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Porsche's Spectacular 911 GT3 R Rennsport Isn't for Following the Rules

porsche 911 gt3 r rennsport
Porsche 911 GT3 R Rennsport Doesn't Follow RulesElana Scherr - Car and Driver
  • The 911 GT3 R Rennsport debuted at the 2023 Rennsport Reunion in Monterey, California. It will be a limited edition of 77 cars.

  • The naturally aspirated six-cylinder revs to 9400 rpm and makes 611 hp.

  • Only the hood and roof are shared with the standard GT3 R.

Redefining the idea of a track toy, Porsche has released a version of its 911 GT3 R that has so much power and downforce, it’s illegal. Well, it’s illegal by FIA competition rules. The competition 911 GT3 that the Rennsport is based on was designed specifically to be raced in FIA or IMSA events like Le Mans or the Daytona 24, where strict rules govern the “Balance of Power” as to how light a car can be, what gearing it can use, and how much horsepower and aero is permitted. The 911 GT3 Rennsport asks, “What if those rules didn’t apply?”

Designed by Grant Larson and Thorsten Klein from the Style Porsche team—which heads up many of Porsche’s one-off and special-edition projects, the 911 GT3 Rennsport is low and long. The hood and roof are shared with the standard GT3 R, but all other body panels are different from the homologated race car's. All the air intakes and ground effects are also specific to the GT3 R Rennsport. Even the mirrors are gone, replaced with a three-camera system that shows the driver traffic via a monitor in the cockpit.

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By traffic, of course, we mean only other racers. The GT3 R Rennsport is about as not–street legal as you can get, and you’re unlikely to go unnoticed if you try to take it through a fast-food window. If you did, though, there’s plenty of room to rest your lunch on the massive rear wing, which is based on the Brumos Porsche 935/77, which won the 1978 24 Hours of Daytona. The wing works as more than a picnic bench. Downforce is so extreme that Porsche had to add additional supports to hold it up. You’ll be eating alone, though: like the GT3 R, the Rennsport model is a single seater, with most of the interior taken up by a roll cage.

porsche 911 gt3 r rennsport
Porsche

Underneath, the GT3 R Rennsport is almost the same as the GT3 R. The car rides on a bespoke Michelin tire. The front suspension has unequal-length control arms and the rear is a multilink setup. The KW Shocks are five-way adjustable and Porsche Motorsport delivers the car with the chassis already tuned for general performance. Additional fine-tuning can be done using available shims.