Supercars burning out are sad affairs that result in broken hearts and severely dented bank accounts. With flaming Ferraris having made the news a few months ago, it’s now the turn of Porsche’s 911 GT3 to suffer the same fate.
Five of the current, 991 crop of 911 GT3 have caught fire in recent weeks, the latest of which occurred on the Wilerstrasse in Switzerland. The driver, on the A1 highway, reportedly heard strange noises from the engine and pulled off the major road to investigate. What he found was leaking oil and smoke, with flames appearing shortly afterward. After the local fire department was contacted and the blaze put out, the GT3’s total damages amounted to well over the local equivalent of R2 million – a write-off.
According to the Axis of Oversteer blog a similar incident happened near Avellino, Italy when the owner of a brand new GT3 (just 60 km on the odometer) reported that shortly before his vehicle caught fire a low oil pressure warning was displayed.
A source apparently close to Porsche in Europe informed the blog that the firm is aware of the issue and as a result, deliveries in the region have stopped until the problem has been rectified.
A spokesperson from Porsche South Africa has confirmed that the Stuttgart-based company’s engineers are looking into the matter, but could not comment about the halted deliveries.
