At the recent annual Tuner GP at Hockenheim circuit, Gemballa's GTR600 scooped the GT Class victory and the overall win. Porsches are always the class of the field at the Tuner GP, but the GTR's time of 1:09:464 is the fastest ever lap time recorded at this event by a street-legal 911.
The motor that propelled the black and silver GTR600 to victory is based on an even more powerful engine prepared for a customer from Dubai just 2 months earlier. Dubbed GTR 750 Evo, this car belied its title, because an independent dyno revealed its true output was an amazing 854 bhp!
The problem with this level of power is getting it to the ground effectively. Too much throttle in first simply lights up the back tires. Get it right, though, and you will rocket to 60 mph in 3.5 sec., pass 100 mph in 6.5 sec., 125 mph in 8.9 ticks and 188 mph (300 km/h) in 21.0 sec., on the way to a theoretical top speed of 225 mph. Talk about low flying!
Traction and handling are one thing, and you can take it from me that this car's suspension is well sorted. The major issue when you have over 800 bhp controlled by a few inches of throttle travel is whether or not the driver is up to the task. This is a question of skill and responsibility.
No question that you can only use a fraction of the car's power on normal roads. Luckily the Germans still have unrestricted sections of autobahn, but as I have found in recent years, the increasing traffic density makes progress in fast cars all the more frustrating. It is only at night or early on a Sunday morning in summer when most of the population is still asleep, and trucks are grounded for the weekend by law, that you can really extend a fast car for several miles at a time.
Under those conditions, the GTR 750 Evo can really be given its head, shrinking long straights into short interludes between bends. Even if you are an experienced driver used to 500-bhp beasts, you are well advised to work up to this car's potential gradually. Fast sweepers that you would normally take at 120 mph suddenly become tight bends at the much higher speeds this car achieves in the blink of an eye. You really need to have your wits about you.
With its 30% shorter shift, the modified gear linkage is surprisingly sloppy; in fact, it felt a bit loose and imprecise, like a well-used 915-style shifter. But slotting in a ratio is no problem, and on the move the heavy competition clutch is no longer an issue.
A long straight beckons, and with the twin turbos spooled up, the rev needle rockets past 4000 rpm in third. Power delivery is strong but smooth and progressive, up to this point feeling much like any other 500- to 600-bhp Porsche Turbo. But, as the 5000-rpm mark is passed, all hell breaks loose, and my world erupts in a blur of speed and g-force.
Like the USS Enterprise going from impulse engines to warp, the Evo takes on a second wind and flings itself forward with even more hardened determination. In a split second, you are in the redline and grabbing for the next gear. The ratios drop the motor straight back into the powerband, and it's afterburner time again as the unrelenting thrust toward the horizon continues.
Just as well then that the brakes are up to the task, as in seconds distant dots on the horizon morph into the clear shapes of slower traffic. Slow, of course, is a relative term, as it turns out they are cruising at around 100 mph. My closing speed was well over 80 mph!
Brakes are 380mm cross-drilled Brembo discs with massive eight-pot calipers in front and 330mm 993 Turbo front discs at the rear with that car's four-pot front calipers. These formidable anchors grab hold and wash serious speed off with room to spare.