Latest news with #RogerPenske
Top Gear
a day ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Driving Porsche's 'alien': the raw, V8-powered road-going 963 RSP
Advertisement Video Porsche paints its Le Mans car, fills it with leather and licence plates and a cupholder, lets Top Gear loose in it 9 minutes 41 seconds "It looks utterly alien without logos interrupting the lines," said Top Gear's Ollie Marriage upon first acquaintance with Porsche's one-off, road-legal 963. Yes, 'road-legal 963'. Turns out the Germans do have a sense of humour, because here is its multiple title-winning endurance car, painted in silver, filled with leather and licence plates and let loose for the roads. Well, some roads. Advertisement - Page continues below It's even got a cup holder for goodness sake. What will owner Roger Penske encounter then, in this very special 963? We strap in and find out... READ MORE Porsche 963 RSP review: road legal Le Mans prototype driven! You might like Advertisement - Page continues below Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox.
Man of Many
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Man of Many
Porsche Just Built a One-of-a-Kind V8 963 Hypercar
By Somnath Chatterjee - News Published: 18 June 2025 Share Copy Link Readtime: 5 min Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more. For more information on how we test products, click here. Porsche has unveiled the 963 RSP , a one-off street-legal version of the 917 racing car that dominated motorsports across eras. , a one-off street-legal version of the 917 racing car that dominated motorsports across eras. The hypercar was built to mark 50 years since Count Rossi drove the Porsche 917 from Zuffenhausen to Paris. It comes with a hybrid V8 powertrain with roots to the 918 Spyder, alongside a 917-inspired paint job. with roots to the 918 Spyder, alongside a 917-inspired paint job. The Porsche 963 RSP was built for Roger Penske and could well be the most expensive Porsche ever made. Porsche is not playing around. This week, the fabled German automaker sent a stern message to the global high-performance market, unveiling a thinly disguised road-legal version of its extreme 963 hybrid Le Mans race car. Built for billionaire racing team owner Roger Penske, this is a one-of-a-kind ride is, aside from being the ultimate flex in the ALDI parking lot, inspired by the equally bonkers and iconic 917. 'This really started out as a 'what if?' – a passion project by a small team of enthusiasts at Penske and at Porsche who together imagined a version of the 963 that really resembled as closely as possible the spirit and appearance of the Count Rossi 917,' Porsche Cars North America president and CEO Timo Resch said. '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.' Porsche 963 RSP | Image: Porsche A racecar, indeed. The ultra-unique 963 RSP model was reportedly developed as a sort of skunkworks project, with the ethos to stay as close to the original car as possible. Unbelievably, the hybrid V8 powertrain, which comes with a lithium-ion battery, continues to remain in race tune in the 963 RSP. The 4.6-litre twin-turbocharged V8 dishes up 680 hp and originated in the RS Spyder race program operated by Penske. As Porsche fanatics may remember, that same engine, in an enlarged form, was used in the 918 hypercar; however, where the 918 Spyder used the engine in naturally aspirated form, the 963 pairs it with two turbochargers provided by the Dutch manufacturer Van der Lee. Hence, the acceleration is violent and has nearly the same intensity as that of the race car. Crazy. Porsche 963 RSP interior | Image: Porsche With so much additional acceleration power, Porsche has understandably remapped the ECU for a (relatively) smoother power delivery, while also modifying the control unit to use headlights and indicators. Of course, if you want to drive a racing car on the road, the ride height must be increased, and the same has been done here with the adjustable Multimatic DSSV dampers. These handy additions are generally reserved for racing prototypes and in this setting, have been tuned to their softest setting. According to Porsche, this creates a more compliant ride, one that will leave your spine intact next time you go on the morning coffee run. Make no mistake, this is not a Panamera but a true hardcore machine, and the driving experience has been kept as uncorrupted as possible. Porsche 963 RSP | Image: Porsche The same goes for the design, which looks stunning, especially when clad in this 'Martini Silver' hue, which matches the 917, and it is not a wrap. To add a contrast effect, some of the components have been painted in satin black with a 3D printed '963 RSP' logo being applied to the rear of the car. The 963 RSP does have some changes over the 963, including fender vents and carbon fibre blanking plates that sit within the rear wing. To further bring it closer to the 917, the Porsche logo is enamel and not a graphic, along with 1970s-era Michelin logos for the tire walls with 18-inch tyres. Compared to the 963, the road car is far more luxurious on the inside and comes with a lovely tan interior, while the single-piece carbon seat comes trimmed in leather, no less. There is even a detachable 3D-printed cup holder, which means it is quite a practical Porsche, although luggage space is questionable. Porsche 963 RSP | Image: Porsche 'We have enjoyed a terrific relationship with Porsche dating back to 1972. The Porsche 917/30 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,' Roger Penske, chairman of the Penske Corporation said. '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.' Porsche has not revealed just how much the 963 RSP costs, but for a one-off like this, you can expect the price tag to mirror the 917. In all likelihood, the Porsche 963 RSP price could run into millions, making it one of the most expensive Porsches ever built. We're just glad such a ludicrous thing exists. Porsche 963 RSP | Image: Porsche Porsche 963 RSP | Image: Porsche
The Drive
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
Inside the Mind-Boggling Logistics of Porsche's Le Mans Effort
The latest car news, reviews, and features. Even before stepping in, it's easy to see that the Porsche Penske Motorsport garage at the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans has an ant farm-like vibe. People walking at a determined pace are coming and going, Porsche-branded ATVs towing trailers with racing tires stacked high honk their way through the crowd, all while fans decked out in Porsche Motorsport attire bake in the sun like statues, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite racing driver. And for good reason, Roger Penske employs some of the best in the business. A security guard supervises the entrance to the garage throughout the entire weekend, and authorized visitors must check in by signing a digital waiver in exchange for a plastic badge before entering for the first time. Once inside, what you see largely depends on where you go and what's happening on the track. The atmosphere ranges from cramped to open, from frenzied to calm, and from dark to well-lit. There's no music or anything resembling entertainment: It's all racing, all the time. Racing is a business, especially for this global organization, which competes in the world's biggest racing series like NASCAR, IndyCar, IMSA, and of course, WEC. Ronan Glon The Porsche complex is much bigger than you might assume, too; it's like a small town in there. The room that's closest to the entrance is where Porsche stores three spare battery packs for its 963 Hypercars (one per car). It's roped off, only people who have a special accreditation are allowed to go near the high-voltage packs, and everyone on the team hopes that the batteries will stay in that room for the entire race. Replacing one takes about 45 minutes, making it one of the more labor-intensive operations that you can perform in the pits. 'The mindset of this race is that you don't give up,' Timo Bernhard, who drove a Porsche 919 Hybrid to victory in 2017 with Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber, tells me. 'It's not a short race; It's not an F1 race. If you have a problem, you're not out of the race immediately.' He's speaking from experience. In 2017, his car made an unexpected pit stop due to a problem with the front axle's electric motor. Replacing the part took a little over an hour, and the 919 returned to the track in 54th place, 19 laps behind the leader, with over half of the race remaining. Earning a spot on the podium (let alone the top spot) must have looked impossible, yet that exact car went on to win the race. Ronan Glon I lost track of how many people walked in and out of the Porsche compound in the time that it took for Bernhard to explain why it's worth hauling around three spare battery packs. He then led me into the next room, which he jokingly described as 'a Porsche supermarket.' It's where the team stores many of the smaller parts that can fail during a day-long race, such as oil lines and coolant hoses, as well as any liquid that a repair could require, including engine oil and brake cleaner. Porsche keeps three spare transaxles in a separate room, and something immediately caught my eye as I walked in. There's a big, silver-colored ring around each axle. Did the thing just get married? Nope, not quite. It's a sensor that lets FIA officials measure the car's power output in real time to ensure no one cheats. It's mandatory on every car, of course, and if it fails, it needs to be replaced immediately. Ronan Glon Tires are closely monitored as well. In the Hypercar category, each car is allowed 14 sets of slick tires per race (rain tires are unlimited). Every tire is tracked via a QR code, so Porsche and FIA officials can quickly access parameters like its mileage and other variables. 'It's a huge part of the organization,' Bernhard points out. Interestingly, Porsche doesn't own the tires that the 963 races with; it pretty much leases them from Michelin. During the race, a dedicated Michelin engineer examines every single tire before they're mounted on the car, and then re-examines them once they're taken off after a stint. The engineer measures wear and tear and marks anything alarming or unusual with chalk; they then label the tire and take pictures for documentation purposes. It's not just Porsche: There's a Michelin engineer in every garage at Le Mans. The one working for Porsche doesn't exchange intel with the one working for BMW, obviously, but at the end of the race, the used tires all go back to Michelin's headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Ronan Glon The tires take up a tremendous amount of space in the pits. On the other hand, brake parts from AP Racing are few and far between. The 963 uses giant carbon-ceramic rotors designed to last for the full race, which is wild to think about when you consider the heat that they're subjected to. The 963 is a hybrid, so the brake energy recuperation system extends the rotors' life. The pads are changed once per race. The Porsche complex is massive, and there are multiple levels to it. Upstairs, there's a place for mechanics and the management team to relax, and an office where at least a dozen people have their eyeballs glued to computer screens. I don't think they even noticed I was there; that's how important their job is, and how seriously they take it. They're tracking live data sent by each car and looking for any irregularity, however small it may be. It's always the tiniest details that can indicate that a potentially serious problem is brewing. If needed, there's a second team of engineers located in Weissach, Germany, where Porsche develops all of its race cars, that's a phone call away. Ronan Glon Like most things nowadays, Le Mans is largely run by computers, but there's one task that hasn't been digitalized. Keeping the cars running in tip-top shape takes arduous, physical labor. Each 963 has its own pit crew tasked with servicing it during the entire race—a big job considering anywhere from 30 to 40 pit stops are performed if everything goes according to plan. We've talked before about the art of the Le Mans pit stop, and how it's something that needs to be seen up close to be believed. The crews can rest in their downtime, but they're never far from the pits and always ready to jump into action in case something goes wrong. But what about the drivers? Porsche Penske Motorsport entered three cars in Le Mans this year, the No. 4, 5, and 6, so that's a total of nine drivers, plus the reserve drivers. When they're not in the car, they're out and about. Some watch the race on the numerous televisions scattered throughout the pits, while others walk to what Porsche refers to as Container City. It looks like those temporary structures you often see on construction sites, and it's a few feet away from the pits, so the drivers can try to disconnect for a while while staying close to the heart of the action. Inside, the drivers can change, get a massage, see a doctor, and relax in a private space. Odds are you won't find them sleeping, though. 'You can never relax; I can tell you from my own experience,' Bernhard told me. 'This is the hardest part, to get a little bit of rest, because when you share a car with other drivers, you never really relax. You're always looking at where your car is and what's happening. You can never really disconnect from the race. You're lying in your bed, but you cannot sleep.' Ronan Glon Each driver's mileage throughout the race varies, literally and metaphorically. Most driver stints range from right under an hour to up to two hours. Regardless of how each team breaks shifts up, per the rules, a driver cannot race longer than four hours in six hours. Bernhard tells me that, when he raced at Le Mans, the massage room was 'almost like a wellness weekend.' For him, it was a more effective way to soothe his mind and body. Racing for such a long time, on little to no sleep, requires a great deal of concentration. You're in a cramped cockpit enduring a wide selection of vibrations, bumps, G-forces, and heat. 'It's a better way to relax your mind than trying to sleep,' he sums up. Food and drinks are at their disposal in the pits, in Container City, and in a hospitality area about 100 yards from the garage. You're at the wrong track if you're imagining that the pilots are treated like royalty, with private chefs catering to them throughout the race. They eat from the same buffet as journalists, PR staff, and execs, though I noticed a bowl of chopped avocado labeled 'Drivers Only.' Ronan Glon The logistics of racing at Le Mans are mind-blowing. The entire setup, including Container City, takes about three weeks to set up. There are over 100 people on location to support the Porsche team, and I can't even imagine what it costs to run the show. And yet, in the end, it's all worth it, even if you don't win. 'It's like our Olympic Games. You prioritize this weekend,' Bernhard said. Got a tip? Email us at tips@
New Straits Times
5 days ago
- Automotive
- New Straits Times
Porsche unveils one-of-a-kind 963 RSP
A one-of-a-kind 963 RSP, unveiled last week by Porsche AG, is a street-legal road car derived from the formidable 963 LMDh Le Mans prototype. The car is a tribute to motorsport legend Roger Penske, whose initials form the name of the car. The 963 RSP was influenced by the trailblazing 917 and an audacious drive that took place half a century ago. It made its debut on the streets near the Circuit de la Sarthe alongside the car that inspired its creation. A team from Porsche, Porsche Penske Motorsport and Porsche Cars North America worked in partnership with Penske as they prepared the car for the 24 hours of Le Mans. "This really started out as a 'what if?' – a passion project by a small team of enthusiasts at Penske and at Porsche who 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 chief executive officer Timo Resch. Resch, who conceived of the original idea, said the 917 from the story was every inch a race car, albeit one driven on the road. "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," he added. The 963 RSP features significant changes over the car on which it is based. Unlike the competition racecars, which are wrapped in different colours, the 963 RSP is the first of its kind to be painted; a unique challenge due to the nature of the carbon fiber and Kevlar bodywork which is ultra-thin in places to save weight. In a nod to the Count Rossi 917, the 963 RSP is finished in Martini Silver and features uniquely altered bodywork and a bespoke tan leather and Alcantara interior inspired by the trim choices made by Count Rossi 50 years ago. A dedicated mechanical and electronic setup were configured for its debut on the streets near Le Mans, including a raised ride height and softened dampers, as well as a reprogrammed control unit to allow for the headlights and taillights to operate closer to those of a road car. These changes along with modified bodywork to cover the wheel arches, the use of Michelin wet weather compound tires and even the fitment of a horn meant the car met the necessary criteria to be allowed to drive on the road and wear licence plates under special permission from the French authorities and with the enthusiastic support of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which runs the 24 Hours of Le Mans race. "That was an experience that will stay with me for a lifetime," said Timo Bernhard, who was at the wheel of the 963 RSP for its first miles on the road. "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." Penske, who is chairman of Penske Corp, said it had 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. "With such a remarkable partnership continuing to this day, we felt it was time to create the most exciting car we could imagine," he added. Penske said just like the 917, he had 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," Penske said. The 963 RSP was on public display at the Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans before returning to Stuttgart to be shown at the Porsche Museum. In July, the car will appear alongside the 917 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Car and Driver
6 days ago
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Kremer K3 and Other Famous Le Mans-Spec Porsches for the Street
The 963 RSP is just the latest in a long line of Le Mans-spec Porsches taking to the public roads. Whether it's the roar of a flat-12 or the hiss of turbocharged boost, these cars are monstrously powerful. Here are three of the best to escape the bounds of the Circuit de la Sarthe. Part of the great charm of the Circuit de la Sarthe, where the 24 Hours of Le Mans is held each year, is that sections of the course are actually public roads. You see the top-level endurance racing monsters roaring around, the twilight of early dawn just beginning, and you can't help but wonder what it would be like if one of these beasts should escape the circuit and be driven on the road. It's a thrilling thought, and it seems to happen pretty consistently. The latest Le Mans race car for the road is the Porsche 963 RSP built specially as a one-off for Roger Penske. It's a wonderful machine, but it does come with an asterisk, as driving it in France is restricted to a set route. How street-legal it'll be back in the United States is up for some debate, though someone like Roger Penske has pretty effective leverage. Porsche And this isn't the first time a Le Mans-grade Porsche has been released onto the road. In fact, the 963 RSP is part of something of a tradition of racing-spec Stuttgart endurance racers hitting the public tarmac. Here's a look at three times it has happened before. Count Rossi's Porsche 917K In 1974, Count Gregorio Rossi di Montelera arrived at the factory gates of Porsche with an unusual request. One year earlier, Porsche had released the monstrously powerful 917/30 as the final iteration of the 917 available, and the automaker was moving into experimenting with a different chassis for racing. Might one of those old racing 917s be available for conversion to street specifications? Porsche Yes, one was: specifically, test chassis 030, as used for shaking down the then-new anti-lock braking systems. It had qualified in an Austrian endurance race but had been sitting around in storage since then. Porsche removed the fins and fitted a huge muffler to try to keep the 5.0-liter flat-12 to a bearable roar, the interior was covered in tan leather, and side mirrors were added. Porsche Were the European authorities ready to accept this barely modified racing machine as street-legal fare? They were not. Instead, Count Rossi somehow managed to talk officials in Alabama into sending him a registration as an antique vehicle. So-equipped, he hopped in the car and drove a 620-hp, sub-2000-pound race car from Stuttgart to Paris. What a hero. Walter Wolf's Kremer K3 Le Mans Speaking of heroes, the 1979 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was abuzz with the presence of actor and racer Paul Newman in the pits. Part of the Dick Barbour racing team campaigning a turbocharged 935, Newman very nearly won the race, but a stuck wheel nut meant a second-place finish. The winning car was a Porsche 935 prepared by the Kremer brothers of Cologne, Germany. Kremer Racing That same year saw Walter Wolf winding down his F1 racing efforts and looking for new adventures. If you've not come across Wolf before, he's basically the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World, but for real. He came up from post-war poverty to multimillionaire status, starting as a diver on deep-sea oil rigs. He once won a Ferrari on a handshake bet with Enzo on the outcome of the 1977 Monaco Grand Prix. He's the reason the Lamborghini Countach got its wing and huge rear tires. He even had his own cologne. After owning a series of prototype Countach models, Wolf saw the results of the '79 Le Mans and thought one of those 935 K3s sounded like a pretty good commuter. So he commissioned one, complete with a full leather interior and air conditioning. It rode higher than the factory racers and ran on shaved wet-weather tires rather than full slicks. It ran a turbocharged flat-six that made 740 horsepower at 8000 rpm. Kremer Racing Eight years before the Ferrari F40 debuted, the Kremer K3 went 210 mph on the unrestricted autobahn. Wolf said that he used to have a small aircraft fly ahead with spares when he drove between Cologne and his home in the south of France, as it would burn through a set of rear tires on the trip. Schuppan Porsche 962LM In 1984, Australian/British racing driver Vern Schuppan won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 956. At the same time, he won the All Japan Endurance Championship in, you guessed it, Japan. Soon enough, he had set up his own racing team and was building a carbon-fiber variant of the 962, the 956's successor. One day, a Japanese racing enthusiast inquired if a road-legal version might be possible. It was, and here it is. Boutsen Classic Cars Built in 1991, the 962LM received a carbon-fiber chassis and used a turbocharged flat-six with quad cams and four valves per cylinder. It made around 600 horsepower, slightly detuned from the racing variant but plenty for punting its approximately 2000-pound curb weight down a billiard-table-smooth Japanese freeway. Boutsen Classic Cars Schuppan planned to sell multiples of the 962LM and the more GT-styled 962CR that followed, but the financial state of things in the early 1990s was more than a little wobbly. A handful were built, and this 1991 example was quite famously pictured parked up on street plates in front of one of Japan's ubiquitous Family Mart convenience stores. Pure Le Mans, totally street legal. Brendan McAleer Contributing Editor Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki's half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels. Read full bio
