SPECIAL FORCES

What will it take to expose any weaknesses in the new 911 GT3? Nissan’s brutal GT-R Nismo and McLaren’s ballistic 600LT should have the power and polish to reveal any flaws

- JETHRO BOVINGDON

HOW DO YOU BEAT THE PORSCHE 911 GT3? As I point the jutting splitter of a McLaren 600LT northwards towards The Borders and the sinewy, weather-ravaged roads that criss-cross between England and Scotland, I sense this is a question not just for the next couple of days, but one that occupies the minds of engineers and test drivers the world over on a constant loop.

As I glide in the svelte McLaren, John Barker is muscling his way to our rendezvous in the Nissan GT-R Nismo. The angular Japanese coupe, built to a different scale and resembling a 1960s brutalist block of flats next to the minimalist LT, is nevertheless similarly preoccupied with striking a blow to Porsche’s sublime, track-focused 911. Whether they’ve achieved their goal remains to be seen, but clearly the teams behind them were unstinting in their pursuit of every performance gain imaginable.

So I’m sitting behind a windscreen that’s thinner by 0.5mm than that fitted to the 570S, rolling on ultra-lightweight forged wheels that save a barely believable 17kg and are secured with titanium bolts that cut weight by a further 420 grams. The view out is extraordinarily panoramic in typical (and wonderful) McLaren style, but the plunging A-pillars do obscure the carbonfibre louvres on the front wings. Nice to know they’re there, though: reducing wheel well pressure, venting hot gases and saving 1.2kg. There are bigger changes, of course, but these little details show the commitment required to contend in an area of the market pretty much owned by the 911 GT3.