Visually, the most notable thing about this 911 variant is what we’ve come to know as ‘the Turbo body’: a widening of the tracks, especially at the rear, which inevitably later continues on rear-drive-only RS versions of the 911.
Here, the shoulders are 85mm wider at the back than the front, and that’s added to a front track that’s already 49mm wider than the old 911 Turbo’s. There are adjustable aerodynamics, too, with spoilers front and rear that adjust on the move.
With the front spoiler in its retracted mode, ground clearance and approach angle are both increased over the previous 911 Turbo, making grounding much less likely.
The Turbo stays that way until 75mph, at which point two outer sections of the spoiler are lowered. At the same time, the rear wing is lifted by 25mm, both of which make the car more aerodynamically efficient. It's the mode in which the Turbo hits its 198mph top speed and the Turbo S sails past to its 205mph limit.
Pop the Turbo's active aerodynamics into Performance mode, however, and things change again. A middle section of the front spoiler lowers, as do its outer edges. This creates a low-pressure zone behind the spoiler. Meanwhile, the rear wing is extended to its maximum 75mm height and angled forwards by seven degrees. Thus at 186mph (a nice, round 300km/h), the 911 Turbo is generating a useful 132kg of downforce.
The engine is not without note, either. It displaces 3800cc across its six direct-injected, horizontally opposed cylinders and is artificially aspirated by two variable-turbine turbos. It revs to 7200rpm in Turbo S form, some 200rpm higher than on the regular Turbo, over which it also produces an additional 38bhp.
The 572bhp output arrives at 6500rpm and stays until 6750rpm, while the torque output – and this will give you an idea of the type of performance we’ll be expecting – is 553lb ft between 2200rpm and 4000rpm. The standard Turbo produces a lesser 532bhp and 487lb ft of peak twist.
We say 553lb ft for the Turbo S, but that is on overboost – allowed for no more than 20 seconds – before reverting to a ‘regular’ 516lb ft. However, it’s hard to imagine, outside of a runway (and even on most of those), a 911 Turbo driver staying on full power for more than 20 continuous seconds.
