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Cape Town - "Well I’m glad they finally sorted out the power problem on the old GTS.” said nobody. Ever.
Because it had veritable shed loads. Yet here we are, being folded into the leathery cabin of the new car, now a forcefully aspirated 3.0-litre in the 2017 model capable of 331kW and 550Nm.
The old naturally aspirated 3.8-litre flat six engine had to make do with a not so meagre 316kW and 440Nm. The new GTS?
Proper performance
That’s good to the tune of a sub-four second zero to hundred sprint now, 3.7 seconds specifically with the PDK transmission, but continues to tear through the air all the way to a top speed of 310km/h.
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Whilst it merrily returns a combined fuel economy of 8.3-litres/100km and farts a mere 188g/ CO2 every kilometre.
It does all this without losing that purity that made the GTS the absolute driver’s cars they were revered for being in the first place, with peak power being delivered at a reasonably lofty 6500rpm, with its turbo torque dropping off around 5000rpm.
Tractability remains impressive, the new GTS capable of dragging itself from 100km/h to 200km/h in the time it takes a warm hatch to sprint to 100km/h, I mean just 8.7 seconds.
A curb weight of 1450kg and slippery 0.31 drag coefficient do their part in keeping the latest 911 lean and mean, and you’ll attest to that by the time you’ve exited the first turn at Killarney.
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The second turn will fortify your opinion of it’s taut mechanics and eager turn-in, the third turn will have you pushing the nose to find the 911’s boundaries and by the time you hit the double right-hander of turn four you’ll be driving for entertainment almost exclusively.
Still Killarney rewards you with turn five, a delicious cambered bowl that lines you up with the straight, before doing it all again, six laps in total.
Driving bliss.
Why Killarney
You might ask yourself, why Killarney? Why the little track at the tip of Africa as opposed to Porsche’s home circuit, Kyalami?
Well, I’m a fan of the five-cornered circuit of Table View - literally a great vantage point to stare of Table Mountain, but also of the stunning roads that surround it such as Contermans Kloof.
So here’s me wringing the neck of a Targa GTS on that very bit of bitumen.
