It’s not cleared for sanctioned racing—yet
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| © Automobile Magazine Staff |
By Conner Golden, Automobile
Sorry, bub—you're probably out of luck regarding that Porsche 935 order.
There's only 77 of those being made, and unless you ingratiated
yourself with Stuttgart by previously ordering three 918 Spyders, eight
911 Rs, and 15 991.2 GT3 RS's,
it's likely you didn't make the cut. Don't reallocate your hundreds of
thousands of dollars just yet, though—the company has a consolation
prize in the form of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport.
Sharing the debut spotlight with the all-new 992-generation 911 at the Los Angeles auto show, the GT2 RS Clubsport is a 991.2-based, race-ready evolution of the most powerful roadgoing 911 ever produced.
Much like the smaller Cayman GT4 Clubsport, this non-street-legal model
is a stripped-out, hunkered-down, caged-up weapon for the hardest of
hard-core track-day regulars.
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| © Automobile Magazine Staff |
Mechanically, it's very similar to the 935. Both cars
share the same rear-mounted 3.8-liter twin-turbocharged flat-six,
sending a mighty 700 hp to the rear wheels through a seven-speed PDK
dual-clutch transmission. Though you wouldn't think there would be much
to strip from the already plenty focused street car, the Clubsport sheds
177 pounds over the regular GT2 RS, a car which already proved its
mettle by whipping around the Nürburgring in world-record time.
It would weigh even less if it weren't for the full FIA-spec roll cage
and additional race hardware keeping things both stiff and safe.
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| © Automobile Magazine Staff |
Huge, 15.3-inch steel front rotors are clamped by six-piston
calipers, while the 14.9-inch discs in the rear are slowed by
four-piston pieces. A three-way, adjustable race-focused suspension
supports the chassis, so that professional race shops and brave weekend
warriors can change suspension settings to fit the venue. Once you
manage to squeeze past the cage's door bar, you'll sit behind a
competition-spec steering wheel yanked from the GT3 R. Air conditioning,
stability control, and ABS are still present.
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| © Automobile Magazine Staff |
Unlike the aforementioned GT4 Clubsport, you can't actually race this
in an officially sanctioned series—yet. Porsche is still working on
that with the SRO Motorsports Group, the organization behind the
Blancpain GT series. If the GT2 RS Clubsport gets the green light for
competition it shouldn't have any problems passing tech inspection, as
each car arrives outfitted with an FIA-spec safety hatch, a
fire-extinguisher system, a 30.3-gallon safety fuel cell, and an
integrated air-jack system.
The GT2 RS Clubsport stickers at
$478,000, a $183,750 premium over the road car. That's a pretty penny,
but it's still roughly half the price of the 935. Get your order in
now—Porsche's only building 200.
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| © Automobile Magazine Staff Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport rear side motion view |
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