Porsche 911 GT3 turns 25

Porsche 911 GT3 turns 25we highlight the four generations of products launched so far.

Born from racing but built for the street, the 911 GT3 represents the evolution of a lineage that began in 1973 with the original 911 Carrera RS homologation special edition.

Like the Carrera RS, the GT3 and its more hardcore GT3 RS sibling are the cars most closely related to Porsche’s 911 race car. That’s why they still run naturally aspirated engines and can be ordered without many of the niceties found in other 911 variants. The GT3 continues the company’s tradition of building “pure, uncompromising sports cars,” as Porsche puts it.

The basic recipe is rear-wheel drive, lightweight construction, high-downforce aerodynamics and a track-focused chassis. Porsche has stuck to this with every generation and hopefully will continue to do so in the future.

The first GT3 was based on the 996-generation 911 and debuted at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. It combines a high-revving 3.6-liter flat-six engine closely related to those used in motorsport, notably the engine in the Le Mans-winning 911 GT1 monster.

Porsche’s test driver at the time, rally legend Walter Röhrl, drove the car in 7:56.33 around the Nurburgring, the first time a production car had fallen below the 8:00 mark. This caused a stir at the time, but is still impressive considering the car only had 355 horsepower. Unfortunately, Americans had to wait another four years to get their first taste of the car when the updated version rolled out.

The second GT3 was launched in 2006, based on the 997-generation 911. It uses a 3.6-liter flat-6 engine, but with power increased to 415 horsepower. Adaptive dampers come standard and the brakes are significantly larger, especially the optional carbon-ceramic brake option.

Also new to the car are the centrally mounted exhaust tips, now a GT3 staple, and a Sport mode that frees up the exhaust flow and reduces the intensity of the traction control.

The third GT3 was based on the 991-generation 911 and debuted in 2013. It was significantly different from its predecessors as it was the first car without a manual transmission. Instead, Porsche decided to make dual-clutch units standard. That upset some traditionalists, so Porsche added a manual gearbox back in the slightly milder GT3 Touring, launched in 2017.

The car had some teething problems in its first year. The new 475-horsepower 3.8-liter flat-six engine has had a few fires in customer hands, but fortunately no injuries have been reported. Porsche quickly figured out a solution and did the right thing by replacing all the engines in the cars it had delivered. Finally, Porsche upgraded the GT3 to a 500-horsepower 4.0-liter horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine after the mid-cycle refresh.

The fourth and current GT3 is based on the 992-generation 911 and debuts in 2021. It uses the previous generation’s 4.0-liter horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine with a peak power of 502 horsepower. The car offered buyers a choice of manual or dual-clutch automatic transmission from the start.

A key change is the installation of a double-wishbone front axle, which is adapted from the suspension of the 911 RSR endurance racer. It improves the lateral stability of the GT3’s front end and ties the entire car together in the way that the outgoing model requires. The rear wing also introduces gooseneck struts for the first time. This design maximizes the surface area on the underside of the wing, which means more low-pressure air, thereby generating more downforce.

High-Res Gallery: Porsche 911 GT3 Generation

This article was originally published by ClassicCars.com editorial partner Motor Authority