Porsche has smashed yet another Nürburgring record and this time they’ve taken the title for the fastest production car with a manual transmission to lap the Green Hell.
The manual 911 GT3 set a whopping lap time of 6:56:294 minutes – almost 10 seconds faster than the previous record set by the Dodge Viper ACR – which stood for seven years.
According to Porsche Director GT Model Line, Andreas Preuninger, more and more 911 GT3 customers are opting for the manual transmission. And as the numbers grew, many started questioning “how fast would the manual GT3 lap the Nürburgring?”
“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.” said Andreas.
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Porsche brand ambassador Jörg Bergmeister – who piloted the car in the record-breaking lap – said the new 911 GT3 was far more confidence inspiring and was faster in almost every corner compared to the previous generation GT3.
Bergmeister added, “We learned 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 8%-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,” Bergmeister said.
The 911 GT3 is fitted with a 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six that pumps out 510 hp and 450 Nm. The manual GT3 has a 0-100 km/h in just 3.9 seconds, a top speed of 313 km/h, and revs all the way to 9,000 rpm.
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This particular record-breaking 911 GT3 was also fitted with the Weissach pack with upgrades including numerous weight saving components like a carbon fibre roof, spoiler, trims and magnesium wheels to decrease unsprung mass accompanied by additional stability upgrades with anti-roll bars and coupling rods on the rear axle.
Along with the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tyres from the Weissach pack, the 911 GT3 was set not just to break but trounce the previous record holder.
GALLERY
