This is Porsche’s 2010 customer racecar of choice, the 911 GT3 R! The car debuted yesterday at the Racing Car Show Autosport International in Birmingham, and will be delivered to customers around the world during the course of the year.

In addition to the brutal, ultra-wide bodywork derived from the new GT3 RS road car, this baby gets a healthy power hike courtesy of an enlarged, 4-litre straight-six making 353 race-bred kilowatts propelling the rear wheels via a six-speed sequential ‘box, and aided by an e-gas system which blips the throttle for perfect shifting every time.

With just 1200kg of body to propel, that ought to make it obscenely quick, but customer racers are more likely to appreciate the extra thrust thanks to a kerb weight of just 1200kg. In addition to the featherweight mass handling is further enhanced through several detail modifications, such as the completely covered underbody terminating in that rear-mounted diffuser, more aggressive rear-wing adjustment options, a slightly wider track and absolutely trick, fully-adjustable race suspension hardware.

Almost sadly, electronic aids are fitted to the GT3 R however, in the form of a race-optimised ABS setup and traction control electronics. We’re sure you’d appreciate these blasting flat-out on the circuits of the globe, and they must be able to be turned off if the driver isn’t interested in being helped along, but they do detract somewhat from its racecar purity.

You’d best be quick if you want one however. “Since we first announced our intention to launch the 911 GT3 R, demand has been huge,” says Uwe Brettel, Head of Motorsport Sales. “The number of GT3 R vehicles we had planned for 2010 is almost sold out.”

It’s a lovely thing and we’re very glad that Porsche remains so committed to developing these bespoke racing specials. We’d have a GT3 RS though. It’s cheaper after all, and we’re quite big fans of things like numberplates and the ability to drive them on the street legally. But we do expect to see these machines ranking highly in our favourite international race events quite soon – they ought to be very competitive, if not utterly dominant over their class.

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