GM was recently caught driving the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, once again demonstrating The General’s continued interest in using the German supercar as a benchmark for its own performance vehicles.
This isn’t the first time we’ve brought you coverage of GM’s benchmark testing for the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. Back in May of 2021, GM Authority published photos of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS prowling the North-South straight at the GM Milford Proving Ground in Michigan shortly after a prototype Corvette C8 Z06 performed a few similar runs. GM’s benchmarking for this particular Porsche 911 GT2 RS even dates back to January of 2020, at which time the German supercar was seen on public roads in California alongside an early prototype of the Chevy Corvette C8 Z06.
Now, GM is back at it, once again benchmarking the Porsche 911 GT2 RS at the Milford Proving Grounds, as seen in these photos of the sports car on the roads around the facility. The car seen here was not part of the test group, although that was the case when we’ve seen it in the past.
For those readers who may not know, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS offers some rather heavy-hitting performance specs, including a rear-mounted, twin-turbo 3.8L flat-six gasoline engine rated at 700 horsepower at 7,000 rpm and 553 pound-feet of torque at 4,500 rpm. Output is routed to the rear axle by way of a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, propelling the GT2 RS to 60 mph in roughly 2.7 seconds. Top speed is set at 211 mph.
By comparison, the Chevy Corvette C8 Z06 is equipped with the mid-mounted, naturally aspirated 5.5L V8 LT6 gasoline engine, which is rated at 670 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. Further highlights for the LT6 include 32 valves and a flat-plane crankshaft, plus an 8,600-rpm redline. Output reaches the rear wheels through the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission co-developed with Tremec. Properly motivated, the Chevy Corvette C8 Z06 can sprint to 60 mph in around 2.6 seconds, all while making a decidedly exotic-sounding howl.
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Comments
It is interesting to see that GM has been benchmarking a $300k Porsche for quite a while, but we Corvette owners/fans want something else. Just give us the damn pricing points for the C8 Z06.
Perhaps they’ve been holding this information back for so long because of the ghastly inflation that we’ve been wallowing in for the past 1 1/2 years.
They will wait until the national average for a gallon of gas is $10 for 91/93!
Why? gm can never make a vehicle like the 911 please just stop. It’s getting embarrassing.
Your comment is quite perplexing. As the owner of several late model GM performance vehicles over the years, as well as my current C7 GS, I disagree.
The 911 and the Corvette have been huge racing rivals for decades and decades. Each of them have beaten the other dozens of times. Their MSRP’s may not be equals (as the 911 costs 2-3 times more than the Vette, depending on trim and options), but on the track, they are equals.
2017 C7 GS (~$82k) vs 2017 911 GT3 RS (~$189k) Lap Times:
Hockenheim GP: 1:54.10 vs. 1:53.90
VIR Grand East Course: 2:47.10 vs. 2:50.40
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours Club: 1:19.00 vs. 1:18.95
Hockenheim Short: 1:08.30 vs. 1:09.20
Sachsenring: 1:31.98 vs. 1:32.97
Willow Springs: 1:26.28 vs. 1:27.22
Autozeitung test track: 1:37.30 vs.1:33.50
Chevy and GM have NEVER won at LaMans. It’s the ultimate test of a sports car. Porsche on the other hand has more victories than any other manufacturer and in multiple classes.
GM just can’t seem to make an ugly, expensive, unreliable, hard to work on nazimobile that looks like a jellybean that was cut in half.
With Corvette going into the GTD class in IMSA and offering customer cars they may be investigating the Porsche for this limited edition.
The RS is what the Porsche GTD cars are based on.
The GTD Pro cars are just converted GTLM cars to run till the mfg get their own GTD car.
Watch for private teamed to buy these and race on their own. It will be sold like a COPO Camaro is.
The GTD cars are road cars made into racers
Please include gross/wet weight figures for both the Vette and the Porsche as that is a crucial factor in racing ! It’s not so much that Porsche has more HP and probably weighs less than the Vette but Porsche will often sandbag their lap times and then persuade the sanctioning body like IMSA and/or WEC to give them a Balance of Performance advantage over the Vette. BMW is known to do the same. Porsche just sandbagged their qualifying lap times at LeMans, where the two Vettes finished dead last in GTELM-Pro after qualifying 1st and 2nd, but I haven’t read about any BOP changes between qualifying and the Race itself.
2017 C7 GS (460 hp/3,390 lbs.) vs. 2017 GT3 RS (469 hp/3,200 lbs.)
The lap times that I supplied above are NOT actual race times. They are all head to head lap times that were completed by professional drivers for the purpose of comparison via the internet and/or magazines. Nobody “sandbagged”. Both cars were pushed to their utter limits on the same day by the same driver.
P.S. Yes, neither Corvette finished the 24 Hour Le Mans over the weekend, but that statement is ambiguous. The #63 broke approximately halfway through the race with a suspension issue (leading GTE Pro at the time). The #64 was taken out by a reckless LMP2 car with a few hours left in the race. The LMP2 car was subsequently penalized for hitting into the side of the #64 and putting him into the wall, thus destroying the vehicle. At the time, the #64 was leading GTE Pro by over a minute.
The Last finishing C8s were running 1-2 most of the first 6 hours until the 64 punctured a tire. Then the 63 suffered a suspension failure that eventually retired it and the 64 had regained the lead and a 20+ second advantage when a dumb arse in an LMP2 tried to squeeze between the 64 and another LMP2, bumping the 64 off the track and into the wall. Porsche finished 1st and 4th in GTE Pro
It was really cool hearing about the C8 ZO6 back in the day when it was exciting news. GM has milked this thing for to long. Does anybody even care anymore? Everything about the ZO6 is old news and you haven’t even come out with the car yet.
Thank you for trying to make an affordable super car but it’s time to give up and move on.
PORSCHE A.K.A. VW is such a worn out tired beat a dead horse design which explains its abysmal sales numbers. Why do they cost so much, because a SUCKER is born every minute.
I had a 2006 Porsche 911 S. I drove it for 15 years. In early 2020 I thought I would like a new C 8. I put my order into dealer and received it 10 months later. After owning the C 8 for 4 to5 weeks, someone offered my $22k more than I paid for it. I sold it and went and ordered a 2022 Porsche 911, I was thinking, when could I ever purchase a new 911 with a $22k discount. After my new 911 was delivered, I quickly realized what a mistake I made. The Corvette drove better, and was a lot easier to navigate. Porsche computer systems stink. I could go on, but I hope to take delivery of a 2023 C 8 around September.
Bizarre…
Porsche doesn’t Kill brands and never tried to Kill Germans.
GM Killed Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, SAAB and tried their best to Kill Opel and Lotus. Then GM started Killing Americans, lots of them.
Someone just wanted to experience greatness, on GM’s dime.
As a Chevy fan and specifically a fan of that gt2rs. I would like to say the gt2rs Bullies hypercars on actual tracks and laptime wise. My hypothesis is the zr1 target is or was this performance wise. Generally speaking the zr1 is 1-4 second slower on all? tracks? (I could be wrong) The limiting factor is most likely the importance of aero, drag. And GM has already drastically improved on both in the c8, ct4vblackwing and ct5 blackwing. (Check out a savagegeese vid on those 3, big aero and drag improvements)
Hey SUCKER!
Until the mid engine layout..and it is sweet! … Corvette was pretty much an irrelevant Sunday drive.
911 fun factor and reliability are second to none.
The new 992 models literally destroy hyper cars…its funny gm fans trying to compare it with a vette…the vetter just screams ‘look at me…i am flashy’…while the 911s are classy!!! There’s just no comparison
What’s up with all the VW fans on a GM website but they hate GM cars. Is life that bad when you own a Porsche (VW) that you have nothing better to do. Maybe it’s because no matter what they do they still look like a 1975 car.
I know they are nice but they not not any nicer than anything else out there. Chances are most of these people will never have a Porsche or a Corvette. I guess they have nothing else to do.