At its introduction at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016, the Porsche 911R was in some sense an admission that Porsche had made a mistake. Porsche’s GT3 had historically been the company’s most focused and performance-oriented naturally aspirated car. In pursuit of that goal, the 991.1 GT3 of 2014 was offered exclusively with a two-pedal gearbox, Porsche’s excellent dual clutch called PDK. Like GT3s before it, the 991.1 GT3 was offered with only one transmission, and Porsche’s product planners and decision makers decided it should be the one that delivered the most performance. Not everyone within Porsche’s GT division agreed with this decision to offer only one transmission, understanding that Porsche drivers are motivated not just by the quickest numbers, but a certain experience: one which is involving, communicative, and pure.
The result was the 911R. Championed by the head of the GT division, Andreas Preuninger, the 911R combined the ingredients of the GT3 with a heavy dose of exclusivity and specialness: a focus on lightweighting, the elimination of the GT3’s extraverted tail, and critically, a manual gearbox. Not just any manual gearbox, however. It was a 6-speed unit rather than the 7-speed unit used in lesser manual 991s. This gearbox was aimed not at fuel economy but performance for the driving enthusiast. The whole car was, in fact, with an ethos that drew on the past to increase rawness and enhance the closeness between driver and car. Even the name was meant to evoke this. The original 911R was a race car produced in 1967 as a very limited run of no more than two dozen cars where every possible lightweight measure was taken in order to make the car as competitive as possible.
The new 911R drew on this in some sense, both aesthetically through its exterior graphics package and houndstooth seat inserts, but also philosophically. The car’s weight was reduced by more than 100 pounds compared to the GT3 through the use of reduced soundproofing, carbon fiber hood and fenders, and magnesium roof. The result was a car that pursued driving experience and enjoyment over raw lap times and after some cajoling, Preuninger was able to get the car approved as a limited edition of 991 units. The car was offered initially to owners of the 918 (of which 918 were built), most of whom said yes, leaving a precious few 911Rs available to the general public.
The resulting scarcity, coupled with the value proposition of the car itself, was so attractive that examples of 911Rs traded for three or four times their original MSRPs almost immediately. For any of the unimaginative corporate types at Porsche who doubted Preuninger’s devotion to the 911R concept before it was greenlit, this was enough to persuade them to commit the GT3 to the manual transmission (despite it being less quick), and the ongoing availability of manual GT3s to this day is the direct result of the 911R’s marketplace success.
While the manual GT3s that followed were optionally available without wings (in the form of the GT3 Touring), they didn’t share the same limited production run, lightweighting, or the retro design cues of the 911R, which has ensured that the 911R became immensely collectible even when they were just a few years old.
The 911R was optionally available with a single mass flywheel, whose characteristic chattering sound and incredible throttle response further distinguish it from the GT3 and make it a must-have 911R option for today’s collector. This car is so equipped, and is finished in the unusual color combination of black with black interior. It is one of 38 black US 911Rs built. Other options include GT Silver stitching and seatbelts, full leather, front axle lift, Sport Chrono, BOSE stereo, PDLS, light design package, carbon fiber floor mats, and fire extinguisher. With fewer than 100 miles from new, the car is an exceptionally clean example with all the right options, an unusual color scheme, all of which make it a super collector-grade example.
