Porsche 911 GT2 (2007-) Review

Overview

• Next: Reliability and Quality

One week after Ferrari unleashed its fastest ever road car, Porsche has done the same with this 911 GT2. Like its Italian rival, the GT2 is a highly evolved version of a standard production model, in this case the 911 Turbo, a fact reflected in the considerable premium charged. The GT2 costs £131,070, some £31,150 more than the Turbo. For that you get an engine boosted by 50bhp to a stonking 530bhp, achieved by raising the turbo boost pressure of the 3.6-litre flat six motor and fitting a very clever expansion intake manifold which reduces the temperature of the fuel/air mixture, improving power and cutting fuel consumption by up to 15%.

The entire suspension system has been uprated to cope with this extra urge and includes Porsche's Active Suspension Management system as standard. Also included within the cost is Porsche's ceramic brake discs, an option on lesser models, virtually guaranteeing fade-free retardation whatever the conditions and considerably reducing weight by 5kg per corner. They should last almost the life of the car .

Indeed saving weight forms as much a part of the GT2 strategy as additional power. A substantial number of kilos have been saved by deleting the Turbo's all-wheel-drive hardwear and many more by fitting the GT2 with a titanium exhaust silencer weighing half as much as a conventional steel item. Further weight has been shaved by fitting thin sports bucket seats in place of the rather more thickly padded stock items, while those in the back have been dispensed with altogether. The result of all this is a car weighing 145kg less than the hardly portly Turbo.

Visually you're unlikely to mistake the GT2, thanks to that vast front air intake and the unique rear wing unless, of course, you're on an autobahn and one comes past at over 200mph. If you so much as blink, it will be gone.