Celebrate The Work Of Hans Mezger With This 997 Porsche 911 GT2 Clubsport

Earlier this week, Hans Mezger - Porsche’s most celebrated engine architect - died aged 90. With the man behind the 917, the original 911 flat-six, the multiple championship-winning TAG turbo V6 F1 engine and so much more fresh in our minds, our latest used car pick simply had to reflect his incredible work.

As we explained when the man’s passing was announced earlier this week, though, when people refer to the ‘Mezger engine’, they’re talking about a series of flat-sixes which came after his retirement. The units used in 996/997 911 Turbo, GT2 and GT3 were effectively his legacies, however, with roots that can be traced back to Mezger’s racing flat-sixes from decades earlier.

Being the peak of the Mezger series, the 997 GT3 RS 4.0 seems too obvious a choice. As such, we’re instead focusing on this 997 GT2 Clubsport up for online auction at Collecting Cars. First impressions? Compared to the recently-departed 991 GT2 RS with its brilliantly obnoxious aero and lurid colour palette, this non-RS 997 GT2 Basalt Black looks downright understated.

It’s plenty potent under the skin, however. The 3.6-litre twin-turbo flat-six at the back is good for 516bhp - more than a 997 Turbo thanks to the addition of variable-vane snails, but with the all of that power chucked to the rear wheels exclusively. Lovely. Hook it up cleanly enough off the line and 0-62mph is possible in 3.6 seconds, while the top speed is 204mph.

The Clubsport package fitted to this 2008 example ups the focus even further, with the addition of part-carbon fibre bucket seats clad in flame-resistant fabric, six-point harnesses, and a rear roll cage. Just 340 997 GT2s worldwide left the factory with this option.

Only 54 of those where right-hand drive, but this one’s a left-hooker, having been originally supplied by Porsche Centre Helsinki in January 2008, despite the owner living in France. It was based in Linthal and serviced just over the German border at Porsche Centre Freiburg. It had one more continental owner after that, before being acquired by someone in the UK and imported here in March 2018. It’s something of an international GT2, this.

Pleasingly, it hasn’t been a complete garage queen, with the current owner clocking 450 miles since then, bringing the total figure to 15,838 miles. The GT2’s last service was in March 2018, although it does appear to have gone five years without any servicing before that. It’s also worth pointing out that the Michelin Pilot Sport tyres have been on there since 2013, so these will probably want replacing soon.

At the time of writing, it’s at £90,000 with three days remaining. A quick peruse of the classifieds reveals 997 GT2s (without the Clubsport pack, by with the steering wheel on the ‘correct’ side) ranging from £120,000 to £200,000, so we can expect the current price to rise significantly.