Porsche’s GT-branded performance cars are fairly extreme in their own right, but the Porsche-owned Manthey Racing team’s kits take them one step further. The most absurd 911 built with Porsche’s direct approval right now is a GT3 RS equipped with that Manthey kit, which brings goodies like rear aerodisc wheels and a massive, prototype-like tailfin. Thanks to a Nürburgring Nordschleife record attempt revealed today, we now know that those changes make the GT3 RS much, much faster.
According to an official record run published today, the Manthey-equipped RS ran the ‘Ring in 6:45.389. That is a gain of nearly four seconds over the 6:49.328 set by the basic RS in 2022. It vaults the tremendously extreme Porsche up to fourth on the all-time production car leaderboard, although the time is still around 16 seconds behind the absurd Mercedes AMG One hypercar.
The timing of the record is strange. Because Manthey and Ford chose to announce two very impressive lap times on the same day, the time set by the Manthey Kit RS is only the second fastest lap time around the Nordschleife announced on this otherwise-random Friday. It was beaten out by the 6:40.8 time set by the Mustang GTD Competition by less than five seconds.
Another Manthey-equipped Porsche, the 991-generation 911 GT2 RS, previously held the overall production record with a lap of 6:43.3 set back in 2021. That car may have been older, but it had nearly 700 hp from its twin-turbocharged engine. The Manthey-equipped 992 GT3 RS, on the other hand, produces just under 520 hp from its high-revving, naturally-aspirated flat-six.
The record-setting AMG One has a combined system output of more than 1000 hp. We do not know the exact power output of the new Mustang GTD Competition, but we know it produces more than the 815 hp offered by the standard GTD. A more powerful variant of the 911 could soon surpass this Manthey RS time, but this lap should still be enough for the GT3 RS to stand as of the most impressive power-to-pace performers ever built.
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Fred Smith’s love of cars comes from his fascination with auto racing. Unfortunately, that passion led him to daily drive a high-mileage, first-year Porsche Panamera. He is still thinking about the last lap of the 2011 Indianapolis 500.