LAMBORGHINI HURACAN PERFORMANTE & PORSCHE 911 GT3
Mercifully, Porsche doesn’t do any nonsense. Everything
is where it is supposed to be. The seats are comfortable,
vision is great, and the ergonomics are spot on. The
indicators are on normal stalks, not sprouting on the
steering wheel. You can say the Porsche lacks the drama
of the Italians and that is true. But Porsche make cars for
you to drive, not spend days trying to figure out where
everything is. And Porsche’s GT cars are as serious as they
get.
This is the 991.2 GT3, based on the previous gen 911
(the new one is the 992, as I’m sure you already know), and
its primary purpose is to homologate the aerodynamics
and engine parts for the 911s that race in touring car races
all over the world. To keep costs in check, motorsport
governing bodies like the FIA mandate some connection
between the race and road cars and every time go-faster
parts are needed, the same first needs to go on the road
car. That’s what homologation specials are. They are the
coolest form of sportscars, the ultimate Race on Sunday,
Sell on Monday cars. And the GT3 is that! This is a track
car! And far from what you’d expect, it works brilliantly on
the road.
The ride comfort is unbelievable for such a focused car.
You’d expect it to disintegrate your joints but it is far from
murder. It breathes over the road, there is no kickback,
there’s no need to slow down for bumps in the middle of
a corner — it just stays planted, a trick that also keeps it
planted when you run over kerbs on a race track. The
911 GT3 is a doctorate thesis in body control. It is agile
and poised. Colleagues who have much more experience
than I, claim this is the best driver’s car you can get and
I see no reason to dispute the claim. And grip? There are
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres, 245/35 on the front and
significantly wider 305/30 at the rear, ensuring 493bhp is
drilled straight down into the tarmac and not squiggling,
squirming or laying darkies on Kerala’s blacktop. What
grip! In a couple of minutes I’m in Sport + and giving it full
gas. What’s the big deal with Sport + you ask? Remember,
this is somebody else’s very expensive car, these are
narrow roads that I’ve never been on, there are bus drivers
who think they’re testing Ferrari Formula 1 cars, and this
is a fast car — 100kmph in 3.4 seconds, 200kmph in 11.4
seconds. Scratch that, this is a very, very fast car. Yet the
mechanical locking rear diff and extraordinary rear end
traction delivers the confidence to push somebody else’s
very expensive car to somewhere close to what you think
are its limits. There are dynamic engine mounts that
stiffen as the revs rise to damp out the load change. And
then there’s the steering that is quite possibly the best
power-assisted rack in the world. Forget being a mystery
to me, engineers the world over must be scratching their
collectively bald heads wondering how Porsche manage
such clarity, precision and feedback from the steering.74 http://www.evoIndia.com | July 2019
Left, top to bottom: Performante is as fighter jet-ish on the inside as
it is on the outside; Ashique drives his exotics everyday and everywhere;
20-inch Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres and massive carbon brakes