2024 Porsche 911 S/T evaluate: Threading the needle

Although Porsche is within the midst of taking its BEV know-how mainstream, the corporate hasn’t overlooked the truth that its high-performance fame was constructed on the 911.

Over the previous few years, the automaker has developed a myriad of various variations of the enduring sports activities automotive, leading to choices that at present vary from plush open-top cruisers to hardcore monitor monsters, together with particular version fashions just like the off-road-tuned Dakar and heritage-inspired Sport Classic. You is perhaps questioning, then, if there’s actually a chance for a brand new performance-focused mannequin to face out within the 911 lineup.

On the floor, the S/T appears to tread a lot of the identical floor already occupied by the GT3 Touring, an iteration of the track-ready GT3 that ditches the big fastened rear wing for the smaller, aesthetically subtler energetic rear spoiler discovered on Carrera fashions. But as pretty to drive because the GT3 Touring is, it looks like a conceptual afterthought.

Because of its diminished downforce, Porsche has all the time thought of the Touring to be a GT3 meant for the road slightly than the monitor, but the mannequin’s tuning has in any other case remained unchanged from the usual GT3. This, together with plenty of different essential updates, permits the S/T to face out from the gang not simply amongst quick 911s however amongst sports activities vehicles basically.

The identify is a nod to a racing model of the 911 S from the late Nineteen Sixties: Internally often called the ST, the package deal included modifications to the chassis, engine, and physique to enhance efficiency. But in contrast to the enduring Carrera RS 2.7 that may debut a number of years down the street, the ST lacked the aggressive aerodynamic parts that may later come to outline the look of track-tuned 911s.

The core {hardware} concerned is an attention-grabbing amalgamation of parts from the present GT division lineup. In a purposely old-school method not in contrast to the Sport Classic, the S/T pairs the GT3 RS’s naturally aspirated 518 hp (386 kW) 4.0-liter flat-six engine with the GT3’s six-speed guide gearbox—a mixture that may’t be had in another factory-produced 911.

Like the GT3 RS, the S/T’s hood, entrance fenders, doorways, and roof are constructed from carbon fiber, and due to its magnesium wheels, fixed-back carbon bucket seats, and different weight-reducing parts which might be geared up as normal, it manages to tip the scales at a svelte 3,056 lbs (1,390 kg), making this the lightest 911 of the present technology.

Adding energy and reducing weight are actually welcome developments for efficiency fans, however it’s the raft of delicate, much less quantifiable modifications that make the S/T such an extremely compelling sports activities automotive. Porsche’s aim was to create the final word canyon carver slightly than an apex-hunting monitor machine, and as such, it has tossed the GT3’s rear axle steering system and retuned the suspension dampers for the less-than-perfect tarmac that is typical of twisty backroads.

To additional ratchet up driver engagement, engineers diminished the peak of the shift lever by 10 mm, leading to even shorter, extra exact throws. The transmission’s gear ratios had been shortened by 8 % to permit the engine to climb to its searing 9,000 rpm redline extra quickly, leading to extra frequent shifting. There’s a brand new light-weight clutch and single mass flywheel on board, too.

The latter performs a surprisingly huge function within the S/T’s distinctive character, permitting the engine to comb via the revs with a degree of manic urgency that makes the GT3 Touring appear virtually lazy by comparability. And due to the S/T’s diminished sound deadening in comparison with the GT3 (which already has considerably much less sound deadening than a 911 Carrera), each mechanical course of that usually takes place behind the scenes is delivered to the forefront. It can equate to noisy steady-state driving at instances, however the soundtrack that the S/T delivers whenever you’re rowing via the gears simply makes up for it.