A Porsche 911 GT3 with the Weissach Package just smashed the record for the fastest lap by a manual transmission production car at the famous Nürburgring in Germany. The GT3 sits atop one of the most prestigious bloodlines in all of the autoverse, and is heralded for being one of the last supercars equipped with a tried-and-true manual transmission. This top-tier 911 just ripped around the 12.94-mile ‘Ring in a record-shattering 6 minutes and 56.294 seconds.
This record run happened on a gorgeous, sunny day with perfect weather—54 degrees in the air and 80 degrees on the asphalt. Those conditions were ideal for getting great grip on the tricky track. Porsche made some solid upgrades to the car’s chassis, which helped it handle curbs and bumps much better. They also tweaked the gear ratios to be shorter, so it could send power to the rear axle quicker, boosting acceleration out of corners.
Joerg Bergmeister, the lucky driver behind the wheel during this record lap, couldn’t hide his excitement: “With the six-speed manual gearbox, I definitely had more to do on the fast lap and thus also a bit more fun.” (like we’ve all been saying, carmakers … pay attention!)
Before this, the record for a manual production car was set by the Dodge Viper ACR, which lapped the circuit in 7 minutes and 1.3 seconds back in 2017, according to Motor1. The Nürburgring is known for its tough layout and is a big deal in the automotive world, making it a hot spot for car makers wanting to show off their speed.
“More and more customers of the 911 GT3 are opting for the six-speed manual transmission. And more and more often we are asked by these customers how fast a 911 GT3 with manual transmission would be on the Nordschleife.” – Andreas Preuninger, Porsche’s director of GT cars
The manual 911 GT3’s impressive time puts it among the fastest legal sports cars ever at the ‘Ring. The Porsche 991 GT2 RS Manthey Performance Kit holds the overall fastest time at 6 minutes and 43.300 seconds, followed by the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series at 6 minutes and 48.047 seconds. The Porsche 911 GT3 RS is third at 6 minutes and 49.328 seconds, while the Porsche 911 GT3 Manthey Performance Kit comes in fourth at 6 minutes and 55.737 seconds. Plus, the manual 911 GT3’s time beats the fifth-fastest sports car, the Ford Mustang GTD, which did it in 6 minutes and 57.685 seconds (all times are from the Nürburgring’s official site).
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“The new 911 GT3 inspires even more confidence at the limit than the previous model. I was faster in almost every corner,” says Porsche brand ambassador and former racing driver Joerg Bergmeister, describing the handling of the sports car.
“We learned a lot from the 911 GT3 RS, especially with the chassis. The car is much more stable on bumps and over the curbs. And thanks to the eight-per-cent-shorter gear ratio, there is noticeably more drive from the rear axle when accelerating with the same engine power. Even if it would have been a few seconds faster with the seven-speed PDK – with the six-speed manual gearbox I definitely had more to do on the fast lap – and it was therefore even more fun.” – Joerg Bergmeister, Porsche brand ambassador and former racing driver
Porsche, along with the rest of us enthusiasts, is super excited about setting this manual record and has seen a significant jump in interest and sales for the manual version of the 911 GT3, possibly even marking the beginning of a stick-shift Renaissance.
