Introducing The Lightweight, Manual-Only Porsche 911 R

The Porsche GT3 and GT3 RS are phenomenal cars, but they both have one glaring shortcoming – You can’t get them with a manual gearbox. Both are equipped with the technically excellent PDK, a dual-clutch gearbox virtually without equal. But many purists still want to row the gears themselves, even if those human shifts comes at the expense of milliseconds of shift time.

Porsche was listening, and they responded on Tuesday at the Geneva Motor Show with the unveiling of the manual-only, 4.0-liter, 500 horsepower, lightweight Porsche 911 R. #MicDrop

The 911 R pays homage to the original 911 R, stripped of weight and unsightly aero bits like the massive rear wing of the GT3. There’s even houndstooth-patterned cloth on the sport seats. As with the original R, this will be a limited production car, with only 991 cars to be built. (You see what they did there?)

The 911 R gets the 4.0-liter flat-six from the GT3 RS, and it hasn’t been detuned in any way. That means the 911 R will have 500 horsepower and 338 pound feet of torque running to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox, with auto rev match that can be disengaged at the press of a button. There’s also an option single-mass flywheel that Porsche says further increases engine responsiveness.

The Porsche 911 R will do 0-60 in 3.7 seconds, on it’s way to a top speed of 200 MPH.

At just 3,021 pounds, the 911 R is the lightest of the 22 different 911 variants currently available. For those of you keeping score, that’s a full 110 pounds lighter than the already-svelte GT3 RS.

So how did they manage that? Porsche used carbon fiber for the fenders and hood, magnesium for the roof, and they also removed the rear seats, air conditioning, and stereo (though you can add the latter two back at no charge). Even the interior door handles are gone, replaced by door-opening loops.

The 2016 Porsche 911R reaches US showrooms later this year, with a base price of $184,900. If you want one, you had better get in line now, because there will only be 991 of the cars produced worldwide.

Hungry for more? Then listen to the Porsche 911 R as it rips through the mountains in this video: