It was on January 26 of last year when Porsche originally teased the next generation 911 GT3 in its Super Bowl ad and we haven’t seen the complete racing toy yet. Fortunately, the wait is almost over when the Zuffenhausen brand announced last week via a teaser that the world premiere would take place on February 16. Meanwhile, a new video has been released to ease the wait until next Tuesday’s big premiere.
For some reason, Porsche does not explicitly say that it is the GT3, it just describes it as the “new GT sports car”. We strongly believe that the car being discussed here is the GT3, as the 14-second clip shows the finished car in the same shade of blue as the one presented a year ago. In addition, Chris Harris’ video for Top Gear in late November 2020 showed an identically painted car.
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Having been invited by Porsche to enter a prototype at the end of last year, we already have some confirmed technical specifications that we can share. At the heart of the new 911 GT3 will be an evolution of the naturally aspirated 4.0-liter six-cylinder engine of the 991.2 Speedster. It sports a 9,000 rpm redline and packs 510 horsepower or an extra 10 hp over the previous generation GT3, while maintaining the same weight of 3,116 pounds.
Porsche GT chief Andreas Preuninger told us that about 80 percent of the engineering team’s efforts were channeled into getting the engine to meet increasingly stringent emission regulations. The remaining 20% was used to take the GT3 to the next level, partly achieved by improving aerodynamics as the downforce increased by 50% without affecting drag.
Although the spring’s stiffness has increased by 25 percent, we found that the prototype offers a “flexible and compatible ride” after Porsche’s GT division spent countless hours adjusting damping. The rear suspension was essentially carried over from the 991.2 GT3, which means it still has a multi-link arrangement with steering on the rear wheels.
Further changes took place in the front suspension, where the next generation model adopts forged aluminum wishbones borrowed from the company’s race cars. The wheels are also larger than before, measuring 20 inches and 9.5 inches wide on the front axle, while the rear sports 21-inch alloys 12 inches wide. The wheels are chocked with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires and come with larger brakes than before.
Inside, the driver can choose between using the seven-speed PDK paddles or the transmission mounted in the transmission tunnel. Purists should not worry, as there will still be an old school six-speed manual with three pedals for the regular GT3 and the more subtle, wingless GT3 Touring.
We will have all the details and a complete image gallery on February 16, when we will also broadcast Porsche’s live broadcast of the debut event.