Porsche 911 (993) GT2 – Spark

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1995 Porsche 911 (993) GT2
Spark - S4196 (resin) 

Published 07/24/20

After almost disappearing in the late 70s, ten years later the 911 was doing fine. Sales were up and Porsche was financially solid, and in 1994 they released the 993 generation. It came to replace the 964, and though visually similar, 80% of the 993’s parts were brand new. Compared to its predecessor , the 993 was a more “civilized” car, with much better handling. A big reason for that was the new alloy multi-link rear suspension, attached to an alloy subframe. Allied to a new 6-speed transmission, the car became much smoother and consequently faster. And as always, Porsche didn’t take long to put the new 993 on racetracks. And for that Porsche obviously would use the 911 Turbo. However, in the early 90s all-wheel drive cars in GT racing were severely restricted. As a result, the most powerful 911, the Turbo, was out. 

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The GT2 and its iconic bolted-on fenders.

So Porsche needed a new car – the 911 GT2. The 911 GT2 was a street legal racing version of the 911 Turbo with rear wheel drive. Visually speaking, the most obvious difference to the Turbo were the fenders. Porsche cut back the Turbo’s fenders and replaced them with bolt-on plastic pieces. That allowed the use of wider racing tires with the benefit of facilitating repairs during a race. The engine was a 3600 cm³ boxer-6 with 12 valves and DOHC. And of course, air-cooled – the 993 was the last air-cooled Porsche. With twin KKK turbochargers it delivered 444 hp, which in the mid-90s was a LOT. That allowed a 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds, and a top speed of 301 km/h. To homologate the car for racing, Porsche built only 57 units of the GT2. 

Spark did a fantabulous job on the model.

The 993 GT2 is one of the rarest factory-built Porsche models. And being the last of the air-cooled 911, the GT2 is a holy grail to enthusiasts. My love for it is mostly because it’s the street version of one of my holy grails, the Naked Lady. In scale it’s your average & awesome model from Spark, with a terrific detail level. I won’t go as far as labeling it as rare, but it sure is a scarce model. So while that may be true, with a little help from the smelly branch of British Royalty, I could score one. Glad that I did, because the car is just wicked.

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