DCLee

Yes, the rear window is whatever they call Lexan in Europe-- Perspex?--and there is a single hood strut, not two, because the carbon hood is so light. I swapped the brake ducts to Cup parts long ago, although they are only slightly bigger than the GT3s. I also have an auxilliary brake ducting system that directs air from the grille to the front spindles--you can't have too much brake cooling on these cars.

Frayed-- PM me and we can discuss Stage I-III options. For occasional track use, just adding Motons and light wheels will do fine for the vast majority of people. The car is so good right out of the box... My mechanic has just done JRZ triples and light wheels and can run rings around me at the track in his mostly stock GT3. Much better driver.

Monique-My-Man: I agree, your real factory RS is a bargain compared to my mega-buck conversion. I wanted my car to be a club racer, though, so I had to go a little overboard on the mods and wound up with a very light, very torque-y 315 h.p. car that weighed about 2,700 lbs. (without ballast) and was a blast to drive. Never used it on the street. It is now in the hands of a club racer in Texas and has even managed to be correctly classified in C Stock by the RS-conversion-hating scrutineers. That makes it extra special. I would buy that car back in a heartbeat.

I agree with all that's been said here about the cost and impracticality of RS conversions. But if I wanted to be practical, I'd by modding a Prius hybrid now, not the Porsche...

Lee in D.C.
'04 RS Clone

NJ-GT

The European folks have a point regarding cost, because the GT3RS is slightly more expensive than the GT3 in that market.

However, in US the cheapest GT3RS I've seen, sold for $175k. That is for a car with no warranty. A clean/white/low option 2005 GT3 can be found for $90k. That's a $85k price difference plus taxes (~$90k).

A White US version GT3 plus the Gert's RS suspension kit will do it for me ($90k + $8k). My car weight currently is 2886 lbs (244 lbs below its stock weight) with the stock exhaust, and no lightweight body parts yet. The Gert's RS suspension is on the list of next mods for my car, as well as the CF hood and Cup car deck lid.

I can exchange my modified RSR R&P transmission, lightweight flywheel, Cup Car LSD, Moton shocks, Manthey camber plates, TRG monoball rear mounts, Eibach springs, PCCB, RS19 and GT3 seats and then apply the same weight reduction program to the white car. Then sell my stock GT3 for let's say $79k, with a warranty until 5/2008.

So, the only mods not in my list for my current car are the RS bumper, RS decals, RS painted wheels and RS blue seat belts. Probably under $5k for cosmetic changes plus whatever price for the half cage in white.

By the way, for $175k or more, I won't doubt to get a 360CS instead of an original GT3RS. In my opinion a GT3RS in US should be at the price levels of a 2 year older GT2.

DanH

NJ-JT I could have had an 03 GT2 for what I paid for my 04 RS, and that was the pretty much the cheapest RS about. Maybe GT2s are more discounted in the UK, but the RS was 15k GBP more than a standard GT3 when new IIRC.

On the single bonnet strut issue, I'm pretty sure I have two. I did see the single reported elsewhere, but most magazines RS writeups were full of incorrect data.

RK1

I just test drove the one at Ferrari of washington and i could swear it had two struts for the front bonnet. The price they are asking is BS, I offered them 150K.
How come no warranty on US GT3RS?

RK1

RSA333
Do you happen to have web links to these GT3RS for sale in US?
I searched Dupont and nada.
Thanks

DCLee

I believe that the RS wheel carriers are mainly there for FIA homologation purposes for the RSRs. The factory clearly chose not to go crazy with other aspects of RS suspension tuning--i.e., the spring rates are still fairly low, the shocks are only a bit stiffer, etc.).
So basically, the suspension differences between a GT3 Street and its RS cousin don't strike me as huge. But the suspension dynamics between any GT3 Street and a GT3 Cup do seem to be fairly dramatic. The Cupcar goes like stink and is very reliable, and parts are readily available. So... my feeling was that a modification program modeled on approximating the Cup setup would produce much more of a performance bump than an upgrade from stock GT3 to RS parts.
Plan B entails the following: Changing over to remote-reservoir shocks, stiffer twin-stacked springs, and uprated swaybars, and then swapping out almost all of the rubberized GT3 suspension components for the Cup metal-to-metal parts. (Notable exception: Engine & tranny mounts). If this is done right, the resulting car is still streetable, but is very taut and ultra-communicative-- really great to drive. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Lee in D.C.
'04 RS Clone (Maybe Evo???)

NJ-GT

The 996Cup and GT3 street uprights are the same.

The GT3RS street and LeMans GT3RSR uprights are the same.

The pick up points on the car shell are the same for the GT3 and GT3RS street cars. The pick up points on the suspension are different. That's why the GT3RS suspension kit includes new control arms, wheel carriers (positioning the front calipers lower), uprights, suspension subframes, bushings, etc.

The piece of mind to upgrade to the RS spec is to go with Gert's kit. That's why the kit has around 60 pieces instead of 6 or 8.

Most of the GT3 Cups running on the Speed World Challenge have been upgraded to RS spec.

DanH

AFAIK the RS setup was designed for homologation with the main intention of reducing bump steer and optimising setup for the lower ride height. The GT3 has some issues because it was designed around the standard C2 ride height etc which is why its so prone to bump steer.

Agreed that the spring rates are still fairly soft for a race car on the RS, but as road cars go its right on the limit of what I can tolerate! You certainly move about a bit on badly surfaced British country roads!

I've actually got the GT3 RSR 'brochure' here. It doesn't say much about the suspension though. Just a reference to 'change of kinematic' (according to ACO or FIA-Regulations). The coolest bit is the 8000 Euro carbon fibre underfloor! Rims are a good price at 2950 Euros for BBS 3 piece - think thats cheaper than carnewal!

FixedWing

The car would have a warranty. It would be the European warranty. The European warranty is not limited to service only in Europe.

I agree with others who have suggested the best approach would be to federalise a European GT3RS. The GT3 Mk1 failed because there was no comperable car in the USA. But now with the GT3 Mk2 being available in North America that argument is out the window. And given that the GT3RS appears to already be available in the USA, I guess the argument has already been won. It would be worth doing the research to see.

That would be my approach. First I'd research it and make sure I was right. Then I'd find a GT3RS in Europe. Then I'd bring it in and federalise it. That would give you a true GT3RS which could be registered in this country.

Stephen

frayed

Great info.