Porsche 997 GT3 RS 4.0

The vehicle in detail

It was also the finale for the seemingly eternal flat-six Metzger engine. Hans Metzger’s masterpiece of engineering has been located at the back of every Porsche 911 since 1964. In its various forms it has been the powerplant for winning race cars from the Le Mans 24 Hours to the Paris-Dakar Rally. To illustrate how vitally important this engine was, the head of GT cars for Porsche, Andreas Preuninger, described the RS 4.0 as having been ‘built around the engine’. Upgraded engine parts included a crankshaft borrowed from the 911 GT3 RSR racing car and forged titanium pistons. At four liters, it was the largest displacement 911 engine ever produced, creating 125 hp/liter with 500 total horsepower at 8,250 rpm. These are stunning numbers from a normally-aspirated engine, especially one pushing its power through a six-speed manual transmission – the last Rennsport 911 to feature three pedals and a stick.

Recognized as a special, limited edition it was also a driver’s car, and people drove them – frequently hard at the track. In fact, all of Porsche’s marketing materials show stripped out RS 4.0s in a blur, racing around tracks of the world, touting an extremely impressive Nürburgring lap time of 7:27. With only 1,794 miles shown at time of cataloging this RS 4.0, by comparison, lived a sedate existence when compared to its track-bound siblings. This is further evidenced by a DME report on file showing zero over revs in any of the six computer monitored ranges.