---
title: "Watch the Porsche 911 R Hit 200 MPH On the Autobahn"
description: "Porsche's old-school special packs serious new-school speed."
date: "2016-06-09"
modified: "2017-01-04"
authors:
  - name: "Ben Keeshin"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/ben-keeshin"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/3895/watch-the-porsche-911-r-hit-200-mph-on-the-autobahn"
categories:
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Porsche News"
  - "Watch This"
tags:
  - "911"
  - "Autobahn"
  - "Coupe"
  - "Germany"
  - "luxury"
  - "porsche"
  - "sports car"
---

# Watch the Porsche 911 R Hit 200 MPH On the Autobahn

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/060916-porsche-911-200mph-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

As any Porschephile will breathlessly relate, the limited-edition [Porsche 911 R](<https://www.porsche.com/usa/models/911/911-r/>) is the halo car that privileges driver engagement over numbers, ultimate feel over superlative-worthy speed. And yet... keeping the 500-horsepower, 4.0-liter boxer six from [the 911 GT3 RS](<https://www.thedrive.com/gear-up/3802/this-lego-porsche-911-gt3-rs-build-timelapse-is-insanely-entertaining>) while deleting that car's Airbus-caliber rear wing—and losing the resulting drag—has yielded a naturally-aspirated 911 with a 201-mph top speed. That's a full eight miles an hour more than the GT3 RS, meaning that by at least one metric, Porsche's old-school, sensuality-first special beats its all-out racer in the technical realm. The overachieving bastard.

Porsche has begun slowly allowing European journalists a chance to experience the car, and the folks at *evo* magazine recently snagged [a hen's-tooth Porsche 911 R](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2394/the-new-hardcore-porsche-911-r-has-landed>) for testing. The lads at the mag were curious about those lofty top speed claims, but in Britain, no road could accommodate such velocity. (At least, not legally.) So the *evo* team traveled to the *autobahn* to unleash the 911 R's full fury.

Sure enough, the 911 R hit the magic two-hundo, but only on a technicality; the video shows nothing past 320 kph, which works out to 198.8 mph. Even the *autobahn,* it turns out, is troubled with meddlesome R.V. drivers.

You know what that means? Some other publication is going to have to bring a 911 R to that same unrestricted stretch of *autobahn* for another run. *The Drive* volunteers. With all our hearts. Please.

https://youtube.com/embed/-8vMJHJriYA

## Author
Ben Keeshin is a former staff writer for Maxim, and before that, contributed writing to the digital sides of Road & Track and Vanity Fair.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/BnKshn>)