A past and a present
Today marks our 70th birthday, but why should we hog all the presents? Meet our gift to you – the 911 Speedster Concept.
Porsche being Porsche, it needed something a bit special to help celebrate 70 Years of Sports Cars. And here it is: the 911 Speedster Concept. Our lightweight, stripped-back nod to the original 356 – and especially the 1500 Speedster – stays as faithful to the principles of those early cars as is possible in the modern world.
It's important to say right from the off that this most definitely isn't some light-touch design study, with a sprinkle of new paint and no engineering basis to it. When we tell you that the car has been developed at the Porsche Motorsport Centre, where legends like the 911 GT2 RS and GT3 RS are created, that should give you some indication as to the substance behind this Speedster Concept. It's essentially a GT3 underneath with a powertrain straight out of the GT department, so peak power is more than 500 hp and it'll rev to a grin-inducing 9,000 rpm. Imagine the sound of that in your favourite tunnel.
The Speedster Concept features a tonneau cover instead of a normal convertible top, fixed down with eight Tenax fasteners (just like the historic original), so there'll never be any excuse to not listen to the incredible sound of the flat-six engine. Other design highlights are the double bubble behind the front seats (a design started by the 1988 Speedster), a Plexiglass wind deflector with an engraved '70 years of Porsche' logo, the 50s-style central fuel tank cap and the classic Talbot shape of the wing mirrors. Pay special attention to the headlights, where you can see a cross-like effect that's a nod to the way the original racers used to tape their headlights up to stop them getting shattered by stone chips.
Inside, the radio, sat nav and air conditioning have all been removed, and the full bucket seats are carbon fibre. This is one focussed, stripped back birthday present.
And one last word before you rush off to your local dealer. The title says 'concept', but in reality this is a road-ready car that could be put into production. There's no confirmation on that yet, but a decision will be made in the coming months. All we'll say is: fingers crossed.
911 GT3 RS: Fuel consumption combined 12.8 l/100 km; CO2 emissions 291 g/km
911 GT2 RS: Fuel consumption combined 11.8 l/100 km; CO2 emissions 269 g/km
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Comments (6)
You forgot to mention it has a bit of Herbie: The Love Bug "Flair" to it with that big decal, 70, view-print. Makes me naturally smile with the good ole' movies' memories.
Best article yet, MW! Love all Speedsters; the jewels of Porsche for the road.
I also see a matt anti reflection front "bonnet" with Motorsport anti open fasteners and tribute wheels to Fuchs - would be great to see a better image of the thro' "bonnet" central fuel filler! Is the capacity of the tank increased to Motorsport 120/150ltr? Is the windscreen height shortened? Whilst in the '60's wooden trim was standard, I'm not so sure it works now on a tribute perversely. Would it look better in all matt silver, black anti reflection "bonnet", matt black "Fuchs" wheels with a bright alloy and black leather interior?
We already understood, Porsche has it´s 70th birthday. WE GOT IT!
Also Happy Birthday Porsche