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How close can the Porsche 911 Carrera get to the 911 GT3’s Performance? Carwow gives us the answer in a drag race
by Dim Angelov, on LISTEN 03:41Our UK colleagues from Carwow have come up with another interesting drag race. This time, two versions of the Porsche 992 go head to head. You can probably tell, which of the two is going to win since we are talking about a base Porsche 911 Carrera and a 911 GT3. Racetrack performance aside, the question here is how much quicker the GT3 is, and will it be able to justify the enormous price difference?
Porsche 911 (992) Carrera
The (almost) base 911 Carrera comes with a 3.0-liter, twin-turbo flat-six that makes 385 horsepower and 331 pound-feet (450 Nm). It’s mated to an eight-speed PDK, dual-clutch automatic that sends power to the rear wheels. The 992 Carrera weighs 3,318 pounds (1,505 kg) and, as equipped would cost about $103,000 (84,870 in the UK).
Porsche 911 (992) GT3
The most powerful normally-aspirated Porsche 911 is back with a motorsport-derived, 4.0-liter, high-revving flat-six engine that puts out 510 horsepower and 345 pound-feet (470 Nm).
This particular GT3 is equipped with a seven-speed PDK, although a six-speed manual is also available. As equipped the GT3 costs around $175,000 (140,000 in the UK). The GT3 is also lighter at 3,163 pounds (1,435 kg), but the extra downforce could slow it down later down the line.
The race
The two races from a dig showed just how important warming up the tires is. The 911 Carrera did a clean launch both times, while the GT3 struggled off the line on the first one. Regardless, the lighter, more powerful GT3 took the win both times, finishing the quarter-mile in 11.4 seconds versus the 911 Carrera’s 12.1 seconds.
On the first rolling race, which was in comfort mode, the GT3 kicked down super-quick, while the Carrera hesitated, thus securing an easy win for the normally-aspirated car. In sport mode and with manual shifting, however, the two cars were not that far apart. The Carrera’s “turbo-torque” from early in the rev-range meant it could keep up with the GT3 relatively easy. Of course, the lighter, more powerful car still won in the end.
The braking test reveals the carbon-ceramic brakes’ inefficiency when cold. Nevertheless, it managed to beat the base car, with steel brakes, even if by a very small margin.
Conclusion
The 911 GT3, as the driver said, is “very close to perfect”. On a racetrack, it would demolish the base Carrera like it’s nothing, but for everyday use, the Carrera is just brilliant. Moreover, if you happen to go for the base car and find yourself driving next to a GT3 out on the road, you now have the knowledge that you’ll be able to keep up with it, in a straight line…until the GT3 gets into the upper rev-range and disappears that is.
