Ever take a long road trip? As in 12 hours or more behind the wheel? Fighting drowsiness as the sun sets (and later rises) through that part of its arc where the sun visors can’t block the glare for you? It’s exhausting.
Now, imagine doing it for more than 17 hours. At the blistering, dazzlingly dangerous speed of 186 mph.
That’s what test drivers did in the 2022 Porsche 911 GT3. They held Porsche’s highest-performance halo car at an average speed of 186 mph for more than 3,100 miles straight, stopping only to refuel and change drivers.
Over nearly 400 laps of Italy’s massive Nardo Ring test track, the GT3 performed “flawlessly,” the company says.
The 2022 911 GT3 retails for a little over $160,000. Deliveries begin this fall.
Engineers also spent more than 160 hours testing the suspended rear wing in a wind tunnel, trying more than 700 configurations to achieve precisely the airflow they wanted. They ran the 4.0-liter flat 6-cylinder engine on a testing rig for more than 22,000 hours, mimicking the acceleration of some famous race tracks and running the engine “at full throttle for a very high proportion of the time.”
But it’s the human endurance that really impresses us. You can cross the entire United States in less distance. Even the legendary (and illegal) New-York-to-Los-Angeles Cannonball Run is about 2,800 miles. Porsche drivers effectively crossed the U.S., turned around, and started on the way back, all at nearly 200 mph. There isn’t enough coffee in the world…
