The Mezger Six: Evolution of an Automotive Game-Changer
Mezger Engine: a Frankenstein of Porsche’s Greatest Hits
The Mezger engine (named after Porsche’s most famous engineer, Hans Mezger) is what they came up with. It would power all performance variants of the 996 (GT3, GT2, and Turbo) and was essentially a Frankenstein of Porsche’s greatest hits. It took its crankcase design from the 993/964; cylinder heads and block design from their Le Mans-winning GT1 engine used in the Dauer GT; and valve heads from the 959. Everything Porsche got wrong with the M96, it got right with the Mezger. From build quality to performance, the two engines were worlds apart. Plus, since the Mezger’s block design was pulled from the GT1 car and not the cost-saving Boxster like the M96, it didn’t have an intermediate shaft, and thus, didn’t suffer from that somewhat annoying catastrophic engine failure problem.
The Mezger was an incredible, overengineered, mechanical marvel. It was so good in fact, Porsche left it pretty much untouched for the better part of a decade. When the 996 GT3 debuted in 1999, it produced 360 hp and 273 lb ft of torque. By the time the 997 version hit the streets in 2006, those numbers grew to 415 and 298 respectively, requiring nothing more than a slight tune to squeeze out the extra power. It was a rock-solid workhorse capable of handling immense power that set the standard at Porsche for 11 years.
The Mezger will forever have a place in Porsche’s mechanical pantheon, not just because it was one of their greatest engines but because it helped save the company
By the end of the decade, though, due to tightening emission standards and the engine’s incompatibility with both Porsche’s direct fuel injection system and their PDK transmission, it was clear the end was near for Porsche’s flat six masterpiece. A farewell tour of biblical proportions was coming.
Though the last Mezger-powered Turbo rolled off the line in 2009 to little fanfare, it was only because Porsche was saving all the fireworks for the GT2 and GT3. The penultimate version of the Mezger came the following year in the form of a 620 hp, rear wheel drive, row your own gear RS edition of the GT2. The GT2 RS was the fastest, lightest, most powerful road-going car Porsche had ever produced up to that time, and it would go on to obliterate the production car lap record at the Nürburgring. It proved to be just an appetizer.