Porsche’s GT Boss Admits the Nurburgring Ruins Cars

Speaking to AutoGuide.com on the decision to give the new 911 GT3 its manual transmission back, Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger had this to say: "There are a lot of people who aren’t looking at the stopwatch when they’re on the track and they just want the interaction and they want a driver’s car. This is the reason why we left the route of being the quickest on the Nurburgring and only thinking about lap times. I don’t care that the competition is a little bit faster around the ‘Ring...to be honest with you, if you have a car with the perfect setup for the Nurburgring, it will be a dog on the street and everywhere else." 

Don't expect Porsche to start making Miata-and-Toyobaru-baiting cars anytime soon, however. Outright speed and lap times has been given a lower priority, but still remain important. "But I recognize that for performance reasons, there is some modern technology that needs to be in a GT car to stay in pole position,"  Preuninger said. "We will strike back because the Empire always strikes back. We have some aces up our sleeve because we’re competitive as well."

Hardcore stopwatch warriors will still have their PDKs, of course, but this new direction in Porsche's GT department should be good news for fans of analog, old school Porsche thrills—a.k.a. anyone who lusted after the Cayman GT4 or 911 R. Which, we should point out, is a car that now demands several times its MSRP on the second-hand market, much to Preuninger's chagrin.