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Porsche 911 GT3 RS with Manthey Racing kit could conceivably steal production car lap record from Mercedes-AMG One, but it’s a big ask
by Chris Chilton
October 18, 2023 at 10:00
There are patterns in how the auto industry conducts business and rolls out its new products. In the case of the Porsche 911 GT3 we’ve become accustomed to seeing the stock GT3 first and loving it, being introduced to the GT3 RS and loving it more, and then being told about the Manthey Racing equipment package, at which point where spending multiple hours per day looking at real estate around the Nurburgring.
So far in the 992 GT3 story we’ve had the base car and the RS, and now it looks like Porsche is busy testing the MR-kitted RS at the Nurburgring, potentially with the aim of going quicker than the current lap record holder, the $2.7 million Mercedes-AMG One.
But can Porsche really pull that off with a car that costs around a tenth as much and is half as powerful? The AMG lapped the longer 20.8 km (12.9 miles) layout of the track, the accepted configuration for records, in 6:35.18 last November, laying waste to the Manthey-equipped 911 GT2 RS, which scored 6:43.30 in 2021. So if even the 690 hp (700 PS) GT2 RS MR can’t get within 8 seconds of the AMG, it’s a big ask for the 518 hp (525 PS) GT3 RS to throw shade the AMG’s way when the best stock GT3 RS can do is 6:49.33.
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Related: Porsche 911 GT3 RS Demolishes Road America’s Production Lap Record
Look at the difference the MR kits have made in the past though, and you start to wonder if Porsche might just pull this off after all. In 2021 the MR package for the previous GT3 RS proved itself worth almost 7 seconds over the fractionally shorter 20.6 km (12.8 miles) version of the track, and two years earlier MR goodies had slashed the GT2 RS’s time by over 8 seconds. So in theory the GT3 RS MR might be able to drop below the 6:40 mark, but we’d be surprised if it could dethrone the AMG, a full-blown hypercar with a Formula 1 engine.
Though the MR’s ‘production car’ claim is arguably a little sketchy, since it’s technically a collection of parts available from a Porsche dealer, allowing it to qualify. The MR kit for the old GT3 RS included adjustable coilovers, lightweight magnesium wheels, braided brake lines, uprated brake pads and aero mods. We expect this version to tread a similar path. How fast do you think the MR will go?
Baldauf
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