THE BURNING QUESTION OF THE 991.1 GT3

Schadenfreude – pleasure at the misfortune of others. Strangely, this human if rather reprehensible trait has no word to describe it in English and the language has to resort to a foreign word to convey the sense. And that human trait was evident in February 2014 when reports appeared of engine fires in Porsche’s latest flagship, the 991 GT3, released only the previous autumn. Plastered across social media and on the inside pages of what we used to call the popular press was a picture of a brand-new 911, a GT3 no less, blazing itself to destruction. For several days, the newsfeeds poked fun in that slightly sneering way that they seem to reserve for Porsche drivers. But this tabloid entertainment hid a serious problem which would rumble on inside Weissach for several years.

In the aftermath of the headlines, Porsche reacted with alacrity: all owners of the new GT3 were told to stop driving them and to contact their supplying OPC which would collect the car. It