2010 Porsche 911 GT3 R

Amateur racers of the world rejoice, your new weapon of choice is about to be ready. Sure, you’ll need around €280,000 (AU$450,000), but Porsche say their new 911 GT3 R is the one for you.

In simple terms this is a 911 GT3 Cup that has been further beefed up. Engine capacity has increased from 3.8 to 4.0 litres and the power has obligingly come up as well. So, you now have a very respectable 353kW (480bhp) to play with and only 1200kg of racecar to lug around.

The GT3 R replaces the GT3 Cup S and is good to go international FIA GT3 races. Porsche say they have improved handling and made the car easier to drive. What’s not to like about that. With a sequential six-speed box that automagically blips the throttle for you you’d have to be trying pretty damn hard not to enjoy driving this thing.

The GT3 Cup R will be released at the world famous Birmingham Motor Show in mid January next year, with customer deliveries to take place a couple of months later. Now, where to find me an amateur racer with a lazy half mill lying around.

There’s more from Porsche below.

New Racing Version for International GT Sport

Stuttgart. Following the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is entering yet another racing car in the 2010 motorsport season: The 911 GT3 R will be raced in series based on the international FIA GT3 regulations, thus succeeding the 911 GT3 Cup S. The main focus in developing this new model was on even better drivability and even easier handling.

The 911 GT3 R is powered by a four-litre six-cylinder boxer engine delivering maximum output of 480 bhp (353 kW) transmitted to the rear axle by a sequential six-speed dog gearbox.

The starting point in developing the 911 GT3 R weighing just 1,200 kg or 2,646 lb was the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup presented in September for one-make cup racing. Thanks to its increase in engine size by 0.2 litres, the GT3 R offers 30 bhp more than the Cup model. Both cars are based on the extra-wide body of the 911 GT3 RS street-legal sports car.

An anti-lock brake system (ABS), traction control and an e-gas with “throttle-blip” function make it much easier to get used to this new GT3 racing car than its predecessor, meaning that the new model is also more appropriate for the ambitious amateur racing driver.

Flared wheel arches added on to the body both front and rear bear clear testimony to the wider track than on the former model. And like all second-generation versions of the 911, the new 911 GT3 R also comes with striking LED rear light clusters.

The Porsche 911 GT3 R is making its world debut on 14 January 2010 at the Birmingham Motor Show. The car is built by Porsche’s Motorsport Department at the Weissach Development Centre and will be delivered to Customer Teams the world over as of spring 2010. The base price of the Porsche 911 GT3 R is 279,000 euros plus local sales tax/VAT.

Background
Porsche can claim more than 28,000 race victories in almost every motor sports series worldwide, and while many of these successes have been achieved with immensely powerful specialist race cars like the evocative 917 and 956, the iconic 911 sports coupe is the bedrock on which the peerless racing reputation of the Stuttgart marque has been built.

The 911 demonstrates perfectly the Porsche philosophy of not only building sports cars in order to win races, but also to gain development know-how that can be incorporated into the evolution of its road cars. Successive generations of the rear-engined 911 have been honed on the race circuit since its debut in 1963, with customers benefitting from continuous improvements in key dynamic areas such as engine performance, braking and aerodynamics.

In 2009, the ultimate racing Porsche – the 911 GT3 RSR – has won the GT2 Drivers’ title in the FIA GT Championship, the GT2 title in the American Le Mans Series and also in the Le Mans Series of endurance races, and also triumphed in the gruelling 24 Hours of the Nurburgring race.

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car competes in the Mobil1 Supercup, the world’s fastest international one-make Championship, which supports Formula One Grands Prix. The 911 GT3 Cup also entertains spectators around the world racing in the many domestic Carrera Cup Championships in Germany, Asia, France, Italy, Japan, Scandanavia and Great Britain.