The scream of that flat-six power plant flooding your ear drums; the unmistakable sound of straight-cut gears whining in unison to create this audible treat.
Emerging into view, that treat becomes a tingle – a shiver rolling down your spine as you watch what really should be a race car, but today is a rally car.
And just as you’ve had the chance to process it, it’s gone. Out of sight, but definitely not out of mind.
Introducing the 992 Rally GT – the most advanced, and exciting, Porsche 911 that’s ever graced a special stage.
The work of renowned motorsport engineer Lionel Hansen – whose CV includes both racing and rally projects with Renault – the 992 made its competitive debut at the weekend, and nearly beat Jos Verstappen’s Škoda Rally2 car in the hands of Belgian champion Cédric Cherain.
Cherain almost gave the 992 a win on its debut
But this time last year, it didn’t even exist as an idea – let alone a fully homologated rally car.
What a small team – including former FIA rally director Yves Matton as motorsport activities manager and development driver Kevin Abbring – has achieved is remarkable in such a short space of time.
“It’s never obviously the goal to do something in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of people,” Abbring tells DirtFish. “But it’s also quite an achievement that makes it very satisfactional.”
In reality this is just the start. Not just any 911, the 992 Rally GT project is unique with a big future on the horizon.
How the 992 was born
The story begins in August, when a few of Hansen’s customers started to ask about converting some parts from a 992 GT Cup racing car into a rally car.
One month later, all relevant stakeholders were around a table where it was decided to press on and create a rally version of the latest generation 911.
The 992 Rally GT project quickly gathered momentum
By December, Hansen had completed the first build which he presented at the Belgian federation’s (RACB) awards evening gala.
With plenty of people interested, Hansen agreed to build five kits but only if RACB agreed to block the homologation of any equivalent 992-based cars.
Agreement reached, the work began. The design of the car was complete on January 7 and by February 7, the first car was built and ready to start testing.
The testing phase
Having worked together in the past, and winning Ypres Rally together in 2017, former Hyundai Motorsport test driver Abbring was the number one that Hansen – and the rest of the team – wanted to call to put his new project through its paces.
That started with a dyno test on an airfield to check systems like ABS and traction control, before the team ventured to Belgian rallycross venue, Mettet, a week later.
Two-time Belgian champion Kris Princen then wanted to use the car as a course car on his home rally, Rally van Haspenguow, which naturally gave the team the chance to stress test components and gather more data.
The majority of testing was done on French country roads
In total, the 992 Rally GT has done 2000km [1242 miles] of testing, with the bulk of that undertaken throughout an entire development week in the Alsace and Vosges regions of France.
Several drivers took part throughout that week including of course Abbring, Cherain, Quentin Gilbert and Raphaël Astier – who both regularly drive an Alpine A110 RGT – and even Andreas Mikkelsen.
The car was then homologated last week, where it made its competition debut in both Belgium and France.
What’s unique about this car?
As cool as it is to see 911s tear it down rally stages, it’s not a new concept. So what makes this project special?
One element is the future planning – DirtFish has been sworn to secrecy for now, but the idea of the 992 achieving FIA homologation in the future and competing further afield has been tabled.
The other factor is the attention-to-detail.
“It’s the first Porsche ever that uses the same wheels front and rear,” Hansen tells DirtFish. “On the other rally cars, you can only carry a spare wheel suitable for the front as the rear tire would not fit on the front. That’s a problem if you have a rear puncture, as you lose performance with a thinner tire on the back.
This Porsche benefits from bespoke Michelin tires, that crucially are of equal width front to rear
“The best performance you can have is to swap front and rear tires between the stages, to protect the rears from wearing too much. But now, with the 992, you can do it because it’s the same wheel and the same tires for the rear as the front.
“There is a lot of stuff like this. We were in contact with Michelin and we sent them data to create tires developed in consideration of this car, which is amazing that we have the same tires front and rear in the first Porsche. Interest has just kept increasing, it’s a bit crazy.”
Abbring shares that the equal width tire on front and rear has actually increased performance too.
“Everyone was expecting that having wide tires on the front they will not work,” he says. “I need to check the exact figure, but they ended up being a lot quicker per kilometer compared to the narrow one. So that all worked out really well and in the end, if you have a puncture on the front or on the rear, it doesn’t matter.”
The roll cage and steering wheel are other examples of bespoke engineering specific to this car.
What’s it like to drive?
A lot less intimidating than you might think for a rear-wheel-drive car producing over 400bhp!
“I think the car is really easy and efficient to drive for everyone, even if you don’t have any experience before,” says Abbring.
It's a far less intimidating car to drive than it might appear, according to Abbring
“Where a 997 or a 991 is more of a handful, here, it’s just such a connected car – and even if you go into a tight corner you would normally expect a bit of understeer, because the weight distribution is different than when you drive Rally2 cars.
“If you come from a Rally2 car with also less weight, of course, then you think you need to work a bit harder on the pedals and the wheels to make it rotate, but that actually all goes quite easily. Obviously there’s a lot of speed sensation, it’s quite easy to go through all the gears with the power that you have but it’s so much more relaxed than [you might think].
“And also, of course, if you look at the car, it looks big. I’m not going to lie, it looks quite big. But when you sit into the car, after two corners, you completely forget about that. It doesn’t make you feel like it struggles to go around the corners and stuff.”
Abbring also believes the car is “very reactive to setup changes” meaning it’s very easy for a driver to feel at home from the get-go. In short, it’s confidence inspiring.
“Yes it is,” Abbring agress. “And then of course because you feel confident, then you easily go fast. You have to realize that, within a couple of seconds, you are actually driving 150kph. But the good thing is it always slows down and in a really crazy way, and I think that also comes down to the tire width partly.
“Some people would say a light car will always stop quicker than a heavier car, but it doesn’t always work like that because at some point if you can add some load on your tire, you can gain grip in return. So I think there’s quite a funny balance between the weight of the car and the load that the tires use before you overload them under brakes. The 992 is obviously wider than a Rally2 tire, which also helps for that. It’s efficient.”
Abbring believes the 992 can be as fast as a Rally2 in certain conditions
There are systems in place to aid the driver too – which even a professional like Abbring confesses will improve stage times.
“I was a bit skeptical in the beginning because I know that it’s also my job to program the ABS and traction control and I was like, ‘I’m never going to use it. If I want to set a quick time, then I’m always driving without’. But I have to say that the ABS and traction control, actually it’s hard to beat those systems.
“Of course, if you were going to do a gravel rally with it, then I don’t think it works. Then there’s no ABS system that works better than your own foot. But what surprised me the most is that even… like normally in a road car if you press the brakes too hard and you have some damp spots or wet spots or some sand on the road, then the system reacts really aggressively to the sudden lack of grip.
“And here, in this car, you still have control over where you want to go, even if you have one wheel in the grass and one wheel on the Tarmac.”
How fast is it?
Cherain’s performance last weekend against Verstappen’s Fabia RS provided an indication of how quickly the 992 Rally GT can go.
Broadly speaking Cherain and Verstappen are at a similar level as drivers, but the Porsche beat the Škoda on 13 of the 20 stages – Cherain’s final result only as low as fifth because of an electrical gremlin on one stage.
On loose surface the Porsche won't be a match for Rally2s, but on consistent Tarmac...
But this is just one event. How capable does Abbring believe the car is?
“I’m sure that the car is capable of beating Rally2 cars, but it always depends on who you put in the car and what kind of stage you will face,” he says.
“But there are some really high speed rallies, there’s one in Belgium for example, where I think you can really compete – but every time you have to go to a junction, even though the car brakes really well, every time you go on throttle in low speeds, then for sure you’re not going to beat the Rally2.
“So I think it’s better to explain it like this: in the very high speed sections, I think that the car is not worse than a Rally2. The stability of the car is not less than a Rally2, which is… it’s only a feeling, but this is obviously something nice. And then braking, also a bit due to the ABS maybe, but braking, it’s really impressive, so you’re not really gonna lose there.
“It’s I think just in very, very twisty and very slow speed corners, that’s where a Rally2 is obviously easier in rotation and obviously in traction when you go out of a second gear corner, so there are just some areas.”
Five cars have already been sold, with many more expected to be built
Despite the fact this is a Porsche-blessed project, the 992 is still the underdog – evoking memories of the Formula 2 days for Abbring.
“I understand that people would be interested in exactly that [Rally2] comparison, because we all know that a WRC car, a Rally1 car, there’s nothing that compares to that.
“But it obviously is always interesting to see how… like back in the days, you know it was maybe not a fair game, but in a way it’s kind of the same, where the Peugeot [306 Maxi] and the [Citroën] Xsara [Kit Car] were competing against the Group As and World Rally Cars and some stages beating them.
“And in the end, that’s kind of the same thing. When you develop a Rally2 car, then it should do well on Tarmac and on gravel and on snow. And this car, it will never be competitive on snow or gravel. But the way the car is designed and developed, it should do well on Tarmac.
“Also it’s always nice when you have a project or a car which on paper should not beat, or should not be competitive compared to the Rally2 car. It’s always funny when it does.”
The only question I have now is when can I drive one?
I’m readily available – although can’t promise to not be preoccupied with listening to it just one more time!
