Walter Röhrl is already circulating the impromptu airport course, streaking down the main runway with a plume of spray behind his GT2like a full-blown land-speed record attempt on a dusty salt flat. As the car streaks across the horizon, even more impressive than the sight is the sound of the 911 literally tearing and compressing the air around it in a shriek louder than the measured wail flowing from the exhaust pipes. Röhrl comes around closer on a short straight, tail out at 30º in a perfect drift. Watching from outside, Röhrl is obviously starting the lap with Stability Control and Traction Control on, as the motor spools up with little hiccups of interruption as the car leaps forward from a particularly wet 90º corner. Later in the lap, the slip angles increase and the smooth howl of the turbocharged six reveals he has disabled the systems.

Riding with Röhrl is a treat, amplified by the iffy weather. Its one of those situations where you wallow in awe for a few seconds, then shift gears and observe his ballet-smooth technique and start asking questions because its not like hes going to get distracted and put a wheel wrong. Where its merely wet and not puddled, the GT2 turns in like its dry. Its one of Röhrls favorite attributes of the car, and he says it turns into corners better than the GT3 RS. Through puddles with Stabil-ity Control on, it sounds like early 1990s F1 traction control is at work, with the car cutting out but still leaping forward.

Its the first use of Stability Control on a 911 GT model. And, on a mixed wet and drying surface combined with the turbo 3.6s explosive power delivery, it makes sense. The yaw parameters activating the Stability Control functions are higher than those for any other 911s PSM system from which it is derived, allowing the GT2 to rotate further before intervention. To demonstrate, Röhrl starts out with the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) shocks set to Normal with SC and TC on. The GT2 limits the slip angle of his slides and keeps us accelerating across puddles on the slick roadway.

It seems pretty stable‚ I remark as we hurtle down the straight. Röhrl replies by simply taking both hands off the wheel as we pass 250 km/h (155 mph). Just before he touches the brakes, we cross 300 km/h (186 mph) in the wet. Seconds later, the calipers grab the composite rotors and point the nose to the ground, scrubbing off over 100 mph effortlessly. Nice. After reaching down and disabling SC and TC, Röhrl says, Even with it off, the car is very stable and easy to catch.

Perfectly smooth drifts are no big deal for Röhrl, and in the middle of one I ask him why he was faster at the Nürburg-ring in the 997 GT2 than the mid-engined Carrera GT. Says Röhrl: Ah yes, its actually easier to drive. The GT has a long wheelbase and the mid-engine. It is stable, but it takes longer to gather up in a slide. So the GT2 breaks away maybe faster, but is also saved faster, and Im on the gas sooner. He also mentioned his fastest time was set with PASM on the Normal setting with SC and TC off.

Suspension chief Karsten Schebstad explains that the setup between PASM Normal and Sport arent just stair steps of stiffness. For most situations, the Normal setting produces the best results, as the GT2 PASM is more aggressive than the standard Turbos and the Nordschleife is far too bumpy for the Sport setting which is meant for billiard-smooth tracks. However, the shock stiffness of the package of each setting can overlap depending upon conditions. In other words, there may be situations such as extremely high speeds where Normal would stiffen the valving to levels within the range of Sport while Sport settings may dip into the upper reaches of the Normal valving.

As for the PSM-like Stability Control system, the GT2 marks the first time Por-sche is allowing the driver to disable the electronic safety net in stages, turning off SC while leaving Traction Control on to aid in power delivery. A separate button disables SC and TC, which allows the driver to control the GT2 without assistance. Unlike the PSM systems in other Porsches, once its off, it can only be reactivated via the button or restarting the car. All other versions of PSM can turn themselves back on to intervene should the computer determine that the end is near.

Thats not to say there arent a couple of tricks built into SC, however. Two functions cant be deactivated Anti-lock Braking and Corner Brake Control. The latter was developed for the track and Röhrl demonstrates it at the end of our laps. Says Röhrl: Say youve come into this corner too fast, youre trail-braking hard and turning at the same time. He brakes and turns hard. Too hard. With all the weight on the front of the car, the rear begins to come around. Just after it breaks loose, the front end suddenly turns in harder and rotation stops as individual brakes help arrest the rotation. Had the front not been so loaded, CBC wouldnt have intervened. Thus, power-on drifts with an electonic safety net are possible. Clever.

Finally behind the wheel of the GT2, several things strike my fancy. First up is the driving position. The steering column is height-adjustable and telescoping, making it possible to get the distances between wheel and seat perfect. And the Alcantara-wrapped wheel feels just right. The shifter is wrapped in the same material, with a plastic top cover that looks a little cheesy in such an expensive car. Thats quickly forgotten after stabbing the throttle. The power delivery is intoxicating, and its hard to keep from cracking the throttle open just to feel the shove back into the seat and hear the accompanying howl of the motor. The variable-steering boost is identical to the GT3 and Turbo and has the same laser precision.

As a result of the relentless rain, the idea of pushing the GT2 through any twisting roads has frightened the higher-ups, so were led baby-duck style in convoy again and turned loose on unrestricted autobahn. Heading north, we catch some breaks in the weather and traffic and explore the outer reaches of the engines ability to hurl the GT2 at the horizon. The scary thing is how stable it is. 155 mph feels like 65 mph. Helping matters is the quality of the roadway silky smooth and nothing like California freeways. Sixth gear pulls as hard as fifth, which pulls as hard as fourth, and so on.

 

Cool...thanks for sharing!!!

 

Man oh man, what a high it is getting driven a P car with Walter at the helm. The guy is just phenomenal. Just watching him in the vids driving the GT2 around is sick, he makes it look so damn easy.
Another man I would love to meet would be Sideways Stefan.

 

He is GOD, awesome review of the GT2 as well. But i'm confused, in another test he preferred the GT3 and said it feels better in the turns, yet in this the GT2 is better?!?

 

Martin, thought you would find this exerpt from that same article interesting!!

For nearly every country but ours, a no-cost Clubsport package for the GT2 consists of a rear roll cage, fire-resistant cloth seat material, a six-point seatbelt for the driver, and a prep-kit for a main-battery cut-off switch. Unfortunately, the U.S. forbids manufacturers from installing roll bars in street cars. Porsche says all GT2s will be prepared for full cages, with hard mounting points in the floor, but one wonders why other Clubsport items cant be made available to U.S. buyers.
The $191,700 GT2 should hit our shores in January, 2008. Well see between 200 and 300 of the 1,300 Porsche plans to build over the course of the production run. Its pretty hard to find fault in a 911 that breaks the 200-mph barrier with no drama and can literally turn around and idle in traffic like a commuter. I hate to mention it, but the GT2 even has the standard retractable Porsche cup holders in its dash. And that left leg will toughen up with more miles, Im sure of it. Finally, being a 911, the GT2 has a certain stealth factor the exotic Carrera GT cant match.
Unfortunately, the rain hindered my ability to toss the car around the twisties, so Im eager to see how the chassis reacts in the dry. Riding with Röhrl, however, demonstrated the cars potential. Lewin tells the story of Röhrls first drive in the GT2: He did several laps, then came in. He was silent, and I thought, Oh no, what horrible oversight have we made? After what seemed like an immeasurable amount of time, he said, This is the best car Ive ever driven. Im not going to argue with Röhrl, as the man seems to know his stuff.

 

The car is sure to be amazing...

 

It sure is, man I can't wait to experience one, but I have a feeling it will be damn near impossible with the limited amount produced

 

As if you don't have a rare car

You will get your chance.

 

love the 997 GT2! thanks for sharing

 

Pretty sure in the article posted somewhere recently ( with the photo of him and his 964RS at the end ) he says, or it states that his favorite is the GT3, doesn't it?