400BHP Porsche 911 996 GT3 Clubsport by Manthey Racing Review

[@davidporeilly1]

This one is close to the heart. I was a Porsche salesman in Sydney when this car was announced, although rumoured was probably a better word. The Boxster had been a sensation and the market was just getting used to the massive change that the 996 represented over the 993. The 993 had a way of pulsating under you, connecting you to the action. The 996 while fast and very manageable just felt a little like a Mazda. Then somebody dropped a photocopy on my desk of the 996 GT3 spec. This is 23 years ago... so from memory; Chassis: A 4S chassis was used as the bulkhead was stiffer. All the plastic suspension bushings were replaced with brass to enhance "elasto-kinematics" (translation-feel was more immediate and response more accurate). Engine; The wet sump (called integrated dry sump) of the 996 was dumped and the Mezger version of the Lemans winning Gt1 dry sump was used (only in this car and the Turbo). This change was massive, the IMS issue was unknown but a dry sump engine squirts oil onto the hot bits and so can run slicks whereas slicks were prohibited on 996 die to oil surge in the wet sump design. I hit the phone and rang several of my top customers simply saying "get in here". All of them ordered a car. 48 hours later they were sold out. The car on the road felt like a 993 had been teleported into a 996 look car. It was approx 15% more expensive than a stock 996 Carrera. I told my clients that it was a better investment. They are now 400% of the price of a similar used Carrera so I guess I was right. After 6 1/2 years selling Porsche and Ferrari this is the one I lust after.

[@dirkdee9751]

Great story and absolute true. Sounds like you were a great salesman as well, still selling Porsche today?

[@davidporeilly1]

@@dirkdee9751 thanks, not in that role now. I sold Mercedes and then Audi in the UK but hated the "sausage factory" that it was. I was spoiled by the amazing customers I had with Porsche and Ferrari in Australia.

[@dirkdee9751]

@@davidporeilly1 thank you for the feedback! Yes, I personally know what you are referring to although I believe there is an enthusiastic Porsche community and demand for appropriate salesmen in the UK as well. 🙂

[@modernworldiscrap]

It was a similar story for us here in the united states, but we never saw this beautiful toy arrive. The car was dangerous and did not meet our safety standards. The second version did not have the same effect... Like the RS2 recently, we will be able to bring it in a few years, the prices will soar on the European market.

[@davidporeilly1]

@@modernworldiscrap "dangerous"?

[@markgtrheyes]

The sound of NA Metzger engine....glorious!

[@lotion90]

mezger…

[@markgtrheyes]

@@lotion90 Thanks, my bad

[@GT1Zero]

This might sound silly but the 996.1 GT3 has kind of a JDM aesthetic compared to any other model. This is the one I would try to get.

[@CurvyVic]

Probably because Toyota helped

[@ie43cfr]

@@CurvyVic porsche supra!?

[@MDjango]

@@CurvyVic source?

[@X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X8X]

The 996.1 GT3 is my favourite GT3, as well as the 996.1 is my favourite 911.

[@kipp4805]

that wing looks like a piece of modern art lol

[@martinboulden3540]

Speed Yellow looks so good on this era. Fabulous video James. Thanks for the entertainment.

[@houseyUK]

Miss my 996 GT3 Gen 2. Had a couple of mates that ran the M400 GT3 Gen 1 and they were magnificent (even then spinning end to end down the back straight at Donington in the wet!). Until you have driven one you can't fully comprehend what steering feel is.

[@aviationlba747]

It’s nice to see the 996s finally getting more recognition! Purists need to get over the headlights, and start appreciating these for what amazing cars they are.

[@future62]

No, keep shitting on them. I want to buy one and need the prices as low as possible

[@2702simmo]

I bought one in July after initially dismissing them. My first Porsche and I absolutely love it and it’s looks

[@RS-jb1lf]

@@future62 lol a few months ago (or so it seems) the 996 GT3 was £50k and now it’s being sold at £70k on the used market

[@johnnyboy1586]

I don't usually like wings on the back of Porsche's but this one is beautifully disgned

[@neilbuchan7300]

Beautiful sound, beautiful scenery, dangerous recipe

[@longtailgt]

"if this channel is here to celebrate anything, it's not speed...." it's speed yellow! I have no idea how I missed this review for so long, but this is really the first 996 video I've seen that exactly replicates my thoughts on this car. The 996 is my favourite generation of the 911 and the 996.1 GT3 in particular is imo one of the most beautiful 911s ever made. The whole body and the wing just look perfectly sculpted, something the later cars just never managed to do. I'm glad Manthey Racing have given it a makeover and made it sing, as it now sounds as spectacular as it looks and, I'm sure, as it drives. This has been, and still is, easily my favourite generation of the 911 GT3. And I'm both happy and sad that people are now giving it the credit it always deserved. Happy because obviously, I like that people no longer hate it as much, and sad because that in turn has caused the prices to go through the roof. And since they didn't make many of them in the first place, far fewer than later GT3s, they'll pretty much be unobtainable after a certain time.

[@joelh8141]

Thanks, Jay. You're the man with these reviews. Really insightful, descriptive and knowledgable. Feels like I'm riding shotgun with a good buddy, just talking some shop and enjoying the ride.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Thanks Joel - that's the aim

[@quincygaming9529]

Oh Lord, that sounds amazing

[@Jonoponomono]

I drive a 2004 996 Carrera 4S regularly and I love the thing despite what the Porschephiles say to me. Its sort of old school but just modern enough. The GT3 is now on my lust list. Excellent honest review. Keep it up.

[@Hughjass2855]

Great review James, epic scenery too. I'm not a big Porsche fanboy but that sounds spine tingling. We won't see many cars like this going forward and should be very happy to see and experience them.👍

[@Pietervdv]

In the early 00's, I used to be a pit marshal at the Zandvoort racing track, that hosted a German Porsche racing event every year. The sound of this car takes me back to those days when Mr. Manthey himself hustled an RSR round the track. Never been much of a Porsche aficionado myself, but the sound of that car turned that around quite a bit.

[@MasterMalrubius]

That exhaust note blended wonderfully into the intro music.

[@richardlawes8893]

Wow! What a sound! Keep up the good work James!

[@geoffclarke8934]

I had a yellow 996.1 GT3 CS with the Manthey K400 upgrade. This video brought back a lot of very happy memories.

[@geoffclarke8934]

@Viking Raiders, I had her for 12 years and was concerned about potentially big bills especially as earning a lot less than back in the early days of ownership. Proved to be unfounded as the guy I sold her two hasn't had anything major go wrong not surprising as only on just over 50K miles when I sold.

[@psircos]

"Wrestling an agitated salmon"....😄 brilliant!

[@Lukeywoodsey]

Jeremy Clarkson would be proud 😂

[@graemewilson1400]

Tony what about pie enthusiast!....both brilliant, he cracks me up sometimes.

[@2702simmo]

This video was so good I watched it twice. It looks so good My C2 with aero kit looks very similar but that engine note is unreal The shots of you hooning it were great looked like you were going quicker than usual

[@georgemayson4936]

James does the filming - that was the owner!

[@2702simmo]

@@georgemayson4936 what a guy :)

[@juff0401]

What a car! I remember vividly when Car magazine tested the first 996 GT3 (also in yellow), driven by Mr Cacher. Lusted after one ever since. Thanks for the video James!

[@Inazuma68]

Bought a gen 2 Clubsport. What a blast and joy 👌🙌

[@AdamDUrso]

So good to see the owner really giving it some stick in the panning shots!

[@Official_MikeyT]

Here right after Matt's 996 GT3 RS video.

[@mthorn572]

Pie enthusiast... absolutely love it!! And what a machine... a great video, Jay! :)

[@KyleBrightman]

Jay, I am totally with you on the looks of the 996.1 GT3. Absolutely gorgeous and has aged better than 996.2 and 997.1 in my opinion.

[@jason22spurs]

Love the 996 !!! GT3 amazing

[@kalv123]

Dream car! There is just something about a 996 gt3.... Gen2 for me though please!

[@Fee.1]

Bless you James you never skimp on us

[@leebuckles2364]

Wow that's sounds ace that flat 6sound is an excellent soundtrack

[@pye007]

THANK YOU JAMES. ANOTHER GREAT INSIGHTFUL INTELLIGENT REVIEW!

[@tau-ceti]

The pie enthusiast comment 😂 your videos are great, keep em coming.

[@haydenisaac3030]

Watching this bought back some great memories. My close friend had a Speed Yellow Gen 1 GT3 (not a clubsport)

[@ciaranburke3243]

Goosebumps, that thing looks and sounds fantastic 👌

[@modernworldiscrap]

THE LAST ANALOG 911

[@cookieinthewoods]

A dream car for me, speed yellow or guards red 996 gt3. Sounds abslutely magnificent.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Yellow for me

[@alexv8150]

Sounds great, and the salmon wrestling pie enthusiast was a nice touch. I’d have my GT Porsche in a green or blue tho.

[@DjNikGnashers]

absolutely love this car !!!!

[@5alm0n]

Very much liked the sign off about it being not speed and about fun !!

[@adjrasta9365]

Great channel, so refreshing that its not all about 0-60 or 1/4 mile times

[@christurner8062]

Loving `Porsche week so far 👍🏻

[@HotTakeHQ]

The thing about Porsche week is that it should never end. Jk

[@future62]

This looks brilliant but something is def off with the damping- look how it pogos around at 2:51

[@2702simmo]

Mine does the same. Super tight but the dampers have a lot of travel

[@R-Tap]

Your assessment is fair, I'll have a 997.2 GT3.

[@joshgraham934]

I'm assuming the four dislikes at the time of this comment are from people who passed on buying one at £35k and hate being reminded of it now. keep up the good work.

[@clevelandaeromotive]

Another excellent review. You frequently have stunning landscapes. Are they the foot hills of the Scottish Highlands, or The Highlands themselves?

[@georgemayson4936]

Deep in the Cairngorms. It's the Cairnwell Pass, the highest main road in the UK at 2199ft.

[@itsjonlewis]

pie enthusiast!!

[@Pr0vost]

What a beauty

[@dancinglizard3080]

This car is what id call: art that is meant to be driven.

[@manudelmarche]

The 360 hp figure was never optimistic. Actually Porsche is well renowned to put out figures on paper that are below the actual ones. I had my stock 996 GT3 MK1 tested on a dyno. 377hp is what it came out with. Another thing: a full cage doesn't require any modification to the dashboard. The only thing that's required are wholes in the carpet both in the driver and passenger side

[@Marvin-Thomas05]

Great review. I've yet to hear anything negative about this car and am seriously considering buying one towards the end of the year.

[@barfmeister8509]

Thought it was my old 996 for a moment there😳 beginning to miss it now 😥

[@TTommmmo]

Yours was a GT3? 👍

[@barfmeister8509]

@@TTommmmo mine was the car James refers to that he co owned with his mum, a C4 aero kitted car with factory rear seat delete and leather GT3 seats with body coloured (speed yellow) seat backs. Yeah, I’m missing it very much 😥

[@marshallsonmotorsltd2101]

Hi Jay, I’ve got a slightly track modified 996 Gt3 gen2 in polar silver, if you would like to do a video with that let me know. Keep up the good work 👍

[@morphyon]

Well, I want him to. :) Close enough?

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Sure. Email me. [e-mail]

[@marshallsonmotorsltd2101]

@@morphyon 😁

[@marshallsonmotorsltd2101]

@@JayEmmOnCars email on it’s way 👍

[@aboyandhisdog]

A "pie enthusiast" wrestling an "agitated salmon"...now that is some sweet commentary! That aside, James, when did they go from using a volts gauge to replacing it with an oil temp. gauge? I have a 997 with an oil temp. gauge and I wish I had a volts gauge. Well, both actually.

[@JoeEngineer]

Nearly everyone's favorite version of the 996. Mine too.

[@PaulinhoThompson]

That was highly entertaining, thank you.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Happy to be of service

[@MrCarrera28]

Amazing car, that remains relevant from both a style point of view and miles per smile. Its all the 911 most of us normal drivers will ever need :)

[@nw3622]

Utterly wonderful car the 996gt3. Hard to beat if you want a raw driving experience that you simply do not get post the 997gt3. Only surpassed by the RS, although too hard core for some.

[@niwouackermann8517]

Lovely review of what is a very desirable car, a true poster car for me. Anybody remember the TV commercial of an identical looking GT3 on track driving enthusiastically and at the end of the ad it said "Just Another Sunday"? It used to be showed during F1. I have been looking for that commercial all over but can't find it anywhere.

[@musantombela2924]

I love this car!!❤❤

[@MrCarGuy]

Going to keep saying it: You need a POV driving segment.

[@theodor12]

I agree

[@jamieorton6809]

Me too, no need to include the shirt in the shot either

[@Henders72]

Stunning car, great review 👌

[@LapoftheWorld]

Love the 996 GT3. I definitely spare the odd "what if" thought to having made the stretch to pick one up back when they were affordable. C'est la vie.

[@paulbellas8797]

You said pie enthusiast. Love it! lol...

[@casualdriver4084]

This is my fav car ever

[@TheMrFishnDucks]

Awesome car.

[@bchurch19]

reminds me of the CTR Yellowbird

[@ukwan]

With regards to the 996 C4. The Electronic Break Differential turns off above 60mph on the 996 C4, not Porsche Stability Management you need to turn that off manually on the dash with the little PSM button. But interestingly if you lock up under braking or get over a certain slip angle whilst braking PSM will switch back on regardless to save your ass in the C4 996. The PSM won't help you when switched off when accelerating in a 996 with PSM though, so you can do massive drifts into a tree, but if you brake at those slip angles it all switches back on to save you. Also when the PSM is on it allows something around a 6 degree slip angle when on, so you can get to the limit of the tyres and not spanner it off. For a Traction Control/Stability Management system to be doing this in 99 was pretty revolutionary to be honest. This technology was lifted from one of their race car programmes, it wasn't really added as a safety feature as such, well not a mandatory one anyway in 1999, most professional drivers were faster with the PSM on in the C4. Sorry i'm a massive 996 geek, I had to..

[@randymarsh3636]

That's a special car

[@911928944]

5:48 "pie enthusiast" 😂

[@swiper1818]

Excellent review and lovely Scottish scenery 👍👍👍

[@johnnyboy1586]

Would love one of these in signal yellow 💛

[@jamieorton6809]

Used to own this very car. Personally I didnt think the Manthey added anything, also the driving position was a let down, the steering column just sits too low. No rake adjustment. Thankfully ergonomics have moved on. Still I do love a mk1 GT3.

[@roadmantop3769]

You say it’s not sexy ..... I disagree 😍

[@Will_M600]

This is my dream porsche

[@christophercatto7184]

gorgeous colour

[@christophercatto7184]

"pie enthusiast". I like that statement :-D

[@HotTakeHQ]

NINE NINE SIX Ohh dang. Wish that was my daily

[@Ninakoklahombi]

Well said. Great review.

[@jasonthompson6657]

Best sounding car in grandturismo aspec

[@greensamurai5805]

awesome end

[@marky9117]

You don’t have to “hack out part of the dashboard”, for the front section of cage. No changes are necessary. The front cage section slightly obscures the headlight switch which is a faff, but the main reason you don’t run with the full cage on the road is that if you roll and don’t have a helmet and harnesses on, you’ll crack your skull on the roof bar.

[@JayEmmOnCars]

The last 996 I was in with a Full cage had the dash cut

[@marky9117]

@@JayEmmOnCars Mustn’t have been a GT3 road car with factory CS cage. 👍🏻

[@Wallygjs]

Great sound, was there something wrong with the suspension as it seemed to be porpoising a lot in the video?

[@gabebercz6651]

I have a 997 turbo and a 996 gt3. Funny how I always gravitate towards the older sparser 996 when I have the time to take one out for a flogging. Never selling it.

[@steeltrap3800]

Have driven 2 versions of 911: a 1970s 2.7 Carrera and a 1980 3.3 Turbo. Compared with today's rockets they'd be considered slow, although I suppose the Turbo is a case of 'slow' being a relative term as the original 4 speed Turbo (the 5 speed came a few years later) had an official 0-100km/h time of 5.0s, where it felt like 2 of those seconds it didn't do much then "weeeeeeeeee". The other funny thing was it did the 0-100km/h IN 1ST GEAR. You just floored it and counted down to what you imagined must be the rocket firing, LOL. The overwhelming memory I have of them, however, is that they were surprisingly small cars, astoundingly planted and communicative through the steering wheel, and an absolutely visceral experience. If driving one didn't put a smile on your face you ought first of all get rid of it and then see a doctor. I bet this thing would very much remind me of those cars. Looks and sounds fantastic. More importantly, an absolute pleasure to drive. All about fun indeed. Great video, thanks.

[@paularmitage6543]

I'm lucky enough to have a Speed Yellow 996.1 GT3, and it doesn't porpoise down the road like that; the Manthey suspension may be more of a track upgrade than road. Not sure it needs the engine upgrade, my feels plenty quick enough for the grip it has - but a brake upgrade is next; they ran out quickly at Donington...

[@JayEmmOnCars]

The car is certainly very track orientated now

[@123danson]

What sort of value would you say it has please?

[@TheSimonhammond]

Basically all the G-body elements only watercooled?

[@mikev6046]

@Jayemm, this 996 GT3 speaks your language just as much as the Evora did. One wonders if 2021 potentially has a another rear engined example coming to your collection??

[@JayEmmOnCars]

Way out of budget sadly

[@jamieogorman9461]

Yes please 👍😎

[@thedetailingdoctor5746]

Damn I want one well any 996 to be fair but preferably a Carrera with the turbo body kit but keeping rwd hence not the c4s (changed my mind)

[@thedetailingdoctor5746]

@@foxx1111 fair point but it’s not as straight forward as that given how the 4wd works in these you’ll end up overworking the clutches and putting double the tourqe through the rear diffs pinion gear than it was designed for. Done a few Quattro to rwd conversions in the past and similar issues there.

[@ej2863]

That was fun!

[@SportsCarAdvisors]

excellent

[@andytims1]

Love my one

[@redjacc7581]

nice looking car.

[@nenaiopocon]

La mia auto preferita! Ma devo accontentarmi della 996 c2 mk1😍

[@thedetailingdoctor5746]

And thanks for making her scream past the camera exactly how this engine needs to be heard

[@VarioFelce]

Looks bouncy on those roads

[@GT380man]

So stock was only 20bhp stronger than the 40th anniversary edition 996 (345bhp). I wonder what the weight advantage the GT3 has to complement that plus the augmented power?

[@JayEmmOnCars]

It's not massive. They were never super fast cars, even in the day

[@iandavidson99]

So what's the difference between the 996 GT3 CS and 996 GT3 RS ?

[@paulcronin551]

Sounds glorious but I think the owner needs to spend a little on the suspension!

[@Pauld62]

Fun fact, the 996 was the first high quality car model i ever had. The second was a collectable S1 RS Turbo, and there was never a third 😅

[@topend2282]

I liked this video before the add stopped ahahha