With the 911 GT3 in RS spec getting ready to be officially unveiled in the near future, information regarding its propulsion is bound to take a lot of Porsche->ke1 fans by surprise. According to Porsche's chief of R&D Wolfgang Hatz, the upcoming 911 GT3 RS will be powered by an all-new, naturally-aspirated, flat-six engine. In an interview he gave the Brits from Auto Express at NAIAS 2015 in Detroit, Hatz let it slip that the new hardcore Porsche model will be the first car to feature the new powerplant, with the engine eventually working its way into other 911 variants.

Recent reports about the 911 range getting some new turbocharged engines with four and/or six cylinders are still on the table, but Porsche's R&D chief apparently insisted that those will only be used on lesser models. In other words, the Boxster,->ke570 Cayman->ke5 and a yet-to-be-confirmed 912 entry-level version of the 911 will be the only ones receiving them.

Getting back to the 2016 911 GT3 RS, it seems that although a manual transmission hasn't been completely ruled out, the PDK dual-clutch transmission from the regular GT3 will be the only gearbox available in the beginning, with Hatz even quoting some pleased GT3 customers which said that they have been converted. Unlike the normal GT3, which is also mildly comfortable when required, the RS variant should literally feel like a racing car for the road. "Performance has to be the main objective. Customers love the current GT3. The RS has to be the peak. The 991 GT3 was very much a surprise for everybody because it’s a very useable car for every day. The GT3 RS will be more extreme," Wolfgang Hatz told Auto Express.

Click past the jump to read more about the Porsche 911 GT3 RS.

Why it matters

Despite putting almost everyone off-pace when spy shots showed some pre-production prototypes sporting Turbo-like air intakes before the rear wheels, the upcoming 911 GT3 RS (991) will still keep to the naturally-aspirated formula. Not only that, but if Wolfgang Hatz wasn't somehow misquoted, it will have an all-new engine, which will finally replace the 3,800-cc flat-six that is currently used in every single 911 variant except for the GT3 and entry-level Carrera.

Obviously, in the RS it will be tuned to offer at least 500 horsepower, but on more plebeian 911s it should develop no more than the current Carrera S, while the Turbo and Turbo S variants may keep the old 3.8-liter for a few years more, only with more power. In conclusion, the arrival of the new 911 GT3 RS has just been made even more expected by everyone. Let's just hope that the new flat-six mill won't have the same rough start as the one in the normal GT3, which was prone to catching on fire as some of you remember.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS