GT3 Glee; The newest Porsche 911 is the most satisfying of all.(NEWS)

Byline: J. P. VETTRAINO

We took the greetinghands wagging quickly, thumb and pinkie spread wideto mean "hang loose. It might have meant something entirely different to the uniformed schoolboys in the Swabian village of Tigerfeld, Germany. Yet their glee was apparent as the new Porsche 911 GT3 crawled through their burg, and despite Porsche's polite requests to minimize noise intrusion, we pressed the sport button, pushed in the clutch pedal and blipped a long, rousing salute with the throttle as the GT3 rolled past the front of the school. Wagging hands became vertical leaps.

Sounds might be the most engaging thing about the 2010 GT3, but this 911 offers much morewith less. Do the schoolboys know that the GT3 is the Porsche for purists? Will there be a GT3 when they're old enough to drive? We might call the GT3 the antidote for those who think Porsches, along with a lot of ultra-high-performance machinery, have become too thoroughly sanitized for our protection. The GT3 demonstrates that Porsche still does raw as well asmaybe better thananyone.

Like the 911 Carreras launched in the fall of 2008, the 2010 GT3 has evolved onto Porsche's 997 Gen II platform. Uniquely, however, the GT3's six-cylinder boxer engine continues with an old-school, split-crankcase block and conventional sequential fuel injection. That's because the GT3 is the homologation model for various production-based Porsche race cars, which also have a crankcase cast in separate halves. This 911 proves there's a lot of potential left in the previous-generation engine.

The 2010 GT3 boxer has been bored slightly compared with its predecessor, so displacement increases from 3.6 to 3.8 liters. It adds Porsche's VarioCam phasing to the exhaust cams, with aluminum pistons, titanium connecting rods, a steel crank and less mass throughout the valvetrain. Redline increases to 8,500 rpm, and the dry-sump lubrication system employs multiple oil pumps to function at track-level lateral g loads. A flap in the exhaust system opens at full throttle, or when the driver selects sport mode, and raises the torque curve across the revs range.

The GT3 3.8 generates 435 hp at 7,660 rpm and 317 lb-ft of torque at 6,250 rpm, or 20 peak hp more than its predecessor. More significant is that this engine makes 50 hp and 7 lb-ft more than the Carrera S 3.8, with its one-piece crankcase and direct fuel injection. And thanks to the reduction in internal mass and efficiencies such as improved pumps, the new, more powerful GT3 engine reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Purists will be pleased to know that the 2010 GT3 will be available only with a close-ratio six-speed manual (no overdrive gear) and not with Porsche's PDK auto-shift transmission.

The GT3 is suspended with threaded components that can be adjusted for ride height, track width and camber. Its springs are stiffer than any Carrera's, but it now comes with Porsche's PASM electronically variable shocks. It will also come standard with 19-inch center-lock wheels and brakes substantially larger than either the Carrera's or the previous GT3's. The chassis electronics have been recalibrated to suit the GT3's character.