Manthey GT2 RS smashes Pista record at Hockenheim
Tuned Porsche supercar wins on home soil with a sportauto lap 2.4 seconds quicker than the Italian's
When sportauto set a new production car lap record at Hockenheim with the Ferrari 488 Pista in June, we couldn't spot much room for improvement. In fact, it seemed like nothing short of a major power boost would be necessary to better it, given how rapid the 720hp Italian looked during its 1:45.9 lap. But five months on that time has been positively smashed by a Manthey Porsche 911 GT2 RS, in which test driver Christian Gebhard has gone 2.4 seconds quicker around the 2.8-mile circuit. That makes it the fastest road car yet on the Grand Prix layout - a very commendable 30 seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen's overall record.
The Manthey 911's new title comes almost exactly a year after it lapped the 'ring seven seconds quicker than the regular GT2 RS to set a new 6:40 record, emphasising how effective the German tuner's aerodynamic and chassis mods are. The firm's work centres around upgrading suspension and improving downforce, while leaving the boosted 3.8 flat-six in its tail in 'standard' 700hp tune. As such, the advantage over Ferrari's alternative appears to have been gained through the twisty bits of Germany's compact F1 track.
Watching the respective onboards of the Pista and Manthey GT2 RS back-to-back, the latter, rear-engined car definitely appears to have the better traction, while it's visibly more stable through the fast stuff too. But it's also clearly a handful on the limit, as any heavily turbocharged supercar of this sort on road tyres ought to be, so even if you believe comparison between two cars on different days is futile, it makes for excellent viewing
[Image: Manthey Racing, via Twitter]
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The concept of ‘value for money’ for mods like these don’t really stack up on a road car running road tyres as you’ll never really see the benefit of going a fraction faster on an untimed, non competitive event - but that’s not really the point.
People will always want the ultimate and if they have the money and the passion then why not?
After all, it’s not just carbon tatt but superbly engineered kit that actually enhances an already brilliant car.
Sure, it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people but nor does seeing some chunky middle-aged bloke huffing past on a £50k Tour De France spec road bike.
Yes they could buy a proper Race car and go faster still but this is road legal. The allure of being able to drive to the track, lap obscenely fast and then drive home is strong. Similar story with the Senna.
It’s a passion, a hobby and if people get pleasure from it, spending their own money, without hurting others then that’s ok in my book.
The car looks great to me by the way.
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