A GT3 is not a car you write about. It’s not a car you even read about. It’s a car you simply know about. Or perhaps not. Probably because everything that has to be said about the car and its predecessors has already been said. But that was something they actually did for themselves. The RS 2.7 back in 1973, for example. The RS models of the following series and then the first GT3 in 1999. You don‘t have to have a way with words, the car itself speaks a language that everyone can understand. What’s the point of writing a little story about a GT3 anyway? Where something great has been created, the fewer words, the better.
You‘re now looking at a new edition. New, but still the same as ever. Thank goodness. "Look at me," it says. "I’m naked and in perfect physical condition. Do you think you can you handle that?" It replaces V8 and turbo power with athletic prowess. Lean and muscular, with the BMI of a decathlon champion. By comparison, those pumped-up muscleheads posing for admirers as they trundle sedately along the promenade look more like overbred, genetically modified US tomatoes, as grotesque as a Swarovski chandelier and as plush as a Russian brothel. They are worlds apart. Why? Because it achieves perfection by elimination, not by addition.
You‘ll need to brush up on your physics before you grab the door handle, or you’ll pay the price. It’ll give you something to think about, but never without warning you first. But if it does happen, then you’ll know. And you know you probably earned it. Then it will become crystal clear immediately what you did wrong, not the car. It couldn’t care less whether you‘re a novice or simply lack talent – and you’ll get a slap on the wrist, if need be. Or, you’ll have one hell of a ride: the car needs to be broken in first, with humility and respect, with skill and character, with composure and commitment. No other modern car will give you more in return than this one. You and the machine will become one. This is soulful driving. Anything else is nothing more than getting around.
BTW: 7 minutes, 12.7 seconds: The 911 GT3 sets a new best time on the Nürburgring
Text: Francesco Pyloni • Photos: Stefan Bogner
