Porsche 911 GT2 RS - the widowmaker returns

Porsche 911 GT2 RS.

The new 911 Porsche GT2 RS, the car they're calling the new "widowmaker", has reportedly lapped Germany's Nurburgring circuit in 7 minutes 18 seconds - or 19 seconds quicker than the 911 Turbo S.

In tests before the blistering lap, the GT2 RS sprinted from zero to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds, on to 200km/h in 9.8 seconds, and scorched to a top speed of 332km/h.

Porsche claims it reached 300km/h in 28.9 seconds. But the rear-drive flyer is not the quickest Porsche - not in standing-start sprint terms. That honour belongs to the new 911 Turbo and the advantage in traction its all-wheel-drive system gives it off the line.

Not that there's much in it - despite its specially developed 19-inch 325/30 profile tyres, the manual-only GT2 RS lags behind the 911 Turbo and its PDK double-clutch gearbox by only two-tenths of a second.

The manual-only GT2 RS is a limited-edition model restricted to 500 examples. The first of a handful allocated to New Zealand and Australia will arrive from September. No word on price yet, but expect upwards of $400,000.

It completes the updated 911 range before the redesigned 998-series model appears in 2012.

But it doesn't use the latest Porsche flat-six engine offering, the 3.8-litre unit. Instead, the GT2 RS uses a heavily revised version of the previous 3.6-litre twin-turbocharged powerplant.

Porsche engineers have reworked the older engine and fitted variable turbine technology, a change which helps boost output from 390kW/680Nm in the previous GT2 to 456kW in the RS version.

No mention of the engine's torque - Porsche is apparently holding back until the car's unveiling at the Moscow motor show in August - but the 911 Turbo and Turbo S bother deliver 700Nm.

The GT2 RS weighs in at 1370kg - 70kg less than the previous GT2 - and pulls along just 3kg for every one of its 456kW. Porsche reckons that's the best power-to-weight ratio in the supercar class.

Already, the GT2 RS is being described as the wildest Porsche ever. The previous GT2 got its reputation as a widowmaker because of its on-the-edge behaviour.

The new model's performance on the Nurburgring's demanding North Circuit has turned heads. Its claimed 7 minutes 18 seconds lap betters the best reported lap time set by Nissan's GT-R (7:26.7), which last year controversially lowered the previous GT2's Nurburgring record of 7:32, set by Walter Rohrl on race-compound tyres in 2008.

Put into further perspective, it's also more than 10 seconds quicker than the Carrera GT (7:28.7 in 2004) and the 918 Spyder's estimated time of 7:30, as well as 20 seconds better than the 2010 911 Turbo (7:38) and Ferrari's superseded 430 Scuderia (7:39).

Ferrari's best production car time at the Nurburgring is understood to be held by the 2003 Enzo (7:25.3), but the Italian supercar brand recently claimed its 599XX experimental prototype lapped the 21km racetrack in less than seven minutes, narrowly bettering the fastest time ever recorded by an F1 car at the Nurburgring - 6:58.6, set by Niki Lauda and his Ferrari 312T during qualifying for the 1975 F1 GP.

The 911 GT2 RS might be 20 seconds slower than Ferrari's finest competition cars at the Nurburgring, but Porsche's newest road car returns claimed town-and-around fuel consumption of just 11.9 litres/100km and CO2 emissions of 284g/km, making it about 5 per cent more efficient than the model it replaces.

The top-shelf 911 doesn't just deliver more power though - it also comes with Porsche composite ceramic brakes (PCCB), RS suspension tune with Porsche Adaptive Suspension Management (PASM), the 911 GT3's dynamic engine mount system and a recalibrated iteration of Porsche's switchable PSM electronic stability control system.

Apart from being wider, the new alloy wheels are centre-locking and spin beneath flared wheel-arches up front, and there's also an upgraded front lip spoiler, 10mm-higher matt-black carbon-fibre-reinforced (CFR) rear wing and GT2 RS badges adorning the doors and rear engine bonnet.

Differentiating the GT2 RS cabin are CFR-plastic seats, lightweight doors with straps instead of handles and red Alcantara fake-suede material gracing the seats, headlining, gearshifter and handbrake.

As with the GT3, a rollcage will be available for the GT2 RS.