This might be the closest thing we’ll ever see to a Porsche Carrera GT successor. At least for now.
That’s because the Porsche 963 RSP that Porsche just unveiled, is by their own admission, an “extreme one-off”. Based on last season’s IMSA and WEC championship winning 963 Le Mans hyper race car, the 963 RSP goes far beyond slapping a couple of plates on and taking it for a novelty stroll down main street. In many ways, the Porsche 963 RSP is as much a celebration as it is a collaboration, with the German automaker teaming up with Porsche Penske Motorsports and Porsche Cars North America to turn the 963 RSP into a road-going reality.
The Porsche 963 RSP project—which has its nomenclature derived from its lucky new owner, Roger Searle Penske—was also inspired by the Count Rossi Porsche 917, a racecar-turned-roadcar concept-to-reality from which the 963 RSP has since followed in its historic footsteps.
“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,” said Porsche Cars North America President and CEO Timo Resch, who is being credited with first coming up with the idea. “This really started out as a “what if?”, he reminisced, as the Penske team and Porsche AG would eventually be onboarded to help bring it all to life.
Among some of the changes to make the Porsche 963 RSP a “regular” car include a Martini Silver paint job and a bespoke tan leather and Alcantara interior, all done in homage and through the influence of the aforementioned Porsche 917. Of course, a suite of mechanical changes were also made, such as a raised ride height and more road-friendly electronic control unit settings. Even new headlights and taillights were retrofitted to ensure that the 963 RSP meets conventional roadcar safety standards. To really drive home the roadworthiness of the car, a detachable cup holder has also been installed.
Both the newly unveiled Porsche 963 RSP and the original Count Rossi Porsche 917 have just finished making their debut as a duo near the Circuit de la Sarthe in France and have since begun a new “public road pilgrimage” together, through which many an onlooker has been blessed to partake. To find out more about the new “extreme one-off” Porsche 963 RSP, please have a look at Porsche’s newsroom publication— Race to the road: Introducing the Porsche 963 RSP.
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