Things to expect on a car undergoing final testing: black paint? Check. A lot of road grime? Check. General sense of scruffiness? Everywhere.
Coolest parent of the year 2015 goes to...
But there's one thing that stands out in particular about this
991 RS
test mule, and it isn't that wing. Spotted it yet? There's a child seat on the passenger's side. We don't know how, or why, but this is cool. With a cage in place of the rear seats the buggy needs to be small though. And what to take home next? A 918 Spyder?
Anyway, oddities of the Porsche test schedule aside, these pictures are significant as the first undisguised images of the new GT3 RS. And doesn't it look excellent? The RS additions are familiar now but they just work so well. A big wing and swollen rear arches on 911s always do the job on fast ones and that's no different here. In fact, seeing an RS without the inevitable stripes, stickers and whatever else will be thrown at the paint is quite nice. Note too the slight bubbles in the roof to make space for a race helmet. And you just know that dirt has been accrued through proper driving. Hopefully not with the baby on board though.
Other than the pictures there isn't any further new information on the RS yet. Visible through the driver's window are a 918-style steering wheel and a PDK selector. Although both RS versions of the 996 and the first 997 didn't have any additional power over the GT3, we would expect the 991 to follow the 997.2 with slightly more power. That car had 450hp, up from the GT3's 435. With the current GT3 making 475hp, somewhere around 500hp seems likely.
As for actually seeing the production GT3 RS, a Geneva debut in March would seem most likely. But then the Detroit show is imminent as well... More details as they're available.
[Source: johan9ff via Instagram]