Taking Porsche’s GT3 RS On The Nordschleife Is An Homage To Tradition
Purpose has a place, and that place is the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
Porsche arguably has the current reigns on Nurburgring Nordschleife news these days with their tour of their experimental prototype. 919 Tribute hype is at an all-time high due to the impending revocation of another record held by Porsche for more than three decades. Some say it’s blasphemous. Other’s say it’s just Porsche doing Porsche things. It’s their own record anyway.
But that hasn’t happened yet, and so Carfection took the new GT3 RS to this hallowed ground in order to see what it was really like. Given conditions were wet, Henry Catchpole can’t go all-out, but he does go all reminiscent.
With so much attention paid to the North track, the South track gets almost none at all, and for good reason: Most of it has been abandoned for decades. Starting on the existing roads that still make up the Sudschleife, Catchpole takes us on a tour, including the initial down-hill first part of the lap. “I remember asking Hans Stuck about the Sudschleife,” Catchpole says, “because he raced on it. Did he like it? Yeah, he loved it, apparently. And he’s slightly insane.” With a GT3 RS though, the narrow, tree-lined roads are a playground filled with risk and huge reward.
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Catchpole’s time with the GT3 RS is entirely encompassed in un-favorable conditions, and yet that doesn’t stop him for enjoying each moment. “I think it’s fair to say that turning up to the Nordschleife’s car park in a brand new GT3 RS is just about the most rock-star thing I have ever done,” Catchpole clims upon arrival. But the better part comes after a lap. “It probably won’t surprise you to hear that this is a wonderful car… but the latest RS certainly hasn’t let he renn sport moniker down. Those two little letters; R and S still give you goosebumps.”
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