Corporate lawyer, Lim I-An, tells us what it’s like to daily-drive his track-honed 991.1 GT3 RS in Singapore’s CBD concrete jungle.
In case you’re wondering, the “RS” in “911 GT3 RS” stands for Renn Sport in German (or Race Sport in English), which should set your expectations suitably high with regards its raison d'etre.
Over the years, RS models from the type 991 onwards have become more aggressive, more uncompromising and ostensibly less amenable to use daily, especially in the tight and crowded confines of the city. (photo above by Porsche)
We’ve driven the 991.1 RS hard and fast on some delicious German B-roads at its launch and the combination of tight body control, lightning quick PDK shifts and screaming, rev-happy 4.0-litre evokes the sort of ecstatic facial expressions better reserved for less savoury titles.
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The top-shelf RS felt so at home on the winding roads and circuits we were hard-pressed (then) to imagine it could ever be daily-driven slowly in city traffic.
After all, if you haven’t noticed, Porsche’s fearsome road-legal GT3 RS models are bewinged, track-honed beasts engineered to challenge track records around race circuits.
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As Mr. Lim I-An (pictured in this article) demonstrates, such visceral RS models can also challenge convention.
The 50-something corporate lawyer daily drives his Lava Orange 991.1 GT3 RS to / from home and office in the CBD, as well as loads of other places in-between and overseas, having racked up some 100,000km over the course of his seven-odd-years with the car.
Lim is a big petrolhead, but hasn’t always been into Porsches. In fact, he spent his earlier years with big V8s: first a rorty, V8-engined Audi S5 Coupe and then also a sleeper BMW F10 M5 as a Q-car executive express.
After that, it was a succession of P-cars all the way, as he took his first chunky bite of the Porsche pie with a 997.2 Turbo, before moving on to a 991.1 C4S, a 991.1 GT3 and then the 991.1 GT3 RS.
What made I-An decide on Porsche in the first place? “It was a journey of discovery for me with Porsche. I had heard great feedback about its reliability, its performance and of course, its illustrious heritage. Also, the iconic 911 shape played a great part in the brand’s appeal to me too,” he explains.
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“I started with the 997.2 Turbo, because of its blend of power and comfort. After three years, I was bitten by the “new model” bug and moved to a 991.1 Carrera 4S. The C4S was great, but lacked the oomph I was after. I jumped into my first GT model when a 991.1 GT3 became available. After many happy kilometres in the GT3, I decided to move on to the pinnacle of Porsche’s nat-asp GT models – the GT3 RS,” Lim continues.
So what made I-An decide to “daily” his RS? He wryly grins, “It started as a challenge due to the many naysayers who were convinced a RS could not be driven daily.”
“I feel that cars like the RS should be driven, as opposed to merely sitting pretty as centrepieces. Moreover, it would have been a shame not to drive it regularly, because the RS is a great driver’s car. Its precise handling, linear power delivery, stupendous stopping power and intoxicating soundtrack at its stratospheric redline are contributory factors that present a compelling case for daily-drive duties.”
With a stripped-out cabin, sports bucket-seats and few concessions to comfort, we ask Lim about the RS’s practicality, especially when it comes to school and office runs. “It has space in the frunk (the latest 992 RS no longer has this) for my gym bag and my son’s swim-gear, plus enough space behind both seats for my briefcase. On occasion, the roll-cage in the RS has even doubled-up as my suit hanger too!” he tells us.
What are the kinds of reactions he’s getting now that people have seen him daily-drive his RS? Lim smiles, “Surprise, shock and disbelief, especially with more folks seeing my RS out and about. Some friends have even commented that with the years and close-to-100k kilometres chalked up in the RS, I must have an “iron bottom”, alluding to the anticipated harshness of the RS’s ride.”
In his pre-dawn trips to and from the gym and office, Lim must also have discovered more about the RS’s personality. I-An nods, “During the first few years of daily-driving the RS in Singapore, I came to respect the road and the laws of physics, as well as to drive within my limits, especially when the roads are wet.”
As we’re basking in the orange glow of the rock and raunchy RS superstar, we have to wonder if it is too precious to be driven around the Lion City’s CBD without advance route planning.
He shakes his head, “Apart from the familiar risks of driving through the CBD’s congested streets, I do not have to take any extra precautions, because visibility out of the RS is on par with other vehicles, even in spite of the large rear wing – it sits high and above the line of sight of the rear-view mirror so there’s no obstruction.”
Lim continues, “The dimensions of the RS, coupled with a brilliant PDK gearbox and linear power delivery of the nat-asp 4.0-litre flat-six, makes driving in start-stop traffic no different from any other car. However, I do have to be conscious of car-parks with steep slopes, as the front of the RS is very low.”
Clearly, I-An isn’t the sort to put his car on a pedestal, but we discover we couldn’t have been more wrong! Lim smiles, “In many ways, the RS has become my sanctuary. Be it de-stressing on the drive back from work or taking a pre-dawn drive to the gym, I find a certain sense of calmness when I bask in the visceral cacophony of the driving experience, almost as though I’m sitting in the eye of the perfect storm.”
He adds, “The RS is not just building up carbon being driven slowly around Singapore either, because it is also the conduit for many wonderful travel memories. Road trips to Krabi and Phuket, tackling the twists and turns up and down Cameron Highlands, as well as taking on the technical and high-speed Sepang Circuit on track-days are just some of my close encounters of the fast kind.”
Is there anything funny Lim can tell us about him and his RS? “The sports bucket seats in the RS were a first for me, because all my other cars had regular seats that were more accommodating of one’s midsection,” Lim says.
“When I first decided to purchase the RS, I could barely squeeze myself into the snug bucket seats. However, this didn’t put me off and I went through with the purchase, but then worked-out so I could fit comfortably in the bucket seats. Even today, I find myself using the bucket seat to gauge if I have been over-indulging!” he grins.
