Chris Harris made a quite public exit from the /Drive YouTube channel team last month, and recently posted his first all-new video on his new channel, simply named Chris Harris On Cars. Disregarding the politics of the decision, and whatever reasons forced the change, this new channel is more of the same, and trust us, that’s a good thing. From what we’ve seen, all of the beautiful slow motion shots and wild drift angles are still present and accounted for, but perhaps the editing isn’t quite up to the /Drive par. Musial’s crew set a new standard for internet car video edit quality, and we’ll admit to being a little spoiled and perhaps jaded in that last sentence.
In his most recent short film, Harris takes the GT3 and the 458 Speciale to a little track called Anglesey. Chris is intimately familiar with this track, and he’s had a fair bit of time behind the wheel of the GT3, too. The 458 Speciale has been the Lex Luthor to the GT3’s Superman since it came out this summer, and they’ve been trading wins back and forth at magazine ‘car of the year’ tests the whole time. They’ve been expectedly, though perhaps a bit unfairly, compared both on the street and on the track. The Ferrari is a track focused car, so much so that it doesn’t even have interior carpeting. It’s been on a strict weight loss regimen. It’s a scalpel. The GT3, while a bit harder core than your standard 991, is nowhere near the compromise on the street that the Speciale is. For the real test of the Speciale’s mettle, the upcoming GT3 RS will be its true benchmark.
The Ferrari is more powerful than the GT3, it’s lighter than the GT3, it has a more optimal mid-engine layout versus the GT3’s tried and true rear-engine, and it uses Michelin’s awesome Pilot Sport Cup 2 versus the GT3’s Dunlop Sport Maxx. Surely that would make it the walk-off winner, no? Well, maybe you should watch and make your judgements then. Remember, a car’s merit isn’t always based solely on lap times. It’s the car battle of the year, and everyone’s talking about 991 GT3 vs 458 Speciale.