2001 Porsche 911 GT2 Clubsport with 8,000 miles for sale and you’re too chicken to drive it

Perhaps it’s my ownership of a turbocharged Porsche 996 that clouds my judgment, but the car you see here might be the greatest road-going success story in the company’s long history. Only seventy examples of the 996-generation 911 GT2 Clubsport were built, and the driving experience on offer here is both sublime and terrifying.

This car walks the razor’s edge between putting the widest smile you’ve ever had on your face and getting your pants browned. If you’re good behind the wheel, it’ll give you one of the finest driving experiences money can buy, but if you’re even a little off your game, or let it lull you into a false sense of security, this monster will bite faster than you can blink. This was perhaps Porsche’s last turbocharged, rear-wheel drive car, as later generations of the GT2 received more refinement and electronic improvements. And if you act quickly, one of seventy cars could be yours. This one is currently for sale on Bring A Trailer, with no reserve.

The market for these cars has gone crazy, and this example being three times old from Bring-A-Trailer only helps demonstrate that. In 2021, the car, then with 6,300 miles on the clock, changed hands for a relatively paltry $160,000. In late 2023, it was listed again with 7,000 miles on the clock and failed to sell with a high bid of $200,000. As of this writing, with several days left on the auction block, the same car has reached a bid of $400,000, and it surely won’t stop there.

Automotive trendThe 996 GT2 review conducted in 2002 warned that the car “has no inherent bad habits, but it will identify and exaggerate yours.” Car and driver had similar beliefs, describing the car as being for “serious drivers”. If that’s the kind of driving experience you’re looking for, and you’re well-heeled enough to afford the six-figure-plus price tag that this car is sure to bring, then you should bid immediately.

Available only in Europe as a free option for all GT2 buyers, the Clubsport Pack brought an extra level of safety and security. This package included a bolt-on roll bar with an optional front section supplied separately, GT3-style fixed-back seats covered in flame-retardant fabric, red three-point seat belts and a separate red six-point racing harness for the driver, fire extinguisher and battery master switch. That might not sound like much, but it’s essentially the twenty-five year equivalent of Porsche’s modern Weissach package, which costs tens of thousands of dollars extra on your new GT3. Even though the Clubsport package doesn’t add any power or mechanical modifications of any kind, it’s the kind of hardcore option that most wouldn’t accept.

The 996 GT2 is already hardcore enough that it barely needs anything else to be a true track machine. With carbon-ceramic brakes, wide, sticky Michelin tires, and as sharp a steering rack as Porsche had ever put in anything, the 996 GT2 was incredibly fast for its time. There are people, myself included, who didn’t believe a 911 could ever go faster than that. I still think this may be true, in terms of human speed, since modern 911s tend to do a lot of the fast driving on your behalf via computers.

Hartmut Kristen, GT2 project manager, said Car and driver at the time, “The whole philosophy of this car is different from that of the Turbo. It is aimed at the driver who wants to be able to push his car to its absolute limits alone.” If you’re not interested in pushing a car to its limits, this isn’t the one for you. For a 996 GT2 Clubsport to be pampered, brought out only for your nearest car event and coffee shop, that would be shameful. Failure to get the most out of this car constitutes a breach of ownership.

Unlike the 911 Turbo on which this car is based, the GT2 takes it to the next level. Where the 911 Turbo was a simple Teutonic device built for the express purpose of achieving speed, the GT2 was a toy that challenged the driver to improve. Ditching the Turbo’s all-wheel drive, active aerodynamics, and stability management, the GT2 was rawer, more powerful (from 414 horsepower to 456), and less heavy (about 220 pounds lighter).

This particular car was delivered new to Sweden and imported to the United States, then federalized by a workshop in California. Because it is not obviously different from the American 996 GT2, this was allowed without much modification. Since then, he has only traveled 7,714 miles, less than a mile per day of his life. It’s a shame it’s been driven so little, but in just a few days you’ll likely see one of the most expensive 996 sales in history. If you are the buyer and don’t immediately take this car for a twisty road trip or track day, you are a coward in my opinion.