tachometer and stopwatch function in a flash. The Track Screen display mode reduces the digital displays to the left and right of the tachometer to key data on tyres, oil, water and fuel and indicates optimal shifting time by way of a shift flash. If desired, the tachometer display can be rotated so that the cut-off speed of 9,000rpm is at the 12 o'clock marking.
Options include a roll-cage and a new lightweight sports bucket seat with a folding backrest and a seat shell made of CFRP. The seat is equipped with an integrated thorax airbag, electric height adjustment and manual longitudinal adjustment; a three-stage seat heater is available as an option. A part of the headrest padding can be removed. This improves ergonomics for most drivers when wearing a helmet during circuit use. The folding function of the backrest, which is activated via a loop, enables access to the optional rear-seat system offered for the first time in the 911 GT3 with Touring package.
Customers can specify Adaptive Sports Seats Plus with electric 18-way adjustment.
Porsche has introduced several equipment packages for the new 911 GT3, including the Weissach package, which is available for the first time. This package offers components such as an anti-roll bar, coupling rods and a shear panel on the rear axle made from CFRP.
Image: Supplied
This gravity-cheating material is also used for the roof, rear wing sideplates, exterior mirror components and front airblades. The interior features leather and Race-Tex upholstery, with the dashboard covered in antiglare Race-Tex. CFRP door handles and storage nets contribute to a lighter interior design. Optional features include a CFRP roll cage and a set of lightweight forged magnesium wheels, the latter saving a further 9kg.
For the 911 GT3 with Touring package, Porsche offers the Leichtbau package. This package includes a roof in the exterior colour, CFRP components for the stabiliser, coupling rods, and rear axle shear panel, as well as magnesium wheels and lightweight door panels. A shortened gear lever from the 911 S/T is included with the standard six-speed GT sports gearbox. An exclusive “Leichtbau” plaque is positioned in front of the gear lever.
Additionally, the 911 GT3 with a rear wing comes with the option of the Clubsport package, designed for track use, at no extra charge. This package includes a bolted steel roll cage, six-point harness for the driver, and a hand-held fire extinguisher. The optional lightweight sports bucket seats are a prerequisite for this package to be installed.
Both GT3 variants remain powered by Porsche's glorious 4.0l, naturally aspirated six-cylinder boxer engine making 375kW and 470Nm. Capable of revving to 9,000rpm, this unit has been beefed up with revised cylinder heads and more aggressive camshafts plucked from the 911 GT3 RS. It further benefits from flow-optimised individual throttle valves and optimised oil coolers. Power is sent to the rear wheels via either a six-speed manual or seven-speed PDK transmission; the final drive ratio of each 8% shorter than in the predecessor. This not only aids with in-gear acceleration but also makes the car easier to drive and more planted through swooping, technical corners.
Porsche says a 911 GT3 fitted with the manual 'box will sprint from 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and reach a top speed of 313km/h. Spec the PDK and you'll zoom from standstill to 100km/h in a snappier 3.4 seconds and top out at 311km/h. Swings and roundabouts.
Porsche South Africa confirmed the 911 GT3 and GT3 Touring will be available to order by the end of this year. Both are priced from R4,709,000 with a five-year/100,000km Driveplan.
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