Porsche wanted to do something special for the 60th anniversary of the 911. Since 1963, the frog-eyed, rear-engine sports car from Stuttgart has captured the hearts and imaginations of driving enthusiasts everywhere. As one of the world’s most famous sports cars, the 911 has survived through good times and bad, and after eight generations of constant development and refinement, we’ve arrived at this – the 911 S/T. Porsche says this 911 embodies the very best of what makes this iconic sports car so special.
There is one big caveat to get out of the way: the 911 S/T is rare. With only 1,963 examples produced (to commemorate the year it debuted), it’s unobtainable for most people. As a 911, it’s obviously going to be good, but because it’s so special, I’ll focus on what makes it so unique in the Porsche universe and the automotive realm in general.
I’ve driven a couple of examples of the current-generation GT3, and I’ve said it is one of the best motoring experiences that exist, so how much could another iteration of a GT car improve upon what is already as good as it gets?
Pure and Undiluted
Porsche says the S/T is to be enjoyed on the street and that it’s not a track car, but the standard carbon ceramic brakes, magnesium wheels, and obsessive weight loss regimen would argue against that. The S/T is the lightest 911 of the 992 generation, and at only 1,386 kg, it’s 32 kg lighter than the GT3 Touring.
S/T was an internal designation at Porsche. It started in 1969 with a special racing version of the 911 S that combined a number of modifications and parts to improve performance and handling. Porsche has applied this same formula to the 911 GT3 Touring to arrive at the S/T, and it’s taken more than a year of fine-tuning to get the chassis just right.
Most of the S/T’s front half is made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP), including the doors and roof. The rear-wheel steering has been removed, the clutch and single-mass flywheel is half the weight of the unit in GT3 Touring, there’s less sound insulation, and instead of a rear window, there’s just a flimsy piece of plastic.
The engine is the screaming 4.0-litre flat-six from the GT3 RS that has a 9,000-rpm redline. It makes 518 hp and is linked to an improved version of the six-speed manual from the Touring. In this car, numbers and lap times are irrelevant and to think of it that way would be missing the point. If you want the ultimate time attack machine, look at the GT3 RS. But if you want something pure, visceral, and unencumbered by electronics, the S/T might have no equal.
Unfiltered Experience
The cabin is a cacophony of wonderful mechanical sounds. The shifter and steering wheel tingle in your palms. The lightweight flywheel reduces inertia substantially, and the flat-six revs, “whoop, whoop,” almost like it’s weightless. Dual-mass flywheels like the one used in the GT3 Touring are meant to quell vibrations and noise; the S/T leaves all of that in. It has no filter, just a direct connection between the engine and your left foot.
The gear lever moves through the gates easily but requires a deliberate shove, and the clutch pedal is heavy but easy to modulate. If you don’t move your hands and feet quickly enough between gears, the revs will drop to idle before you can catch it. Properly driving the S/T requires your full attention.
This car forms an emotional connection quickly with the driver. If anything, that’s the 911 S/T’s raison d’être. Throttle response is instantaneous; just dip your right toe a millimetre and the flat-six zings. The haunting induction sound fills your ears, and the noise lingers in your mind. You’ll continue hearing it long after you’ve hung up the keys. Forward progress is brisk. The 911 S/T weighs less than most compact cars and it can slingshot to highway speeds in seconds, wailing angrily through its centre-mounted exhaust.
California Dreaming
Driving the 911 S/T on the serpentine roads that wind their way through dark redwood forests and up through the hills surrounding Napa Valley and Mendocino county feels like the zenith of my driving career. The car belongs on roads like this. With generous speed limits and hundreds of corners coupled with gracious drivers that frequently use the pullout zones to let you pass, there isn’t a better place to drive a car of this calibre.
Everything comes into focus here – the car’s rawness, the sound, the talkative steering, and the razor-sharp responses. You can drive the S/T on brainwaves alone; it doesn’t take long to find a rhythm and settle into a groove. The S/T is a car I could drive forever. Stiff but not egregiously so, and it’s always loud and always on. There are no drive modes and no way to tone it down. If the idea of a “comfort” drive mode sounds like something you’d be interested in, this might not be the car for you. The S/T relishes being driven hard and the faster you go, the more it all makes sense.
Driving on these roads shoots me back to my teenage years playing The Need for Speed SE on my PC, driving a pixelated 911 through alpine forests. The 911 S/T delivers a scintillating blend of adrenaline and confidence all at once, and it might just be the perfect sports car. Of course, I’ve said the same thing about the GT3 Touring before, which shares a lot with the S/T. The most obvious differences between the two are the extra noise and that lightweight flywheel, but the core of the experience is largely the same.
Final Thoughts
At $325,000, the S/T is remarkably expensive even before you add any extras (of which there aren’t many). Is it worth over $100,000 more than a GT3 Touring? Taking just the driving experience into account, I’d be just as happy with a Touring in my garage.
The S/T might technically be the greatest 911 ever made, but that’s not its biggest selling feature. It’s the exclusivity, the rarity, and the bragging rights that make it so desirable. It’s the type of car you might only see at auto shows or in a museum somewhere, and it was a privilege to have experienced it.
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