The 911 GT3 is now the fastest manual car around the Ring

Long live the manual - Porsche has claimed the title of the fastest lap around the Nurburgring Nordschleife with the 911 GT3.

Driven by Porsche brand ambassador Jorg Bergmeister, the 911 GT3 completed the lap around the 20.8km circuit in six minutes and 56.2 seconds - quite a bit quicker than the previous record, which was completed in seven minutes and 1.3 seconds on the shortened 20.6km version of the track and accomplished by the Dodge Viper ACR.

Porsche states that a host of development work on performance-relevant components sees this manual 911 GT3, equipped with the Weissach package, means this new lap record is actually 3.6 seconds faster than even what the previous GT3 could accomplish even when equipped with Porsche's double-clutch system. The lap record was additionally set with the car wearing road-legal Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 R tyres.

For those looking to order their own 911 GT3, you'll want to note this: Bergmeister, when asked about his experience setting the scorching lap, states that this 911 GT3 inspired more confidence than its predecessor, and that the car was more table over the bumps of the Nurburgring, and that he had more fun in the manual gearbox-equipped car, even if the GT3 equipped with the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox would have been a few seconds faster around the track.

Long live the manual.