The Porsche 911 GT3 has, for a long time, been the sports car everyone has to beat on a track – and that happens probably because no rival has managed to keep this juggernaut down in terms of lap times and driver engagement so far.
McLaren’s entry-level 570S on the other hand has been universally appraised for offering a genuine supercar experience in a more affordable price, and the recently introduced Track Pack option wants to make it even more rewarding to customers who are frequent track-day attendees.
The Track Pack is limited to a set of carbon-fiber bucket seats that are 25kg lighter than the standard ones, a higher rear wing that provides more downforce, lightweight alloy wheels and a freer-flowing sports exhaust.
Those revisions might not sound that important, but McLaren reckons that a 570S fitted with the Track Pack is going to be around half a second to a second quicker around most tracks compared to the standard 570S.
The 911 GT3 is considerably cheaper than the McLaren, costing as much as £48,000 less than the 570S Track Pack, if you stay away from optional features. Simply put, you could buy a 911 GT3 and a 718 Cayman and a 911 GT3 to match the £159,750 starting price of the McLaren.
Not only it’s cheaper, but the 911 GT3 is also powered by a wonderful naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six engine that revs up to 9,000 rpm and has a chassis tuned by the gods over at Porsche’s GT department.
The 570S has an edge of performance thanks to its twin-turbo V8, which offers substantially more torque. And yet, it somehow lost. How did this happen? Watch for yourselves.