Porsche 911 GT3

Its True Genius Is More Evident Now Than When This Hero Rolled Out In 1999.

- Andy Enright

Model Porsche 996.1 GT3

Engine 3600cc flat-six, dohc, 24v

Max power 265kW @ 7200rpm

Max torque 370Nm @ 5000rpm

Transmission 6-speed manual

Weight 1350kg 0-100km/h 4.8sec (claimed)

Price $224,600 (1999), from $160,000 now

PORSCHE WEAVES A seductive line in fairy tales. Half-truths often become legends while nods and winks gently coalesce into established facts. It’s our fault, really. We want to believe. The romance of Porsche’s competition pedigree is an intoxicating backstory that has us teasing out the mitochondrial DNA of the most tenuous motorsport connections. But Porsche didn’t have to bother gilding the lily with the Porsche 996 GT3.

To contextualise the genesis of this car, you need to understand nothing more abstract than cooling. More specifically, water cooling. The 996 generation might have seen the 911 switch from air to water cooling upon its introduction in 1998, but delve back a good deal further and it’s apparent that this shift in strategy was both critical and inevitable. History seems to have airbrushed the fact that Porsche’s iconic 935 racer was originally prone to head-gasket failures due to overheating, the works cars only completing four of the nine rounds of the 1977 World Championship of Makes. For 1978, Porsche switched to water cooling for the heads, introducing the vastly improved 935/78 ‘Moby Dick’ car. The water-cooled heads continued for both production and race versions of the 959 supercar, with the subsequent 956 and 962 racers featuring fully water-cooled Hans Mezger-designed engines.