Fear is a healthy emotion when faced with the quickest Porsche 911 in history. Previous incarnations of the rear-wheel-drive 911 GT2 RS earned the model a frightening reputation for swapping ends and making lethally close acquittance with nearby inanimate objects. In the past, it hasn't been a car for the overly cocksure, and no mistake.
An appropriate lack of hubris, then, is required to approach the 2018 GT2 RS, given that it trumps all that has gone before it, with a fittingly fearsome set of statistics, not least that it will hit 100kph from idling in an eye-blink 2.8 seconds. Yet despite beads of sweat forming on my brow – and nape of my neck, both hands and just about everywhere else – this needs to be done. I’m in Porsche’s home city, Stuttgart, and there can be no more fitting way to celebrate the feted German sports-car manufacturer’s 70th anniversary than by jumping in a handful of the fastest cars it has ever produced. After all, Porsche and speed have been intimate since 1948, a relationship consummated 15 years later with the arrival of the 911, its most celebrated and longest-running model.
Things have certainly come a long way in seven decades, since Porsche’s debut production car, the 356, was cruelly derided by many as a Volkswagen with a new badge – founder Ferdinand Porsche was also the original Beetle’s lead engineer. Fast-forward to 2018, however, and that car is an indisputable classic and the 911 revels in countless generations and variants, although the observant will note that Porsche today operates under the VW Group umbrella.
That said, there isn’t a single Volkswagen in existence that springs to mind when you turn the GT2 RS’s key and hear its 3.8-litre, twin-turbocharged, flat-six-cylinder engine create a mild cataclysm. Sorry Stuttgart, it’s 9am and you can forget about any lie-ins. This is a Dh1 million Porsche, so excuse us if it wants to shout about itself, real loudly.
As you might expect, the GT2 RS possesses all the pin-you-to-your-seat forward momentum of a road-going track car with a mighty 700hp and 750Nm of torque going to 21-inch rear wheels, beneath a gratuitous rear wing wouldn’t look out of place on an airplane. Your money will be safe should you slap a Dh100 note on the dashboard and invite your passenger to grab it while simultaneously doing your worst to the throttle. Really push things and you can smash 200kph in 8.3 seconds, before dashing on to a truly lunatic-level 340kph.
There’s no doubt, either, that you’re wise to make sure it’s pointing in a straight line before attempting to detonate all that raw power. What the GT2 RS isn’t quite – and this is some straight-up witchcraft – is intimidatingly unhinged, on the roads, at least. It should be noted that this being Germany, public-highway speeds includes limit-free sections of the country’s autobahns. Don’t give in to the temptation of pressing the single button that will disengage both the electronic stability control and traction control, and you should live to see another day.
The Black Forest’s twisting turns are where the true fun is at, mind you. On tarmac of sometimes uneven quality, you feel every minute undulation through the GT2 RS’s stoically stiff ride, with the amount of feedback directed through the steering wheel hugely reassuring in such a highly powered machine. The brakes occasionally require a little more stomping than feels reassuring, but the GT2 RS I am in does already have 15,000 kilometres on the clock, during which time you would imagine it has endured test-driver punishment that many cars wouldn’t suffer in 10 times the distance.
It might seem impossible to experience more petrol-combusting enjoyment from the driver’s seat a 911, until the next car I get my hands and, perhaps just as importantly, feet on challenges that notion. The GT3 Touring makes do with a modest retractable spoiler and none of the carbon-fibre addendum of its more expensive sibling, but its six-speed manual gearbox is a high-revving joy.
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Read more:
Porsche Taycan charges into the electric-car battle – in pictures
Porsche's power and poise with updated 718s and Panamera
Take a look at the 'Abu Dhabi' Porsche 911
Latest from The National's Motoring section
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After those contrasting experiences, you could almost become blasé about taking the wheel of the GT3 and GT3 RS, the other two monsters in my personal Porsche arsenal. Don’t be fooled: both can still bite off a metaphorical hand if not afforded the respect actively demanded by sports cars with 500hp and 520hp respectively. Not that you could exactly forget in the roll-cage-clad RS.
Porsche has already begun to embrace the electric revolution via the likes of the 918 Spyder hybrid hypercar and the battery-blasting Taycan, suggesting that the next 70 years are set to be vastly different to its first; as contrasting as the 356 is separated from the 911 GT2 RS. Whatever the source of propulsion, if the Germans replicate the rate of progress from the 135kph 356 to the 340kph GT2 RS, by 2088, we will be travelling at 850kph. Never mind 700hp – that is a genuinely scary prospect.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
The view from The National
A Dog's Journey
Directed by: Gail Mancuso
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Josh Gad, Marg Helgenberger, Betty Gilpin, Kathryn Prescott
3 out of 5 stars
Match info
Uefa Champions League Group C
Liverpool v Napoli, midnight
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Iraq negotiating over Iran sanctions impact
- US sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and exports took effect on Monday, November 5.
- Washington issued formal waivers to eight buyers of Iranian oil, allowing them to continue limited imports. Iraq did not receive a waiver.
- Iraq’s government is cooperating with the US to contain Iranian influence in the country, and increased Iraqi oil production is helping to make up for Iranian crude that sanctions are blocking from markets, US officials say.
- Iraq, the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumped last month at a record 4.78 million barrels a day, former Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi said on Oct. 20. Iraq exported 3.83 million barrels a day last month, according to tanker tracking and data from port agents.
- Iraq has been working to restore production at its northern Kirkuk oil field. Kirkuk could add 200,000 barrels a day of oil to Iraq’s total output, Hook said.
- The country stopped trucking Kirkuk oil to Iran about three weeks ago, in line with U.S. sanctions, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they aren’t allowed to speak to media.
- Oil exports from Iran, OPEC’s third-largest supplier, have slumped since President Donald Trump announced in May that he’d reimpose sanctions. Iran shipped about 1.76 million barrels a day in October out of 3.42 million in total production, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Benchmark Brent crude fell 47 cents to $72.70 a barrel in London trading at 7:26 a.m. local time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was 25 cents lower at $62.85 a barrel in New York. WTI held near the lowest level in seven months as concerns of a tightening market eased after the U.S. granted its waivers to buyers of Iranian crude.
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
ABU DHABI T10: DAY TWO
Bangla Tigers v Deccan Gladiators (3.30pm)
Delhi Bulls v Karnataka Tuskers (5.45pm)
Northern Warriors v Qalandars (8.00pm)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 0 Southampton 3 (Ings 49', Armstrong 54', Redmond 79')
MATCH INFO
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
UAE v Oman - abandoned
Oman v Namibia - abandoned
Brief scores:
Everton 0
Leicester City 1
Vardy 58'
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.