Is This Porsche's Rumored, Wing-Less 911 GT3?

Chris Perkins

August 4, 2017 at 9:58 AM

Could this be the rumored Touring Package (X90) for the 991.2 GT3? Seen earlier today by Rennteam moderator Lars997. No fixed wing, but instead the retractable one from the standard 991. Revised engine lid. Window trim in high gloss aluminum. The photographer remarked that the front end was identical to the standard GT3. He also remarked having observed rear seats. However, I've heard conflicting reports about this one, with some insisting no rear seats. Open questions: Manual only? LWBS available? We will all find out soon. What are your thoughts?
A post shared by #PTSRS | Will Lee (@ptsrs) on Aug 3, 2017 at 7:36pm PDT

Earlier this year, a reader sent us pictures of a Porsche 911 GT3 testing without a wing in California. We later heard that this is a 911 GT3 Touring Package - basically, a manual-only GT3 with the aero from a 911 R. Over on the Rennteam forum, moderator Lars997 spotted this car testing on the German Autobahn, and noticed some interesting details on it.

As Lars997's picture above shows, this car has the wider body, center-lock wheels, and central exhaust of the GT3, but a deployable rear spoiler instead of the GT3's fixed wing. All of that lines up with what we've heard about this car before, but Lars997's additional observations complicate matters further.

Interestingly, Lars997 believes that based on the sound this car made when downshifting, it has a PDK gearbox too. We heard that the GT3 Touring Package would be manual only, so this is a very interesting observation. Perhaps Porsche planned initially for the GT3 Touring Pack to be manual only, but changed its mind later. Lars997 also noticed that unlike the GT3, this car had has seats.

Additionally, a commenter on Lars997's photo posted on Instagram by @ptsrs claims to hold a deposit for this very car. The commenter says the receipt for their deposit lists this car as a "911 Sport Classic." Back in 2010, Porsche created the 911 Sport Classic as a send-off for the then-current 997-generation 911. Just 250 units were built, each with lots of retro details to please Porsche dorks.

That said, the fact that the Instagram commenter's receipt says "911 Sport Classic" doesn't mean definitively that this is the car's final name. We'll learn that in time.

You might also be wondering if this is just a customer-modified 911, rather than a Porsche prototype. We're fairly convinced it's the latter, as its registration plate shows that it's been registered to Porsche's home city of Stuttgart, and the red lettering indicates that it's "in transit" in some capacity. In the past, we've seen automaker-owned German test and press cars with this red lettering on their registration plates.

So, we don't know exactly what we're looking at here, but it's interesting for sure. And given the tendencies of Porsche's GT road car department, we know it won't simply be a GT3 without a rear wing.

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