Race cars tend not to make good road cars. Too noisy, too focused, too uncomfortable, too, in some cases, wildly dangerous. Nonetheless, occasionally a car maker will go slightly nuts and create a road car out of a racing car that just makes you go 'yessss...' This is one of those times.
So, which race car? And which road car?
The race car in question is the Porsche 963, the marque's current Le Mans and World Endurance Championship racer, and the road car is this, the 963 RSP, which fittingly Porsche has shown to the world in the run-up to the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Why is it plain silver?
Ah, well noticed. You see, this is not just an opportunity to make a road-legal car out of the Team Penske-run racing 963; it's also a tribute to a unique car made 50 years ago.
Back in 1975, Porsche made a one-off road-legal car out of its legendary 917 racer. The car was made especially for Count Rossi of Martini fame (which sponsored Porsche's Le Mans team at the time) who drove it from Porsche's factory in Zuffenhausen to Paris back in the day. The car remains road-legal and registered for use and appeared alongside its younger sibling on the roads near Le Mans.
What's the story behind the 963 RSP?
Well, it all started as a straightforward 'what if' pie-in-the-sky idea dreamed up by some of the people at both Porsche and Team Penske. “We together imagined a version of the 963 that really resembled as closely as possible the spirit and appearance of the Count Rossi 917,” said Porsche Cars North America President and CEO Timo Resch. “The 917 from the story was every inch a race car - albeit one driven on the road - and we took the same approach with the 963 RSP. It uses beautiful materials of the best quality available but is still every bit a race car underneath.”
How different is the RSP to the race car?
The styling changes are minimal. Porsche has removed and replaced some of the race 963's aero vents, but the big difference is that the road-going RSP version is actually painted.
A racing 963's carbon-and-Kevlar bodywork is coated in a light vinyl wrap to give it its colour scheme, but the RSP is painted silver, just as was the original 917. Actually, painting the 963's bodywork was tricky simply because its carbon surface was never designed to be painted, but the Porsche and Penske guys wanted to stick as close to the template of the original 917 as possible.
The 963 RSP also has one small, but significant, difference when compared to the racing car - it has a proper, enamel Porsche badge, whereas the race car's badge is painted on...
What about the interior?
This is where the biggest differences between road and race are found, says Porsche. The stark cabin of the racing car has been retrimmed in leather and Alcantara, with more cushioning added for the seats and down the carbon sections towards the pedals.
In the centre of the car is a fully trimmed shelf on which there's space for the laptop needed to start the car, as well as the Peltor headsets you'll need to be able to talk to your passenger (yes, there is a second seat...) and a custom-designed carbon crash helmet, specifically made for Roger Penske himself.
The seats are air conditioned for comfort (the one in the racing car is too as it gets hot at Le Mans) and there are little design flourishes that represent the original 917's famous top-mounted air-cooling fan.
Oh, and there's even a 3D-printed cup holder, specifically designed to hold a Porsche travel mug and, to make it properly road legal, there's a horn too.
What about the mechanical side of things?
Basically, it's the same as the race car underneath. The suspension has been adjusted to its highest possible setting so that there is some useable ride height under the car, while the Multimatic DSSV dampers have been set to their softest possible setting.
The 680hp 4.6-litre twin-turbo V8 engine is essentially the same as you'll find in the race car, but the hybrid system has been slightly recalibrated to provide smoother power-on characteristics so that you don't ground-loop it every time you come to a roundabout.
While it is a racing engine, it's quite closely related to the V8 used in the Porsche 918 Spyder, which itself was related to the Penske-run Porsche RS Spyder racing car, so you could almost say it's a race car turned into a road car turned into a race car and turned back into a road car...
What's it like to drive?
Let's turn this over to Porsche factory driver Timo Bernhard, who demonstrated the 963 RSP on tarmac at its reveal in Le Mans: “That was an experience that will stay with me for a lifetime. Driving down a public road with a 917 beside me - it felt unreal. The car behaved perfectly - it felt a little friendlier and more forgiving than the normal 963 - and felt super special and a lot more comfortable, especially as I was not needing all my safety gear.”
The 963 RSP has been named after Roger Penske (his middle name is Searle, hence the S): “We have enjoyed a terrific relationship with Porsche dating back to 1972. The Porsche 917/30, in particular, was one of the greatest eras in Team Penske history with numerous wins and championships, along with the closed-course speed record set by Mark Donohue in 1975,” said Penske. “With such a remarkable partnership continuing to this day, we felt it was time to create the most exciting car we could imagine. Just like the 917, I wanted this car to be authentic to its origin and have as few changes to it as possible. When we got into the project, the differences in the two generations of race cars provided a great challenge. What emerged is a car that has lost none of its edge and is exciting whether on the track or on the road.”
The 963 RSP will be on display this weekend at Le Mans, and after that you can see it at the Porsche museum in Stuttgart (well worth a visit). It will also put in an appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.