PORSCHE 911 GT3
Model Porsche 996.1 GT3
Engine 3600cc flat-six, dohc, 24v
Max power 265kW @ 7200rpm
Max torque 370Nm @ 5000rpm
Transmission 6-speed manual
Weight 1350kg
0-100km/h 4.8sec (claimed)
Price $224,600 (1999), from $160,000 now
PORSCHE WEAVES A seductive line in fairy tales. Half-truths often become legends while nods and winks gently coalesce into established facts. It’s our fault, really. We want to believe. The romance of Porsche’s competition pedigree is an intoxicating backstory that has us teasing out the mitochondrial DNA of the most tenuous motorsport connections. But Porsche didn’t have to bother gilding the lily with the Porsche 996 GT3.
To contextualise the genesis of this car, you need to understand nothing more abstract than cooling. More specifically, water cooling. The 996 generation might have seen the 911 switch from air to water cooling upon its introduction in 1998, but delve back a good deal further and it’s apparent that this shift in strategy
