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New Straits Times
6 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.
The Sun
08-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Porsche unveils road-legal hypercar 50 years after original won world titles – but there's a catch
CARN'T BELIEVE IT The new motor features significant changes from the original race-winner Published: 0:19, Updated: 0:20, PORSCHE has shocked the motoring world by unveiling a new road legal hypercar. What's more is that it's spun off the a motor that's won multiple endurance racing world titles - but there's a catch. 2 2 The Porsche 963 RSP is unlike anything you can currently purchase - because only one has been made. It's a version of the manufacturers WEC and ISMA championship winning machine. And it's been built to mark 50 years since Count Rossi drove the trailblazing Porsche 917 from Zuffenhausen to Paris. Like that all-conquering motor, this one's been made road legal. Porsche's North American boss Timo Resch said: "How could we reimagine the 917's story in today's time? "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." The 963 features significant changes over the car on which its based. In terms of the engine, the carmaker had to allow the 4.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 hybrid to run on regular unleaded rather than race fuel. While not an easy undertaking, the 918 Spyder-derived V8, e-motor and battery combo delivers a whopping 671bhp. Inside Taycan Turbo GT Porsche that can hit 200mph as SunSport's Isabelle Barker is taken for a spin by Formula E safety car driver The road height was also adjusted to make it suitable for general roads and the dampers softened. The control unit was reprogrammed too to allow for the headlights and taillights to operate closer to those of a motor on the road. But its the interior that departs most from the original race car. In the entirely bespoke cabin, you'll find soft tan leather with a single piece driver's seat clad with additional cushioning and a fixed headrest. You'll find a special panel next to the driver that stores the steering wheel as well as a helmet and car aficionados will spot the nods to the 917. The biggest tribute comes in the form of the exterior colour that's the same 'Martini Silver' as Count Rossi's 917. This one's been painted too, a unique challenge because of the carbon fibre and Kevlar bodywork. The bodywork also had to be modified to cover the wheel arches, headlights and tail lights added as well as closed-off banking plates on the rear wing and mounting points for the license plates. An enamel Porsche badge can be found on the nose and proper wet road tyres wrapped around 18 inch racing wheels. ONE-OF-A-KIND 'SPECIAL' MOTOR The 963 RSP gets its name from the involvement of American auto racing team owner Roger Searle Penske on the project. Resch explained he called on Penske for "support" in the car's construction, with the racing expert ensuring the classic race car's character was not changed for the new model. The Porsche boss said that as Penske's involvement increased, the company realised he would be the perfect, and only, customer for the car. So while it was never intended to be a fully road-legal 963, Porsche received an exemption from the EPA in the US as it understood "how special" the car is. Despite this, it is not a fully road-registered car - and it needed special dispensation to run in France at the Le Mans 24hr weekend. For now, the car is expected to remain one-of-a-kind, with a Porsche spokesperson telling Top Gear that wide-scale selling would "change the character" of the iconic motor.
The Irish Sun
08-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Irish Sun
Porsche unveils road-legal hypercar 50 years after original won world titles – but there's a catch
PORSCHE has shocked the motoring world by unveiling a new road legal hypercar. What's more is that it's spun off the a motor that's won multiple endurance Advertisement 2 Porsche has revealed a new road legal hypercar Credit: PA 2 It's based on a trailblazing motor that won multiple endurance racing titles Credit: PA The Porsche 963 RSP is unlike anything you can currently purchase - because only one has been made. It's a version of the manufacturers WEC and ISMA championship winning machine. And it's been built to mark 50 years since Count Rossi drove the trailblazing Porsche 917 from Zuffenhausen to Paris. Like that all-conquering motor, this one's been made road legal. Advertisement Read more Motors news Porsche's North American boss Timo Resch said: "How could we reimagine the 917's story in today's time? "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." The 963 features significant changes over the car on which its based. Advertisement Most read in Motors In terms of the engine, the carmaker had to allow the 4.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 hybrid to run on regular unleaded rather than race fuel. While not an easy undertaking, the 918 Spyder-derived V8, e-motor and battery combo delivers a whopping 671bhp. Inside Taycan Turbo GT Porsche that can hit 200mph as SunSport's Isabelle Barker is taken for a spin by Formula E safety car driver The road height was also adjusted to make it suitable for general roads and the dampers softened. The control unit was reprogrammed too to allow for the headlights and taillights to operate closer to those of a motor on the road. Advertisement But its the interior that departs most from the original race car. In the entirely bespoke cabin, you'll find soft tan leather with a single piece driver's seat clad with additional cushioning and a fixed headrest. You'll find a special panel next to the driver that stores the steering wheel as well as a helmet and car aficionados will spot the nods to the 917. The biggest tribute comes in the form of the exterior colour that's the same 'Martini Silver' as Count Rossi's 917. Advertisement This one's been painted too, a unique challenge because of the carbon fibre and Kevlar bodywork. The bodywork also had to be modified to cover the wheel arches, headlights and tail lights added as well as closed-off banking plates on the rear wing and mounting points for the license plates. An enamel Porsche badge can be found on the nose and proper wet road tyres wrapped around 18 inch racing wheels. ONE-OF-A-KIND 'SPECIAL' MOTOR The 963 RSP gets its name from the involvement of American auto racing team owner Roger Searle Penske on the project. Advertisement Resch explained he called on Penske for "support" in the car's construction, with the racing expert ensuring the classic race car's character was not changed for the new model. The Porsche boss said that as Penske's involvement increased, the company realised he would be the perfect, and only, customer for the car. So while it was never intended to be a fully road-legal 963, Porsche received an exemption from the EPA in the US as it understood "how special" the car is. Despite this, it is not a fully road-registered car - and it needed special dispensation to run in France at the Advertisement For now, the car is expected to remain one-of-a-kind, with a Porsche spokesperson telling
News.com.au
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Porsche 963 RSP will make millionaires beg
Like toddlers all clamouring for the same toy, Porsche is expecting to be flooded with calls from billionaire car collectors from around the world after revealing its latest one-of-a-kind creation. The Porsche 963 RSP is a road-legal (although, they use that term loosely) version of the brand's prototype racing sports car that will compete at next week's Le Mans 24 Hours. It was built and named for Roger Searle Penske, the billionaire businessman and race team owner who oversees Porsche's on-track activities; as well as running successful NASCAR and IndyCar teams. The 963 RSP project was inspired by a one-off road-legal version of Porsche's iconic 917 race car that it built in 1975 for Gregorio Rossi di Montelera, the heir to the Martini & Rossi company. But whereas that car was built specifically for 'Count Rossi' this new race-car-for-the-road began as a top secret project and found its obvious owner once the multimillion-dollar project was underway. Timo Resch, President and chief executive of Porsche Cars North America, oversaw the project with the car being built both in Germany and the USA, with influence from the factory racing department and Porsche Penske Motorsport personnel. 'I think it's fair to say that we started this without having one specific person in mind,' Resch admitted. 'But at the very, very early stage … when we started figuring out 'can this be done or are we taking too much on ourselves?' And in this conversation with Roger, at the very early stage, we realised that the customer can only be Roger. So that was kind of very early on where we realised he would be the perfect customer, number one, and also the only customer for such a car because it's a one-off. 'Who knows what the future brings. But this particular car is a one-off.' That open-ended answer will no doubt have other car collectors from around the world calling Porsche asking for their own custom-made road-legal race car. No price was put on the 963 RSP, which required a lot of specialised work to make it suitable for the road, but Porsche reportedly sells the racing versions of the 963 to race teams for US$2.9 million (approx. $4.4m). Angus Fitton, vice president of public relations for Porsche North America, said the company had already started receiving calls, as soon as a shadowy teaser image was revealed in April. ' We have received questions, yes, I can tell that I know that Urs [Kuratle, Director of Factor Racing Porsche Motorsport] and JD [Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport] have had [questions too],' Fitton said. 'Whether that translates into anything more serious, that'll need to wait for another day,' 'But certainly people are asking the questions of us, because inevitably you look at the teaser and look at some of the speculation and press [and people say] 'Hey, you guys working on something?' and that conversation. It'll be interesting to see what comes out after June 6th, when this is revealed, what the feedback is. 'But no, there is no harm in asking. We'll always listen and as Urs said earlier, you know, never say never, but for now, this is a one-of-one this car.' Key technical changes for the 963 RSP compared to the racing version include new bodywork that encloses the wheels (and is painted silver to match the Count Rossi 917), higher and softer suspension, wet weather tyres and a detuned twin-turbo V8 engine and hybrid system to make it more manageable at road speeds. The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans will be held in France on June 14-15. Australia's Matt Campbell will be competing for outright victory with Porsche Penske Motorsport in a racing version of the 963.
Top Gear
06-06-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Oh yes, Porsche has built a one-off, 671bhp road-legal* V8 963 hypercar
*sorta. In honour of Count Rossi's glorious silver 917 comes this glorious silver 963 Porsche has shocked the motoring world by unveiling a brand-new road-going performance car. While it shares many things with road-going performance cars – headlights, turn indicators, a horn – it is unlike almost anything you can currently purchase. Because this one's spun directly off a car that's won multiple endurance racing world titles. Welcome, one and all, to the mad, bad, and entirely brilliant Porsche 963 RSP. It's a version of Porsche's WEC and IMSA competitor built to mark 50 years since a certain Count Rossi drove the all-conquering Porsche 917 from Zuffenhausen to Paris. Like that car, this one's been tweaked so it's street legal. Sorta. 'How could we reimagine [the 917's] story in today's time?' asked Porsche's North American boss Timo Resch. The answer, as you can see, is quite clear. '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,' added Resch. 'It uses beautiful materials of the best quality available, but is still every bit a race car underneath.' A fine place to start. For this very special project, the small team in charge of the RSP - including Porsche's Sonderwunsch department - decided early on that they'd need a brand-new 963 chassis, not an existing one. To which a number of very subtle, very important and likely mind-blowingly complicated changes were made. The 963's ride height was raised from a hair's width to something more suitable for general roads, while the adjustable Multimatic DSSV dampers – designed for sports prototypes, don't forget – were gaffer taped into their softest setting. Then came one of the hardest bits: allowing the 4.6-litre, twin-turbo V8 hybrid powerplant to run on regular unleaded. Not race fuel, but the stuff you can get out of a forecourt pump. 'Not a small undertaking,' explained Porsche Penske Motorsport MD Jonathan Diuguid. Amazingly, it's in race trim, which means the 918 Spyder-derived V8, e-motor and battery combo punches out an incredible 671bhp, only here it's been treated to an ECU remap to smooth out the power delivery. Top Gear has not long forgotten what the nat-asp 918 Spyder's V8 sounds like, nor the 963's race-bred unit. This Will Be Loud. Not when running on e-power alone, which the 963 RSP is capable of for short stretches. Though Porsche has ensured its lucky new owner will want to do rather longer stretches because the interior is, of course, the biggest departure from the race car.
