White Lightening

The 996 GT3 RS is brilliant out of the box, but Porsche always intended for customers to make some changes…

- Kyle Fortune

Full disclosure here. The 996 GT3 RS was the first RS I ever drove and it left something of an impression – so much so that I’ll always look for an excuse to drive one. That first car was owned by a friend, Neil Primrose, who had the first UK car in the country back in 2003. It arrived before the UK press car and he was kind enough to let me borrow it for a day. This experience, coupled with subsequent drives of that delayed UK press car, Porsche’s own museum car and other privately owned examples over the years, have only reinforced my opinion that the 996 GT3 RS is among the greatest of all RSs. If you truly covet purity and want to enjoy your car on both road and track, the 996 RS is a hugely compelling machine.

Inevitably then, while checking out the RPM Technik website for the specifications of the two 997 GT3 RS that appear elsewhere in this issue, this 996 GT3 RS caught our eye. Not just because at £149,995, like all 996 GT3 RSs, it’s criminally undervalued in the current marketplace, but because it’s a car that’s been modified. Originality obsessives can stop reading, but my interest was suitably piqued. Similarly, if you subscribe to the RS philosophy then this car should also be of interest to you.

All RSs add the possibility of adjustability to the 911s they’re based on (easier today with a 992.1 GT3 RS thanks to steering wheel dials). The expectation – desire, even – is that you’ll rejig things to suit you and your intended use of it. If that means modifying it, then so be it. These are legitimate near-race cars after all, and meant to be enjoyed as such. If doing so, then where better than to go than Manthey Racing? It’s a company that’s so intrinsically linked with Porsche and the GT department that not long ago Porsche formalised the relationship by taking a 51 per cent controlling stake in the business.