This Rare 996 Porsche 911 GT2 Clubsport Is Our Kind Of Scary
Given the nature of automotive progress, the 456bhp dealt out by the 3.6-litre flat-six turbo in the 996 Porsche 911 GT2 doesn’t sound like all that much. Not when the current, supercar-baiting ‘992’ 911 Carrera S develops almost as much.
However, this 456bhp sent is through much narrower tyres in a car that’s nearly 20 years old, delivered in a particularly boosty fashion. The 996 GT2 is a car you’ll need to be alert to drive quickly, and if you’re feeling particularly serious about your older 911 GT purchase, why not make it a Clubsport?
It’s a rare option for a rare car. Over the GT2’s four-year production period, only 1287 were built, and just 70 in Clubsport spec. The UK received 129 GT2s in total, 17 being Clubsports.
The Clubsport additions included a roll cage, bucket seats with a six-point harness on the driver’s seat, a fire extinguisher, a battery cut-off switch and a side-airbag delete. In other words, all the stuff you need if your track day goes south.
The right-hand drive, UK Clubsport you see here originally purchased in 2001 by a guy who raced a GT2-R for kicks, with the ownership of the car eventually transferred to his race team. The current keeper bought it in 2016.
It’s clocked around 56,000 miles, which considering the kind of car this is, seems like quite a healthy innings. Particularly as it sounds as though the GT2 hasn’t been used an awful lot in the last few years.
It’ll go under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions’ Heythrop Classic Car Sale on 11 May. The estimate is £90,000 to £110,000, which is - funnily enough - about what you pay for the 992 Carrera S we mentioned earlier, depending on spec. Which would you have?
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Between this and the Carrera S? Well one is more luxurious, cheaper to maintain, easier to live with and the other is what is probably going to be a death trap, let’s see umm
I’ll have the death trap
I like your thinking lol
Death Trap for me as well please!
I wanna die anyways……
Can i get the keys now?
I already feel like dying. Might as well die slightly happier than usual
The 992 is more luxurious and easier to live with, but the 996 GT2 would be easier to maintain once the warrantee on the 992 expires. Less plastic covers, and the engine is further back, making it a bit more accessible to work on. As for reliability, the 996 Turbo and GT variants are about as reliable as cars get, as they use the Mezger engine, which was designed for endurance racing. I suspect the 992 will be mostly reliable, but have the occasional fault, thanks to gimmicks like the electric door handles.
I’d personally buy this 996 GT2 rather than the 992 Carrera S, because it’s rarer, more interesting, and is also track-ready. Not to mention that 996s are my favourite 911s
Whyd anyone want a Carrera if you can get a GT2?
No matter how new the car is
This is also my kind of scary lol
The 996 is my favorite 911 especially for this GT2
Is it bad that I want the danger even more now?
Depends on the purpose, if you’re gonna daily it you need the bulletproof reliability/warranty and the comfort and luxuries of a modern 911, however, for pure analog driving thrills the 996 has got to be the way to go, I reckon the solution is to just buy both lol
I think Porsche was going through the edgy “I wanna kill people” phase when they made this car😂
as a 986 owner, this 996 gt2 would be the upgrade i desperately need.