New Porsche 911 Carrera S quicker than a 997 GT3

New Porsche 911 - 13 seconds quicker round the Nurburgring than the old 911

Porsche has revealed that the new 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S is 13 seconds quicker round the Nurburgring than the old 911, and quicker even than the 997 GT3.

Porsche had something of a spat recently with the Nissan GT-R, with both parties keen to show their car was the quickest. But Porsche has now got over that ‘I’ve got the biggest’ mentality, and are now keener to show how far their current crop of cars has come. Like the new 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S.

It’s been revealed that the new 911 Carrera S has lapped the Nurburgring a full 13 seconds quicker than the old 911, quicker even than the 997 GT3 could manage. Which is astonishing.

The Carrera S Porsche used for the run was a stock 911 S with a 20mm lower suspension and road tyres, complete with a PDK ‘box (quicker than the manual – whatever purists think) and the new active PDCC with hydraulically activate anti-roll bar setup.

All of which makes the time set by the new 911 Carrera S an entirely credible one, unlike many recent ‘Ring times which have relied on a great deal of specialist fettling before they set a time and shows, perhaps more clearly than all the hype, just what a leap the new 911 is.

All the more surprising is that the new 911 gets just 20bhp more than the old 997, and loses just 35kgs in weight (which considering the extra gubbins attached to the new car is impressive), so we must put the increased performance down to the revised suspension and the addition of stuff like the new active PDCC, more than the smidge extra power and trimming of weight.

And if you’re a 997 GT3 owner who’s wondering where it all went wrong, just wait for the new GT3 – it should be very quick.