911 GT2

911 GT2 (Type 996) records one precise Porsche performance-car configuration from 2001–2003. The 996 generation re-established GT2 as a water-cooled, rear-drive road car with a manual gearbox and no all-wheel-drive safety net. The familiar badge is not enough by itself: this page binds the name to a generation, engine architecture, transmission and documented publication boundary.

At its centre is a 3,600 cc flat-6 identified as M96/70-derived. Porsche publishes 340 kW (462 PS) for this scope. The water-cooled GT2 removed the Turbo model’s front driveline and comfort equipment while retaining twin-turbo power. The figures are not borrowed from an adjacent update or competition derivative.

The engine sits in a longitudinal rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout and drives through a 6-speed manual. Those facts matter acoustically as well as technically: engine position, driveline length, gearing and cabin structure change which mechanical, induction and exhaust sounds reach a listener.

Its nearest published lineage neighbour is the 911 GT2 (993). The relationship is useful for chronology, but each passport keeps its own engine output, date boundary and production context. Porsche often reused a model family while changing boost systems, cooling, driven wheels or production purpose.

The archive uses the listening cues water-cooled, twin-turbo, rear-drive, high-load as orientation, not as proof. A cold start can expose idle control and mechanical texture; acceleration can document induction, boost response and gear changes; a fly-by can place exhaust and tyre sound in an exterior context. None of those capture types establishes factory condition without supporting configuration evidence.

This is the 340 kW launch phase, not the later 355 kW update, GT2 Clubsport equipment package, 996 Turbo or a tuned example. This boundary is especially important because many surviving performance Porsches have period upgrades or later modifications. An openly licensed recording can still contribute to the historical record when its exact state is uncertain, but it will carry a visible Unregistered note until documentary evidence resolves the match.

It asks the community for cold start, acceleration and fly-by recordings, together with photos, source documents and corrections.

The documentary image follows the same discipline. The picture illustrates the exact model without being treated as evidence for the specification of every surviving car.

Preservation here means keeping claims separable and correctable. Manufacturer sources establish the technical baseline; an independent exact-model reference checks how the identity is described outside the factory archive; claim dispositions disclose remaining uncertainty. Readers can appreciate the car as engineering history while contributors can strengthen the page without silently replacing facts or weakening rights controls.