Praise be! Porsche sees the light, well, again.
Porsche caused more than a few raised eyebrows and some coarsely worded responses thrown its way when it announced that its most track-biased cars, the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS, would ditch the manual transmission and be offered only with a seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission.
In a report by the UK’s Autocar, Porsche’s engineering and handling wizard – Mr GT3 himself – Andreas Preuninger has confirmed that the next 911 GT3 will be handed a six-speed manual transmission as an option to complement Porsche’s standard-fit PDK. Interestingly, future owners of the lighter and more powerful next-generation GT3 RS will not be given with that choice.
The news comes hot off the heels of the 911 R’s debut at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, a car that can be interpreted as fan service in the best way possible. Importantly, its 4.0-litre atmospheric flat-six engine is mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
The purists who have bemoaned the move away from a clutch pedal and a self-shifter will surely be happy with this news, but a second tidbit that came from Autocar’s chat with Preuninger revealed that the GT3 and GT3 RS’ powertrain will also remain non-turbocharged “for the forseeable future..”
While the majority of Porsche’s cars will embrace turbocharging over the course of the next couple of iterations, which most recently involved the Boxster and Cayman (now called 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman) that have had their flat-six engines swapped out for turbocharged flat-fours, Preuninger says that the Cayman GT4 will keep its naturally-aspirated flat-six. Hoorah!
Finally, he added that the only member of Porsche’s GT portfolio to be introduced with a turbocharged engine will be the as-yet unreleased 991-generation GT2 and GT2 RS. That’s due for official unveil in 2017. We can’t wait for that either.
