PORSCHE Automobiles Australia (PCA) has introduced the primary ‘market particular’ special-edition mannequin in its seven-decade historical past – the 911 GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Version – based mostly on the just-unveiled 992-series 911 GT3 with Touring Package deal.
That includes a novel Fish Silver Gray metallic paint end developed completely for this special-edition mannequin, the GT3 70 Years can also be the primary GT3 to have a non-black inside and the world’s first ‘market particular’ mannequin developed by Porsche to be based mostly on a high-performance GT variant.
Restricted to simply 25 models and carrying a big $124,700 premium over the common $369,700 GT3 with Touring Package deal owing to its distinctive specification and extra tools, the GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Version shares its donor automobile’s 375kW/470Nm 4.0-litre flat-six and shall be supplied with each six-speed guide and seven-speed PDK transmissions, constructed to buyer order.
PCA director of gross sales and motorsport Toni Andreevski mentioned the anniversary version “needed to be an iconic sportscar that we felt was related to our market; Australians love motorsport they usually actually like GT automobiles.”
Mr Andreevski revealed that PCA didn’t initially assume it could be attainable to take the unprecedented step of basing the anniversary addition on a GT product, not to mention launch it in parallel with the automobile on which it’s based mostly.
“When Boris (Apenbrink, Porsche Unique Manufaktur director) and the staff mentioned that may very well be an concept, it may very well be a risk, we simply jumped at that chance,” he mentioned.
“We’re not launching a market version a 12 months later when the automobile has already been on sale – we’re truly beginning with the market version precisely on the similar time.”
Chatting with Australian automotive media through internet hyperlink, Mr Apenbrink mentioned it took the Stuttgart agency two years to develop the Australia-specific GT3 70 Years and a big portion of this time was devoted to perfecting the paint color – impressed by the Fish Silver Gray worn by one of many first two Porsche 356s imported to Australia in 1951.
He defined that Porsche Unique Manufaktur had taken on accountability for creating {custom} paint finishes final 12 months resulting from rising demand – particularly amongst GT clients – and that the GT3 70 Years was “principally one of many first automobiles that went via the paint-to-sample course of”.
“We had slightly materials pattern that was despatched to us by Porsche Automobiles Australia they usually mentioned ‘we wish to have this color’,” mentioned Mr Apenbrink.
“After all, we can’t use the 356 paint within the trendy paint know-how in our manufacturing facility so we actually needed to redevelop this color and make it a contemporary interpretation of this color shade … and I can let you know it is without doubt one of the most complex colors we’ve completed!
“There are two Fish Silver Greys previously and so there was a whole lot of discussions at first [about] which one is the appropriate one, however happily we had the pattern – there’s a greyish one and a greenish one from these instances.”
The result’s a color that appears strikingly completely different from the plethora of silvers and greys in 2021 as a result of trendy use of safer, extra environmentally pleasant water-based paints.
“Getting this look was very tough for our colourists … as a result of there are little pigments within the color that make this look within the color shade,” mentioned Mr Apenbrink.
“Up to now you had chemical-based colors the place it was a lot simpler to get this look than with water-based colors that we use these days. So it was actually months of labor for these folks to re-develop and redesign this outdated classic color from the ’50s in a contemporary 911 paint job.”
As soon as the GT3 70 Years has completed its run, Fish Silver Gray metallic will ultimately turn out to be accessible to international clients via Porsche’s ‘particular person color program’, amongst 105 different colors that 911 clients can select from.
As for contained in the GT3 70 Years, it’s arguably much more completely different than the outside. Mr Apenbrink mentioned this was “the primary time ever that we now have a GT3 with an inside color that isn’t black”.
“We wished to have an inside that matches the Fish Silver Gray and provides it a really particular contact – a mixture of darkish (Graphite) blue and black leather-based color mixed with the seat centres you’d most likely name tartan. And it additionally has a historical past with Porsche as this (tartan upholstery) was used particularly within the ’80s in a whole lot of 911 fashions.”
But it’s Australian Porsche historical past that underpins the GT3 70 Years.
“Each time we embark on one in every of these tasks I all the time search for slightly little bit of that means, slightly little bit of authenticity behind it,” mentioned Grant Larson, who designed the unique Porsche Boxster idea and is now director of particular tasks at Type Porsche.
“On this case of 70 years of Porsche Australia, it’s nearly a romantic story about how it began – an opportunity assembly of Porsche check driver Richard von Frankenberg and Norman Hamilton on the Grossglockner Move in Austria … who, via a handshake, signed a contract in November of 1951 to be the Australian importer for Porsche (solely the second market exterior of Europe, after the USA),” he mentioned.
“Porsche’s archives is a playground in itself and we discovered the unique start certificates of the automobile, we discovered that precise automobile (the 1951 356 convertible) and seen in fact it was Fish Silver Gray with a blue inside, all hand-written down – all that stuff is what offers this venture a lot extra background and authenticity.”
In addition to its distinctive Fish Silver Gray metallic exterior color and history-making inside with Graphite Blue bucket seats that includes ‘Madraskaro’ verify inlays and Crayon stitching, different gadgets distinctive to the GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Version embrace ‘Darksilver’ cast alloys (20-inch entrance, 21-inch rear) with the outer rims custom-painted in Fish Silver Gray metallic and an Australian flag badge on every B-pillar with ‘70 Years Porsche Australia Version’ in silver lettering.
There’s additionally dashboard trim in Fish Silver Gray metallic with ‘GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Version’ lettering in black, Fish Silver Gray metallic centre console trim, a leather-based centre storage-bin lid with ‘70’ embossed into it, gear-shift sample on the gear-lever in ‘Crayon’ and sill plates in brushed black aluminium with ‘GT3’ (illuminated) and ‘70 Years Porsche Australia Version’ lettering.
Different options embrace a GT3 multi-function sports activities steering wheel with 12-o’clock marker in ‘Crayon’, Fish Silver Gray metallic automobile keys, a leather-based key pouch in black and Graphite Blue with Crayon stitching, and an indoor automobile cowl in Graphite Blue with Crayon piping, ‘GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Version’ lettering on the perimeters in Crayon and a ‘Porsche Unique Manufaktur’ brand on the entrance in Crayon.
Further specification over the common GT3 with Touring Package deal contains Chrono Package deal with preparation for ‘lap-trigger’, Gentle Design package deal with further ambient lighting, Touring Package deal exterior in black (tailpipe and side-window trims) however with rear ‘PORSCHE’ brand in Lightsilver, tinted LED most important headlights, high-gloss black brake calipers, roof lining and solar visors in Race-Tex, speaker trims painted within the inside color, cup-holder trims in leather-based, an prolonged leather-based package deal, a storage package deal and a Bose surround-sound system.
“Sure, it’s a GT product however we wished to additionally convey a refined, understated ingredient to the automobile,” mentioned Mr Andreevski.
Orders open at the moment (June 16) with deliveries commencing from late 2021.
2021 Porsche GT3 with Touring Package deal pricing*
GT3 with Touring Package deal | $369,700 |
GT3 70 Years Porsche Australia Version | $494,400 |
*Excludes on-road prices
