A friend of mine one day invited me as a passenger in his 996GT3. I knew it was modified and I wasn’t exactly a 911 virgin but I’ve just never been in a Gt3.

We were at the circuit of the Americas and during the first lap I ask myself what the hell is going on? It felt extremely loud and rattly at idle, the interior was much more spartan than what I would expect on a Porsche, breaking zones with the rear slightly off have never been so dangerous. I was in love..

A few years passed and I now own a 993 and a 964. The same friend invited me again on the track here in Houston and I have never been in a car that makes my spine tingle as much as his 996 Gt3. She was just glorious pass 6000rpms. and the turn in!

I sold the 993 (I never liked the way it drove) and I am set to search a Gt3. Only a want a 997.2 because it has the 3.8 engine and, come on, everyone is raving about it so it must be better! Wrong.

I test drove a 2011 in stock form and I felt robbed of the tingling experience that I had at the track with the 996. It was like having sex with three condoms on. And at a much higher price than the 996 GT3. What the hell!! This brothel is a rip off. But the forums…

when my friend listed that very same 996 GT3 for sale I could not resist. In the meanwhile I had purchased a 996 Turbo "by chance" and I really loved the 996 chassis. So in reality I shouldn’t have thought about purchasing anything else because I already had two other cars but then you know when deep inside you something tells you that it is the right thing to do? The little voice? (Funny enough that voice only happens when I buy motorcycles or cars!). Perfectly set up for the track and I wouldn’t want it in any different way. And I didn’t have to give up my 996 turbo or my Frankenstein 964 like if I went for the 997.2...she was home.

I bought it with the stock exhaust on but I proceeded to reinstallIng the dundon full exhaust in a quick seven hours and several bleeding knuckles. It was Nirvana again. I always told myself that there is only one brand with a red cars (Ferrari) and ironically I ended up with a red Gt3. But to be honest, the tingling spine experience does not have a color.

 

LOL

 

I saw the yellow 996GT3 poster and decided I really wanted/needed one. Coming from a 993, it just seemed like the natural progression. So I told my wife Nadine "We NEED a GT3"...she said "No, you may WANT a GT3, but you don't NEED a GT3".... couple months later we're at our local DE and our Chief Instructor Marty had (still has) a Speed Yellow '04 GT3. She and I are both instructors and she used to love going for rides with "fast car" instructors. So she went out with Marty. She got out of the car, looked at me and said "Yes, we NEED a GT3!!" That was September of 2010.

Little background: every 5 years of our marriage I bought her diamonds of some sort for our anniversary. In January 2011, 5 months before our 20th anniversary, she says "You know, instead of you getting me diamonds, how about we get a GT3 instead? Then it's for both of us instead of just me."...um...OK!! "But it had to be Speed Yellow!!" No problem!!

So January 2011 I started looking here on RL and all over. I come upon a thread of someone looking for a white or silver GT3. As I read through the thread, Bill Rutner of Rutner Racing/South Shore Performance mentions he has a customer on Long Island, NY selling a Speed Yellow GT3 with 16k miles on it... Oh BIIIILLLL!!! .... Being originally from NJ and Nadine being a PCA Scrutineer, we knew Bill pretty well. I reached out, he connected us with the owner and we discussed the car.

Sebring PCA Race 2011, Nadine is scrutineering, I came along to hang out. Sitting in the 993 during the night race I'm negotiating with the owner to buy the car. We agree...I put down the phone and say to myself "I'm sitting in my Porsche, in Sebring, during the PCA night race and we just bought a GT3!!" I go to find her (she's frazzled from the long day and the enormous amount of incidents they've had so far. I tell her, She's excited! For 5 seconds then there's a big incident.... end of excitement.

I send a deposit saying we'll come up to drive it home to Charlotte. It promptly starts snowing non-stop in the Northeast for the better part of 2 months! Eventually he says I need to come get it. I offer to pay the balance and him hold on to it, but he needs the garage space. So we hop a plane, spend a couple days in NYC (hadn't been since 9/11), take the train out to his house, pick up the car and drive home!!

I remember on the way home on the NJ Turnpike, Nadine is driving, I'm playing around on my phone. I suddenly feel us slow down REAL hard... I look over at her, then the speedometer and see it tick down below 100... I look at her again and all she says, eyes straight forward, "this car is going to get me arrested"

That was nearly 100k miles ago. Close to 113k on it now, all street since we've had it. (drove it today as a matter of fact).

No arrests, only 1 ticket (me).

Love the car. Drive it all the time...and everywhere...in any weather...


Daytona 24 corral


Yeah...it gets snow on it!

 

So did it come with the RS front bumper? Mine looks the same but I got it that way. I always wondered if it was an RS bumper or a factory bumper cut out. I know it's factory. The cut outs look original but I know the factory RS bumper was VERY expensive.

 

My dad bought a 996 GT3 Mk1 in 2002 from a customer of manthey racing.
(Manthey racing is only about 60miles away from us.)
After driving it some time he decided with Olaf to modify it a little bit.
Result was the first GT3MR with the K400 engine kit, the GT3 MK2 look and a lot of other modifications.
In 2003 sadly he sold the car to get a 996 Cup car.

This july I was on german classifieds and was looking for cars.
I found a GT3 that looked similar to the car my dad had.
But I knew Manthey had modified several cars to this look.

My brother contacted the seller and it turned out that it was really the car from my dad.

So I took him and we drove 6 hours to the seller. After a short test drive I bought it
and started to restaurate it because after 20 years there are some points which I want to renew.

I made a little blog on instagram also. gt3_mr is the page name.

It is a car with the genuine 003 clubsport package, the perlon seats and manual throttle body like the cup cars.

And it is mandatory that I share it with my dad. I think he has even more fun then I do :-)

 

it’s a cup bumper. Yes it was that way when we bought it. I like it - subtle difference from everyone else.

 

As I recall the Cup and RS bumpers are slightly different - the the Cup bumper having sharper lines at the lower corner of the outside cut outs. The other difference - I think - is the Cup bumper fiber glass or some composite. I don't know if the RS bumper was composite or urethane. Mine looks like yours and has the factory numbers etc on the inside but it is definitely urethane not composite. So maybe mine was a factory GT3 bumper cut to look like an RS.

 

Actually, I think you are correct. If you look closer at the cup cars, the outer edge of the side two vents does not have the curve - its more square.

 

The RS bumper is urethane. The RS grills are embossed to fit the bumper cutouts and have a hexagonal pattern. The backside will looks like someone slapped silly putty on them to attach them to the bumper.

 

Correct, 6-Cup bumper vents are square. 6-RS vents are rounded at the ends.

RS vents were not functional from the factory (meaning the radiator was still tilted down and bottom vents open - Still downdraft airflow, vents were for looks)
Cup vents were functional from the factory. (radiator tilted up and bottom vents not present - updraft airflow)

Lots of info here: https://rennlist.com/forums/996-gt2-...tor-slots.html

 

Some fantastic looking cars here, 6GT3's really look timeless IMO.

 

The really easy way to tell? The Cup bumper has the slot for a permanent tow hook. You can see on the passenger side of front bumper.

This one is mine (now without the stripes, or the 4.3L). Short story: I had a '99 C2 Aero in Zenith Blue that was amazing, but I took it to a couple track days (I have a mostly dedicated Miata for track work) and decided instead of upgrading the old girl, I should probably start with something that was already suited for the job.

This car sold on BaT before my ownership, so it had a bit of the upgrade history there. Someone spent a lot of time, effort, and $$$ upgrading this car, so it certainly checked the boxes. A short one-way flight to Houston and the rest is history.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2005-porsche-gt3/

 

Wait. What happened to the 4.3L? Didnt even know a 4.3L conversion existed!

 

True, but a couple people w/ 6-GT3s in our local area had the slot converted to a tow hook hole by the body shop that painted the 6-Cup bumper when they were doing the conversion.

Your car looks great BTW.

 

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With six 993's in the car barn including a 3.8 build and a tt, I was ready for something a bit nastier. My 6GT3 came along and I kept in touch with the owner for nine months before he sold it to me, it was the color I wanted and matched two of the 993's. While I was driving it for my appointment for the PPI I almost turned around, there was no need for it. Getting faster during member days, I saw the need for a track only car and along came the Cup. Nothing else compares in my mind. I'm not a flappy paddle kind of guy. Best of both worlds.

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