Damn. Porsche really has a knack for driving us nuts. While the 996 911 range was growing on us, the 997 showed up to instantly change our minds for the better. The base Carrera was joined by the S with its 3.8L flat-6 adding an additional 40 hp and a lot of grins. Of course, the Turbo came along soon after and blew those models out of the water, instantly becoming our favorite. That is, until the GT3 arrived and made us wonder why we needed all that extra weight or even a turbocharger in the first place. Just as we confirmed our love for the new 997 GT3, Porsche rolled out the RS. We felt conflicted, but seeing two of them in two weeks confirmed that the RS is even hotter than the "regular" GT3. With performance that makes the 997 Turbo look almost pedestrian in comparison, these track-tuned models drop the turbo but also a lot of weight on their way to glory.

But you just know there are people wanting that same turbo kick in a similarly focused track machine. Enter the GT2. Nothing new to the Porschephiles out there, these have been among Porsche's most notoriously wild creations. With numbers that would make many supercars blush, the original 993 GT2 was dubbed the Widowmaker for its propensity to react violently to driver inputs that were less than smooth. But at $180,000, only the very serious signed up. And then Porsche managed to tame the beast a bit with its 996 GT2. Still ferocious performance, but with a slightly more domesticated demeanor. Well, it's time to see if the pendulum will be swinging back towards wild child. Here we have spy shots of the 2008 Porsche 911 GT2 prototype snapped during cold weather testing by Hans Lehmann. Although the clipped image at right focuses on the revised front fascia with its floating turn signals and larger openings, the full size pics (available by clicking the read link) show off the huge fixed wing, massive brakes, built-in roll cage, and enough slats to make us expect a Saleen sticker on the windshield. Thankfully those are probably just camo. While no firm numbers have been released, we expect at least 500 hp when the car debuts later this year. After all, the "regular" Turbo is now packing 480 ponies in its trunk.

[Source: Straightline]