Today’s sports cars and race cars are a lot more reliable than those of the previous decade. In part, this is due to advances in technology and assembly techniques, but carmakers are also more poised on torturing their cars before they finally release them on the market. Case in point: Porsche and the grueling reliability tests that the new 911 GT3 had to endure.

Porsche doesn’t like to lose and to prevent that from happening, the carmaker is willing to pour in every bit of effort it has at its disposal into making reliable sports cars.

Today, the border between race cars and road-legal sports cars or supercars is at its fuzziest and the transfer of technology from one world to another is very fluid. Basically, a carmaker’s engineers develop race cars as well as road cars. Therefore, to keep everything working smoothly, thorough testing is required.

For example, Porsche needed 700 simulations and 160 hours of fine-tuning to get the 911 GT3’s aerodynamics right.

The 911 GT3’s engine had it worse. It spent over 20,000 hours on the test rig. The unit is based on the racing engine found in the 911 GT3 R race car and produces 503 horsepower at 8,400 rpm and 470 Newton-meters (347 pound-feet) of torque.

On top of these tests, the ultimate challenge was getting the 911 GT3 out on the racetrack. There, Porsche performed 600 emissions tests. To round it all up, the 911 GT3 had to run for over 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) without stopping at 300 kph (186 mph) on the oval circuit at Nardo, and the only stops were to refuel.

2022 Porsche 911 GT3 specifications

Engine

4.0-litre six-cylinder boxer

Horsepower

503 HP @ 8,400 RPM

Torque

347 LB-FT

Transmission

seven-speed PDK

0 to 60 mph

3.2 seconds

Top Speed

197 mph