The light fantastic

Paring back a technological tour de force

4y ago
33K

The 959 was a late Eighties game-changer, providing other-worldly technology and unprecedented performance in highly limited numbers.

These cars were instant classics – blue chip investments that have enjoyed an unshakeable halo status ever since. There are faster Porsches now of course, and there are rarer ones, but the 959 was so far ahead of the game, in terms both of its technology and how this was translated to the road, that its heroic reputation is somehow frozen in time.

Among the cognoscenti the 959 is bettered by just one thing: the only car of the period that was faster, more focused, even more uncompromising in its determination and detail. That car was the 959 Sport.


More than 300 959s were built, but just 29 of these were ordered in Sport specification. The Sport dispensed with rear seats, putting in their place a leather-trimmed roll cage. The luxury of leather elsewhere was a no-no, however, and the car was upholstered in much lighter cloth. Also deleted were air conditioning and the stereo, while conventional three-point seatbelts became four-point harnesses. Externally Porsche swapped the heavier adjustable suspension for a more conventional coil-over type, significantly contributing to an impressive final weight loss figure of just under 100kg.


While lightness aids handling as much as outright speed, the standard Sport was both quicker to 60mph and achieved an even higher V-Max, running out of puff at 197mph. In 1986 this was little short of witchcraft.


The car you see here, chassis no. 11, benefits from a factory upgrade that takes power from its 444bhp twin-turbo flat-six to 515bhp. After a recent sojourn in Porsche’s own museum, it has just popped up at auction, perhaps unsurprisingly at the recent RM Sotheby’s Paris sale which was a roll call of Stuttgart finery. But even here the 959 Sport was centre stage. Unmarked, totally original and with under 12,000km on the clock, it sold for a thumping £1.66 million.

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Comments (8)

  • Legend

      4 years ago
  • When I look at the 959, I also think about the F40 which was its closest rival in the opposite views of conception.

    The F40 is rough and means no assistance at all, lightened to the extreme uncomfortable ways,

    That was the most advanced from the past, whereas the 959 was the most advanced one leading and heading all the supercars towards future.

      4 years ago
  • Best looking Porsche ever in my opinion. Was once the world's fastest car!

      4 years ago
  • The 959 was a game changer in the super car market! Track worthy Sport is amazing. I have an upcoming post on a white/white 959.

      4 years ago
  • God I love this car.

      4 years ago
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