Porsche 911 GT2 RS 2018 Review - carsales.com.au (2024)

Wet dreams
When it comes to automotive dreams, they don’t come much more vivid than getting behind the wheel of the quickest, fastest and most powerful street-legal Porsche 911 ever produced.

And when you have the new Porsche 911 GT2 RS and a Formula 1 circuit at your disposal, you really need to pinch yourself.

Staging the Australian press launch of the new GT2 RS at Albert Park on the eve of the Australian F1 Grand Prix was no easy feat for Porsche. So it made the most of the occasion, also hosting a ‘Pole Position’ track event for a few dozen well-heeled customers.

Like us journos, they needed to have completed the Level 4 Porsche Sport Driving School course in a 911 GT3 at Queensland Raceway, hold a CAMS 2S race licence, wear a helmet and sign their lives away.

But while the Porsche owners drove their own cars (at considerable cost) we got to thrash not only the new GT2 RS but a fleet of 911 GT3s, Turbos and GTSs around Albert Park for a total of 25 laps -- alongside Australia’s former F1 driver, WEC champ and Porsche ambassador, Mark Webber.

As circuit experiences go, it was a surreal morning and a bucket-list moment, not least because the GT2 RS was built for the race track and its bench-mark setting performance is impossible to test anywhere else.

Porsche’s last 911 GT2 RS of 2010 was one of the wildest cars ever and the latest 911 Turbo S is one of the quickest point-to-point supercars money can buy. Having spent plenty of track time in both cars, I worried that the new GT2 RS would struggle to improve on either of them.

I needn’t have…

Porsche power
Essentially a cross between the 911 Turbo S and the upcoming 911 GT3 RS, the two-seat 911 GT2 RS combines the latter’s finely honed track-focussed chassis and rear-drive with the devastating performance of Porsche’s 3.8-litre twin-turbo engine.

Of course, the engine is not just lifted from the 911 Turbo or even the Turbo S. No, the GT2 gets bigger variable-geometry turbos, different pistons and cylinder-heads, higher compression and a titanium exhaust.

The result is no less than 515kW (that’s 700hp, or more than a V8 Supercar!) -- which goes a long way to cancelling out the current 9911 generation’s 100kg weight gain over the 456kW/700Nm 3.6-litre 997 Series GT2.

It also makes the latest GT2 RS more powerful than all but a handful of production cars available today, including the Ferrari 812 Superfast, Lambo Aventador and Bentley Continental Supersports (Ed: and, ahem, the $135K Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.

But the GT2 is lighter than all of them at just 1470kg. It’s also around 130kg less than the Turbo S thanks to the axing of all-wheel drive (saving 50kg) and a host of changes like carbon-fibre reinforced plastic panels up front, a magnesium roof and thinner rear and rear side window glass (that’s as light as polycarbonate).

For an extra $70,000-odd (about the same cost as a base Audi TT coupe), the optional Weissach package saves a further 30kg over optional Club Sport Package via stuff like a 9kg-lighter titanium rollcage, 11kg-lighter magnesium wheels, a carbon roof, bonnet, steering wheel and shift paddles, production-first carbon stabiliser bars and rods, and even lighter floor carpet.

Either way the result is 0-100km/h acceleration in an eye-watering 2.8sec (claimed). And with a 340km/h top speed, Porsche’s quickest production 911 ever is also its fastest.

Lead-tipped arrow? Hardly
The 911 GT2 RS is almost $185K pricier than its Turbo S donor. But it is also so much more than a lighter, more powerful rear-drive Turbo. Apart from the ‘lightweighting’, it’s dripping with exotic chassis and aero components.

The axles, sway bars and wheel hubs are all unique to the model, as are the centre-lock wheels with staggered diameters and widths (20x9.5-inch up front and a massive 21x12.5-inch at the rear).

Of course, there are also race-tuned springs and dampers, plus bigger ceramic brakes and a fixed carbon wing that generates 340kg of downforce (And makes the GT2 RS look more like a Carrera Cup car than a road car!).

Combine this with all of Porsche’s usual tricks like rear wheel steering, a torque vectoring diff lock and active hydraulic engine mounts, and the GT2 RS ups the 911’s cornering game considerably.

In fact, its new production lap record around the Nurburgring road course demolishes the Lamborghini Huracan Performante by 5sec and 918’s by 10!

Born for the track
Inside the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, there’s no getting away from its reason for being. This two-seater is basically a motorsport hom*ologation special for which the Club Sport Package includes a half roll-cage, fire extinguisher, six-point race harness and battery cut-out. You can even delete the air-conditioning and stereo.

Conversely, if you want to create the ultimate road car you can delete the Clubsport package and option it up with 18-way power adjustable sports seats, a premium BOSE sound system and hydraulic front-end lift system, and revel in average fuel consumption as low as 11.8L/100km.

But the GT2 was born to race and it would be tragedy not to track yours -- at least one.

It might lack the manual transmission of the old GT2 but its seven-speed PDK gearbox is both lightning-quick and highly efficient when left to its own devices.

Using the shift paddles on track delivers lightning fast shifts up and down as the ECU matches engine revs perfectly, but it’s the blown boxer six that’s the centrepiece here. It might lack the 9000rpm redline and high-pitched engine note of the atmo 911 GT3 RS, but it feels just as free-spinning and has a deep-bass engine note all of its own.

And with zero turbo lag and peak torque coming in at just 2500rpm, throttle response from any revs is phenomenal. Nothing prepares you for the midrange thump on offer here.

Few cars feel really fast on a race track but the GT2 RS manages. Everywhere.

I saw 245km/h on the Albert Park front straight without even trying. In fact, I spent most of it anticipating upshifts at the 7200rpm redline because they come up so quickly.

But the best part about the GT2 RS is the way it devours corners. With no rubber suspension bushes, there’s a connection with the road that few cars possess. Combined with steering that’s as responsive, intimate and unadulterated as any 911’s I’ve ever driven, the GT2 RS makes any schmuck look and feel like a pro.

All that mechanical grip made the GT2 RS’ speed around Albert Park’s super-fast bends limited only by my bravery. And although all that midrange punch makes power oversteer just a prod of the throttle away, its power-down out of corners is simply astonishing.

That said, ham-fisted drivers should expect to be intimidated.

Yes, the PSM Sport mode allows a huge amount of tail-wagging both into and out of corners but, as Mark Webber says, the GT2 RS can creep up on you then quickly bite back.

He should know because he helped develop it and owns a Weissach-equipped example.

There’s no ‘Sport’ engine setting here, because the GT2 is always in attack mode. It’s unbearably loud above 3000rpm, violently quick in any gear and it will chew up and spit out any road you can throw at it – even more quickly and confidently than the last GT2.

At the same time -- apart from its high-sided driver’s seat and race harness -- it’s remarkably practical as a daily driver. Optioned correctly and it has an even wider breadth of application than the brilliant Turbo S.

Indeed, the standard 911 Turbo felt heavy and slow at Albert Park, making the GT2 RS feel like a white-knuckle thrill ride in comparison… No mean feat.

This is the finest full-time production Porsche ever built. I can’t wait to see how the next GT2 RS based on the all-new 2019 992-series Turbo models improve upon it.

How much is a 2018 Porsche 911 GT2 RS?
Price: $645,400 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.8-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo-petrol
Output: 515kW/750Nm
Transmission: Seven-speed dual-clutch
Fuel: 11.8L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 269g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A

Tags