Wednesday 21st June 2017

The real million to one 911: PH Blog

The green one was nice - this one is nicer

---

I'm not quite sure why Porsche GB still has RO10 HBY - affectionately known as Heeby - on its press fleet. Superseded and no longer current product yet not old enough to be considered a heritage car, this particular gen-two 997 3.8 RS has been pounded on road and track by pretty much every undeserving motoring hack in the country. Often many times over. By all accounts it was looking a little sorry for itself after fulfilling its duties as a frontline press car, languishing in the car park and bearing the scars of many, many miles of very hard driving.

ARSeholes. And a GT3

Seems the UK team has a bit of a soft spot for the car though. And so it's had a bit of a freshen up and stay of execution. Revisiting it on the Scottish road trip reminded me of why it's perhaps my favourite Porsche 911. Scratch that. I think it might be one of my favourite cars ever. Full stop. Ask anyone in the business who's enjoyed time with HBY - and more exotic cars than I've been lucky enough to drive - and you'd likely get the same answer. It's one of those cars. And by far the one I enjoyed most out of all the very special 911s I got to drive on the millionth 911 Scottish road trip.

Why?

A very heated and probably rather tedious debate could be held on exactly when the sweet spot occurred in the 911's evolution. The single model - or example - that best embodies all the car stands for. You could probably gather 50 superfans in a room and each would give you a different answer. This is mine though.

For starters it's an RS. Any Porsche with that badge gets an instant promotion in desirability. I'm less fixated on that, the rarity, the investment value or anything related. I just love the way it goes.

Not really where it belongs...

This is not an easy car to drive. The clutch is heavy yet viciously sensitive, the flywheel light and it will take great delight in stalling at every given opportunity. It's not a nice car to drive in traffic. If you are fortunate enough to get out onto the open road or - lucky you - a track and fancy yourself as a bit of a hand this car will take delight in disabusing you of that notion.

What, you thought you could heel and toe? You thought wrong, loser. The difference between a jarring mismatch between revs and road speed, the perfectly matched downshift and an ugly flare of clutch-charring, over-enthusiastic blippage is about 0.1mm of the throttle travel. Even with your most thin-soled racing pixie boots and most studious attempts to time it all right you're doing extremely well if one shift in four - up or down - nails the perfect sequence of events. For those of us Luddites who love a manual gearbox it's this kind of challenge that makes them so rewarding.

Thing is, every element of this car is like this. The throttle response and what it unleashes has to be up there with the very finest internal combustion engines ever fitted to a street car. It's got the lot. Clattery and truculent at low speeds it soars from muscular mid-range into incendiary high-rev crescendo with searing intensity. He said, going full Queef.

This is more like it

Combined with perfectly weighted steering, a short and precise shift from that stubby Alcantara lever and an overall size that feels compact and exploitable (by modern standards) and you just have the perfect package. No mistake, this is a car that won't suffer fools for one nanosecond. Preuninger's 'loose bungee' analogy for the threshold on his cars' stability controls is never far from your mind and there's enough leeway for things to get very out of shape even with everything on. But there's so much feedback you're instinctively happy driving it up to the limits, even in the wet, even on Cup tyres. Because you can feel exactly where they are.

I've even grown to love the daft graphics. By the standards of the current GT3 it almost looks understated, in as much as a 911 with a massive wing and cabin full of roll cage can. It just looks so damned purposeful. Everything you need to know about the way it goes is presented to you in the aesthetics. Think it looks good? It goes even better. And sounds angry.

And there you have it. Motoring hack waxes lyrical over GT3 911. Who'd have thought.

Dan

[MrMuzace]

Hahaha! Nice article Dan - though it has to be said it's a pathetic excuse to justify driving a 997 Gen 2 GT3 RS - lucky devil! Interesting that the cars luddite enthusiasts most remember often come down to the ones that present the greatest challenges and rewards in equal measure. Manufacturers please take note that there is still a market for cars that are challenging to drive and high performance.

[Dr S]

Could not agree more. Every time I get into my 7.2 RS it just feels absolutely spot on in any respect. It's a car I can never see myself selling.

[Digga]

I think the 3.8/4.0 997.2 GT3 RS was very, very possibly peak car. Full stop.

There will be bigger, faster, more expensive to some for sure.

There will be older, more characterfull (and also, probably more expensive).

But can anything be made to meet ever stricter emissions and crash regs that's better?

[hondansx]

Agree with the above. More than happy for the press to talk about the new 911s like they are the best thing since sliced bread, and ever improving. The reality is they are too quick and capable for more liking.

Hopefully I will have a 997.2 RS one day. I had a 997.1 GT3 and loved it to death. Need to save a bit more for the daddy though!

[HorneyMX5]

Never driven one, likely never will. Certainly will never be able to afford to own one. But, to me it is also peak 911. Everything about the car looks perfect from proportions to the outrageous additions like the wing. The 991 to me just looks a bit odd, I think it's the over hangs.

[tankplanker]

hondansx said:

Agree with the above. More than happy for the press to talk about the new 911s like they are the best thing since sliced bread, and ever improving.

Same here, mostly as I hope it devalues the older cars to the point that I can afford one if the speculators move onto the latest and greatest.

I have yet to drive one, planning on ticking that off next year assuming Porsche keep the 997 on their GT driving experience, hopefully we will see a price correction about the same point when the latest model starts getting flipped. At some point people have to look at what other super cars ~£150k can purchase, right?

[Jonny3773]

Just returned from Le Mans in my 997.2 RS and its blown me away just how fantastic it is to drive and live with.

Some pics here: https://www.instagram.com/ultimateroadtrips/

Loved this article and totally agree.

[Digga]

Jonny3773 said:

Just returned from Le Mans in my 997.2 RS and its blown me away just how fantastic it is to drive and live with.

Some pics here: https://www.instagram.com/ultimateroadtrips/

Loved this article and totally agree.

Wonderful to see one actually being used, rather than wrapped in cotton wool as an 'investment'.

[DPSFleet]

997.2 GT3 was the optimum 911, I cannot see myself selling my guards red one. In fact I think I'll go and take it for a run later today.

[Galileo]

.....but those graphics......what were they thinking?.

[PistonBroker]

Digga said:

Jonny3773 said:

Just returned from Le Mans in my 997.2 RS and its blown me away just how fantastic it is to drive and live with.

Some pics here: https://www.instagram.com/ultimateroadtrips/

Loved this article and totally agree.

Wonderful to see one actually being used, rather than wrapped in cotton wool as an 'investment'.

Agreed.

Yes, this strikes me as peak 911 too, not that I've ever driven one!

[lppfs997]

Jonny3773 said:
Just returned from Le Mans in my 997.2 RS and its blown me away just how fantastic it is to drive and live with.

As a 997.2 c4s owner I can't state a thing about driving an RS but the 997.2 c4s makes me churn and is just fantastic as well. The mixture of great accessible roads, interesting weather and the plain joy of the flat-six sound are still over-the-top to me. Seven years and counting, not giving a damn about the next iteration or, well maybe besides that purple thing that Monkey threw around 26 months ago, and smiling at the luck of owning a meteor gray Porsche :-)

[AndrewD]

Digga said:

I think the 3.8/4.0 997.2 GT3 RS was very, very possibly peak car. Full stop.

There will be bigger, faster, more expensive to some for sure.

There will be older, more characterfull (and also, probably more expensive).

But can anything be made to meet ever stricter emissions and crash regs that's better?

I get you but peak car is such a mood thing. I have a 4.0 not 3.8, on some days that is the best thing ever. Normally when you want to go very fast and be really challenged, and just revel in *that* drivetrain. But on other days nothing beats the dancing delicacy of old air cooled 2.7RS. In many ways they peaked with the original. But, every time I try and point to peak car, there is only one, the daddy, the Carrera GT. It is unique and we will never see it's like again.

[Gus265]

The problem with the 997 is the 991. The problem with the DB7 is the DB9. The problem with the E36/92/M4 is the E46.
Apart from the last car, these evolutions have always made the previous one look out dated and less desirable. I loved the 997 and vowed to have one. Until the 991 came out. Lower roof line, wider at rear arches, more purposeful so I bought one - surprise! Just brilliant proportions and a cracking car. Then a bright orange 991 GT3 RS came down through the gears and turned into my road one day and I was blown away. What a car - seen loads of 997 GT3 RSs and they never had that effect!

[myhandle]

Many comments about the graphics. In this grey the car looks good with red wheels and graphics, far less so with the gold of this car.

[davidc1]

Looks wise the gen1 gt3 rs is nicer in my opinion. What a car though.always gonna give you a tingle seeing this in the garage.

[Dr S]

BTW: Cannot relate to the comments in the article on difficulties with H&T. The engine is super responsive with the single mass flywheel. I find H&T much eaiser in the RS than in the stock GT3

[dvshannow]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Honestly thought the same until I spent time in the 991. 2 gts I think the new gt3 with its 500bhp an engine is hard to argue against its not built to pass emissions and as for being too fast that's just nonsense for U.K. Roads maybe but don't define the iconic 911 by UK roads

[v8ksn]

I will never own a 997.2 RS as the values are now entirely beyond my reach but I do have a 997.1 GT3 and I love it to death!

Its challenging, its involving, its small enough to feel wieldy and its more than fast enough.

I have had the LSD rebuilt and installed a set of Ohlins shocks (which took a few weeks of trial and error to find the right set-up for UK roads) and these make the car feel a lot more compliant on bumpy roads but still give you the same 'keyed-into-the-tarmac' feeling you get from a GT 911.

Obviously more modern 911's are a lot faster and probably more economical and probably a lot easier to drive than mine but, as a car for weekends and high-days and dry-days, its very difficult to beat.