Specialty File
Porsche is one of the few car companies that sell turn-key race cars, and the company offers 911-based racers that are eligible for various race series, including Le Mans. While we were testing the Cayman GTR, we took a spin in the 911 GT3 Cup car that Farnbacher Loles runs in the Grand-Am GT series.
As one would assume, the GT3 Cup is based on the $106,860 911 GT3, and the two share an engine and body shell. The Cup car runs $159,000, which sounds steep, but if a would-be racer started with a street car and turned it into a GT3 Cup, the dollars spent would far exceed that amount. Racing parts are pricey, and the Cup car is loaded with them—a fuel cell, an adjustable suspension, ceramic brake rotors, oil coolers, a safety cage made with 80 feet of steel tubes, a fire system, air jacks, and a new transmission. To save weight, it has a carbon-fiber rear deck and doors and plastic rear windows. All told, 600 pounds were cleaved, leaving roughly 2500 pounds.
That’s about as heavy as a Mazda Miata with 400 horsepower from the 3.6-liter flat-six. And, yes, the GT3 Cup scoots. Despite an on-off clutch that prevented a smooth takeoff, we recorded a 0-to-60 time of 4.7 seconds and a quarter-mile of 12.9 seconds at 124 mph. Running through the gears of the sequential transmission, which replaces the streets car’s gearbox, is a cakewalk—all one has to do is pull the lever back for upshifts and push it forward for downshifts. The engine computer automatically cuts power when the lever is tugged so shifts are performed without using the clutch or lifting off the gas.
Nearly every piece of the suspension is adjustable, so the handling is only as good as the setup. In this case, the car was as confidence inspiring as a 400-hp racer gets, with a wonderfully solid feel. Pilots need to be on their toes because the car eschews aids such as anti-lock brakes and stability control, so the driver’s skill makes all the difference—just as it should.
