Auto Car | Porsche 911 GT1 for GTR2 | Aleksss, Alless, Tolik & Schraubzwinge have released their Porsche 911 GT1 for GTR2, adding one of the most legendary GT cars of the late 90s to the simulation. While everybody can now try the car below, the guys are already working on a new version, coming with a realistic Motec display and much more. Powered by a 3.2 liter twin-turbo flat-six engine, the 911 GT1 was Porsche’s weapon of choice in the FIA GT Championship and the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours which it won, driven by Alan McNish, Laurent Aiello and Stephane Ortelli.
The GT1 exists as a result of current GT sports car racing regulations. These rules are confusing to say the least, but in a nutshell - a splendidly over-simplified splinter of a nutshell - the GT1 class is supposed to be for roadgoing supercars. And at Le Mans' pre-qualifying session, manufacturers of GT1 cars must provide one road-legal version for scrutiny in the paddock. That car must also be 'for sale' at a price not exceeding US $1 million. To keep costs down, you understand.
For Le Mans in '96 the works Porsche team showed up with two never-seen-before fully-fledged GT1 racers and a 'display' road car. Long before they'd managed a one-two in the GT1 class and second and third overall, other teams cried 'cheat', but to no avail. This year they tried the same trick (though crashed and burned while leading) but so did Nissan, Panoz, Lotus and Lister, while McLaren, who had at least started off with a true road car, responded with race-only long-tail bodywork.
But, to Porsche's credit, the firm is now geared up to build around thirty 911 GT1 road cars and sell them to the public (except in the USA - no airbags) at around £550,000, depending on the exchange rate.
And should you decide to sell your car, house, all its contents and more to buy one, what you'll get is a racing car; one that hasn't been sanitised or compromised for street use. Yes, there's carpet and a choice of colours for seat leather and exterior paint, and the dash and instrumentation are of familiar 911 stock. The seat belts, too, are convenient three-point inertia reel items.
But the driving sensations, the harsh ride, the mechanical mayhem, are pure racer. Much more so than a 911RS, more so than a Diablo or even an F50. It's about on a par with a mid-'60s racing GT40, but less smelly. In other words, the GT1's a car that you're not exactly sorry to get out of. Nobody ever claimed that racing cars are pleasant places to be. They're not. They're built to win, not to cosset passengers. And here's the dilemma. Why put up with the noise, the absence of real oomph below 5,000rpm, the turbo lag, the restricted steering lock and outward vision, the awkward entry and exit, the sealed windows (though 'production' versions will have small sliding apertures), the near-zero ground clearance, the alarming tramlining on imperfect public roads, and the responsibility, risk and sheer all-round impracticality of it all if you're not going to don Arai, Nomex and five-point harness and race the damn thing where it really belongs, on the track?
Specification
Make: Porsche
Model: 911 GT-1 Strassenwersion
Year: 1998
Country of Origin: Germany
Type: Road Legal Racing Car
Class: S
Engine: Boxer 6, Air cooled, Twin Turbocharged, 3,200 CC, Methanol.
Horsepower: 700 BHP @ 7,200 RPM
Tourque: 300 LB FT @ 5,800 RPM
Redline: 8,300 RPM
Brakes: Carbon Ceramic Les Mans Brakes all Round
Wheels: 20 inch Magnesium alloy
Handedness: Left
Dials: all analouque (993 units).
Readout: KM/H
Transmission: 6 Speed H Pattern Manual
Driveline: M/R Mid Engined, Rear Wheel Drive
0-60: 3.3 Seconds
Top Speed: 237 MPH
( www.topgear.com )
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