Chris Harris videos continue to evolve and entertain. His latest production (apparently filmed on his own) is this one below on the new Porsche 991 GT3: a world exclusive drive of a development car, somewhere in the hills of southern Europe.
Talking to GT3 owners, some are still cross at the technical upsets: PDK-only, electric power steering and a non-Mezger engine. But many more like this fastest, revviest, most-button Porsche, and covet new-spec trinkets like the centre-lock matt silver wheels and that racecar front airdam.
What most are not liking is the financial pain to take to get it. As a good friend and GT3 owner said the other night: “I paid £70k for my first GT3, £80 for my second one and the latest is getting on for £100,000. Porsche are quoting £30k plus my low-mile Gen 2 GT3 RS to get into a new one, rising to £40k when I add some spec.”
The problem is not the lack of forty grand. It’s the airiness of Stuttgart thinking and pricing, the value (and trust) lost in what is still a satisfying machine to drive and the emerging sense that Porsche will keep jacking up the price, every time there’s a new model. You can’t pin all those price hikes on inflation.
Over on Apple’s product treadmill, owners are increasingly fed up with the latest dangling shiny bit mocking their spend on the last upgrade. An iPhone 5 upgrade costs a small fortune, only to find Apple shoving a must-have ‘S’ upgrade out six months later, costing contract holders similar daft sums to upgrade.
Apple has tackled upgrade apathy with some brains, retaining the camera and overall operating system from 4S to 5, so the upgrade was just to have a bigger phone and slightly faster processor. For people who use their iPhone mainly as camera and web device, a change made little sense, so the faithful can wait for the 5S and a step up in camera technology, and let the fashionistas take the 5 to iron out all the bugs.
In contrast, Porsche’s move from 997 to 991 GT3 threw out all the old stuff and went straight to GT3 5S: a big change in spec with a whacking hike in price. Before today, looking at this car on paper begged the question, “is all this new tech really that great?” Masterful demonstration of the tech at work dismisses any notion that this isn’t an improvement.
The facts and the feedback make this a no-brainer. The video rips the numbers to perfection and Harris is Porsche’s best salesman. There is no reason to avoid this car when he shows you what it can do.
With no access to the car and none of this talent behind the wheel, I must talk philosophy. As Harris puts it, a car with this ability, in this shape and making this noise should be the last bastion of a manual gearbox. But with the GT3 now so well engineered, the downside to a manual would be cockpit confusion when really pressing on: the driver becomes a log jam in the flow of speed from chassis to tarmac, and that is not what GT3 is all about.
Will Porsche build a GT3 5S-S with a manual transmission? Not in the short term. We’re now talking about Porsche past – manual transmission as ultimate go-faster bit is history. As Porsche sees things, if you want a manual box, you’re hankering for old technology in an older car, so just buy an old car.
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Towards the end of the 997, Porsche unveiled a spate of special edition 911s, which raised the spam filters against limited production models. Stuttgart’s just unveiled another special, but this one’s better than expected.
The limited edition runout 997 Carrera GTS was probably the best water-cooled Porsche I’ve driven to date, including all the quick stuff. It suited my love of cross-country thrashing much better. I’ve enjoyed my drives in 991, but can’t escape the list price for what’s now a volume unit, and don’t like how busy the car is inside. The latest model might be different.
Unveiled this week, the 50th Anniversary car looks good at first glance. It uses the wider 4wd bodyshell, so is essentially a C2S with rinky-dink special bits including:
Specially-tuned PASM
Sports Exhaust
Special 20-inch wheels, inspired by Fuchs (glad no Fuchs here)
Chrome front air inlets, engine grille and rear light panel strips
Dynamic Lights with bi-xenon and cornering
3D logo on engine cover, tacho, sill trims & headrest embroidery
Cupholder plaque with edition number
High gloss exterior trim and Sport Design mirrors
Retro instrument dials
Tribute material on 14-way sports seats (optional 18-way)
Swish stiching on interior leather
Porsche Exclusive gear shift
Despite this comprehensive and cohesive spec, I predict some classic angst. Air-coolers with short memories will screech at the cupholders, but the 3.2 Carrera and 964 both had Jubilee specials with fluffy carpets and painty bits. This is no different.
Sure, it’s miles away from the first 911s, but there’s finally a hint of some personality, so I like it. I like the paint, I like the wheels, and I like the bling-y engine grille with the recessed brake light: wait for the aftermarket to rip that off. I like the trim, I like the clocks and I like the mirrors.
Did I say I liked the paint? I can see a slew of hot rods painted in the Geyser Grey Metallic shown here: like a modern Sahara Beige. Graphite Grey and Black Monochrome are your only other options.
What are the downsides? Ninety-two grand is rather a big one, big like that vast centre console, but no doubt some of you have put your deposits down. I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who’s got one coming: there’s a feature here for sure.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
Just had these preview pictures through from EB Motorsport of their all-new Deep 6 and 7R Fuchs reproduction wheels in polished finish.
The polished look has always seemed best to me on these rare rims, and EB wheels are designed and manufactured with exceptional attention to detail. Note how these wheels feature the safety bead missing from original Fuchs, and the correct detail around the valve stems, not seen on lesser reproductions.
The wheel centre and front face are machined from a single aluminium billet, with the forged rear barrel CNC-welded to the front section. I had a close look at these wheels in person last week. The finish is top notch and the curve of the spoke and rim edge is just perfect: these are really lovely products. Why risk your original wheels? Get a set of these on and mothball the originals.
EB has so far won two Masters Historic Series championships using their strong and lightweight reproduction Fuchs wheels without incident: this is despite some heavy impacts, including a direct hit from a spinning GT40 at last year’s Silverstone Classic! Suffice to say that the design and manufacture is excellent, as we have come to expect from this perfectionist Porsche parts manufacturer.
Price for either Deep 6 or 7R reproductions is £1850 per pair. That is ex-works from Yorkshire HQ, so plus VAT and carriage where applicable. Contact EB Motorsport for more details and to discuss options on finishing etc. Remember, these are proper, high-end reproductions: not cast to keep cost down. Cast wheels are much heavier and raise too many questions on strength and quality/porosity.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
Good times for Ferdinand yesterday with long-time creative partner, Jamie Lipman. It was an early start for us, and for Chris from Bedfordshire, who brought his newly-purchased R Gruppe Porsche 911 to London for a photoshoot around the capital.
Glynn/Lipman photo sessions are always big fun. This one started with a 6am meet at The Dorchester, then a stop in St. James’, alongside some fascinating blue plaques. The shoot rolled on through Westminster and into the City of London, ending at the Tower before noon.
Owner Chris had a great backstory that I was previously unaware of, and the icing on the cake was an impromptu encounter with Wally Fields, eponymous Big-Band leader and Gershwin aficionado. When a Zionist Jew and lapsed Irish Catholic discuss the irrelevancy of time as a concept on a Mayfair pavement at 8am on a Sunday, you know it’s going to be a good day.
If you’re in the UK, have you booked for our Race Of Kings yet? Four hours of fun with Porsche guys on Saturday June 15th, from 4PM to 8PM. Cost is a tenner including great food and good racing on the KW RaceRoom simulators. We’ve only got 30 places available so get in and book.
Just had a few pics through from the UK Fuchs distributor showing various classic 911 models owned by satisfied customers running the 18-inch Fuchs wheels.
This first one is from Brad in North America, running the RSR style on a 964. Fuchs make the wheels with offsets to suit the different 964 set up – looks lots better than the clunky Braid wheels often seen on other cars. DP showed a similar setup at Essen on their latest 964-based creation, albeit their wheels ran red centres.
This is Ian’s Carrera Cabriolet, running 18s with black centres. The car is fitted with a 3.6-litre engine so has the muscle to work those bigger wheels & tyres. Tyres are a big advantage to bigger wheels – more choice of rubber with bigger rims.
You’ve seen this before but I couldn’t resist another peek at the white 993 Coupe running 18″ Fuchs. This car is cool in white.
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Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
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