I can't think of anything more pointless than a "road car" that needs an actual laptop and special software and an actual team of mechanics to prep and start.
At this point, let's not bother pretending to put registration plates on the thing. It's just a race car with a fancy interior, like the Bugatti Bolide.
This is one of those things I look at and I think I'm glad this exist but even if I was a billionaire I wouldn't want it for myself.
I have a cayman track car and I wouldn't drive that on public roads because it's so uncomfortable and entirely stupidly too powerful for the roads and it's a toy compared to that thing.
i like it as a successor to the gt1 strassenversion of sorts but i just don’t understand building a one-off of a road legal car.
the challenges is cool but if yall went through all that effort at least make a few and give it a 82 step startup sequence you can do at home?
When you could buy a race car that could be driven to the track, that was cool. Not because of what it was, but because the racing was such that road legality was necessary.
This is a contrivance. A harkening back to a time that no longer is, just without style and character. It is pointless as a car, it is simply love of consumerism and worship of wealth that changes its meaning into a thing worth coveting.
When you could buy a race car that could be driven to the track, that was cool. Not because of what it was, but because the racing was such that road legality was necessary.
Anyone who thinks that driving their race car to the track is cool has never actually done it. It's a pain in the ass and is a stupid risk if you crash on track and can't get back home.
You're going to be taping headlights/out right removing them, draining your coolant for water. Getting everything scrutinized takes time and if you ain't got tools to fix something your day is over before it starts.
A car trailer with tools and a truck to pull it is what you actually need. "Road legal race car" is a marketing term that you get to use when your friends ask about your new car that will never touch a circuit.
Those "road legal" cars were great because you felt like it was something that ACTUALLY competed on a track but COULD be used as a "regular" car, even if it had some inconveniences.
But a car that's "road legal" but you can't use anywhere else and you can't use without a team of engineers it's just a pointless exercise of ego-centrism. What's the point of a road legal that's just a race car? Keep it as a race car and whatever...
It's a "road car" that can't actually be used on the road. So what's the point of this compared with just getting an actual 963 LMDh car and painting it silver?
It's a "road car" that can't actually be used on the road
But it can. There's just a whole bunch of conditions to it that your team of engineers will sort out for you the couple of times you'll be driving it to the Concours events.
Because it's a gift...? If not for The Captain, we probably wouldn't even see the 963 the way it is now. Porsche just want to show gratitude to the guy who is running their factory Le Mans effort. I think there need be no more reason beyond that
Sure a lot of them will be that way, but if you recreationally own something like an older IndyCar that doesn't even have an onboard starter (like Penske does), that is going to require a bit more of a maintenance and starting procedure than most people will ever deal with.
that checks out with the "extra chassis" hypothesis I had. Porsche was expecting to try with the 963 what they did with the 917/935/962 etc. Have a bunch of customers running around. But The finances of IMSA for privateer's and the field restrictions for WEC have all but killed that. Proton might even get pushed out of the WEC field next year.
For now, at least, Porsche doesn’t have any specific further plans for another roadgoing 963, but that doesn’t mean it might not make one. “Of course we will not build exactly the same car again because of the nature of the project… but as I said before, never say never,” says Urs Kuratle, head of the Porsche LMDh project. “As Porsche, we like to sell cars first of all, and if there is an opportunity or possibility to do it again at a later stage, why not? But at the moment, there’s nothing planned.”
So if you want one and you’ve got oodles of cash to spend, get in touch.
Being able to recognise that a product or rebrand or whatever Isn’t Meant For You (And That’s Probably Okay) is a level of maturity that escapes the vast majority of Reddit commentators.
“A lot of changes have been made to suspension and systems to make it more tame and more like a road car, but still keep the pedigree of the 963 race car,” says Jonathan Diuguid, managing director of Porsche Penske Motorsport. “On top of this, what the restoration group in Atlanta has been able to bring forward is a level of quality that is not aligned with the race car at all, whatsoever.”
This car as a whole is an exercise in restraint, and I applaud Porsche for taking on the challenge.
"So if you want one and you’ve got oodles of cash to spend, get in touch."
Considering multimatic upscaled to support around 10 cars globally and are barely supporting 6 this year. This is something I would say IS NOT just marketing speak. I guarantee if you wrote a check for like 4-5 million, multimatic would gladly convert one of their spare unbuilt chassis into a road car on behalf of porsche.
Supposedly (and I’m mostly just summarizing an article from AutoEvolution and a few different Wikipedia articles) Dauer had several chassis built for racing in Europe but they weren’t successful and gave up after 2 years. By 1993, they had turned the first one into a road car. They make the distinction that the Schuppan cars were built from scratch to be road cars around Porsche racing engines. The Dauer road cars I think were built out for Le Mans homologation purposes. Porsche partnered with them which allowed them to get the 962’s into the GT1 class in 1994 since there wasn’t a requirement on how many road cars were made, just that a homologated car existed. If they hadn’t, their 962 would have been limited to 550HP and a 50 liter gas tank. Being in GT1, they could have 650HP and a 120 liter gas tank. Afterwards, the rules were changed an a minimum requirement was added for the number of production cars to meet homologation standards.
I guess it must have just been a lot easier back then to say “hey, we built a car with a VIN, can I get it registered for the road please?”
It's most likely left over 963 chassis that won't be used for racing.
Porsche came out right away claiming they planned to support 9-10 cars globally. Most they ever got up to was 9 at one point, (WEC: 2 Penske, 2 Jota, 1, Proton. IMSA: 2 Penske, 1 JDC, 1 Proton.) with it now being 6 (2 Penske, 1 Proton in WEC, 2 Penske and 1 JDC in IMSA). This is mostly because of the new WEC rules, the field limit size and number of manufacturers coming into both series.
Basically Multimatic/Porsche probably have some extra chassis' they need to do something with their racing/marketing budget with.
I worked in a private collection for awhile, not only did he have a full team at his garage he had a full staff ready to go for his jet and kept staff at every one of his facilities and houses.
This is who this car is for. I can't imagine that he's not going to get one and he will happily have his guy call the garage morning of use with little to no warning and want it ready to go.
The point of this car isn't to be driven to 10/10ths in the canyons every weekend. It's made to be a technological marvel, a one-off that can be shown off to the world that one of the most successful Le Mans winners can now be driven on the road. And to its owner, Sean Penske, who owns the team that won many a races like Sebring and Daytona 24 with the 963, it's a piece of memorabilia, a memoir of you will, of his team's success with Porsche and the 963. To Porsche, it's a wonderful way to market its success and glory at LeMans while simultaneously honoring one of the people who helped make Porsche Motorsport what it is today with Penske Racing.
You would be incorrect to think that this car will be any more than a celebration piece or a part of history. It will mostly be transported around to events such as Goodwood, Lemans and Monterrey where it'll be shown off and perhaps be driven around for a couple of exhibition laps by the Porsche factory racing drivers.
TLDR: It's meant to be a memento, not a weekend warrior. It'll probably be stored at museums for most of its life.
That was my thought as well - this isn’t a road car, it’s a softer race car that they call a “road car” but it’s anything but.
That being said, I think things like this are still pretty cool and I do love the brown leather interior. And who can forget the special Porsche Coffee Cup and Holder - would only cost us mortals $400+ to have.
There is a non-insignificant portion of the petrol-head population that desperately wants to daily a racecar. Not that it's practical or logical but purely because racecar.
Yall talking about rules and regulations. Shut up. You would take this IN A HEARTBEAT if money wasn't an issue. How many road legal Le Man cars we have..
Yeah that's what I bet everybody following that little hype was hoping for...
Not a new hypercar. A homologation road car.
Pitty. No matter how cool your hypercar is (Porsche is probably building it). A homologation road car is at minimum at the same level even if it's lacking performance.
This is for an individual customer (Roger Penske) who wanted this commissioned, Porsche is taking advantage of the press portion of it. So, it’s a one-off for a customer.
If for some strange reason Porsche would sell this to me, I would immediately divorce my wife and move to Stuttgart and happily drive this around from one coffee shop to the other for the remainder of my days.
Will it perhaps make a stop at the Nurburgring to contend for the top spot? Only car that can compete with the AMG-One in the Porsche lineup. Porsche loves their victory laps.
This thing is only “road legal” in the most theoretical sense. Porsche says it had to get special permission from the French government to get a plate, and it is only being used to promote Le Mans, after which it is going right back to a museum (save for special occasions when it will be put on private tracks, like the Goodwood Festival of Speed).
All of which is to say, this isn’t a road car. Not in reality. It’s a promotional sculpture.
While I agree it's definitely more a promotional sculpture than anything significant, this shows that Porsche is actively developing things like its hypercar program and might tell us that we are maybe a few steps closer to the third of the holy trinity.
Also knowing that Porsche has the capability to potentially make a road going 963 as long as they put some more effort into it is a very cool prospect to me as someone who has been watching a lot of WEC
candylandmine@reddit
You're gonna have to show me the receipts before I believe that's street legal in the EU.
goaelephant@reddit
At least it has a cupholder
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
I can't think of anything more pointless than a "road car" that needs an actual laptop and special software and an actual team of mechanics to prep and start.
At this point, let's not bother pretending to put registration plates on the thing. It's just a race car with a fancy interior, like the Bugatti Bolide.
assblast420@reddit
Counterpoint: the uselessness of it makes it cool.
Elderbrute@reddit
This is one of those things I look at and I think I'm glad this exist but even if I was a billionaire I wouldn't want it for myself.
I have a cayman track car and I wouldn't drive that on public roads because it's so uncomfortable and entirely stupidly too powerful for the roads and it's a toy compared to that thing.
hi_im_bored13@reddit
i like it as a successor to the gt1 strassenversion of sorts but i just don’t understand building a one-off of a road legal car. the challenges is cool but if yall went through all that effort at least make a few and give it a 82 step startup sequence you can do at home?
ItsNotProgHouse@reddit
But it isn't a successor, since it is not a homologation model.
hi_im_bored13@reddit
Neither was Count Rossi's 917
ItsNotProgHouse@reddit
Porsche had to make 25 or 30 units to enter WSC with that regulation. E.g. the truck chassis incident.
Bonerchill@reddit
No, it’s not.
When you could buy a race car that could be driven to the track, that was cool. Not because of what it was, but because the racing was such that road legality was necessary.
This is a contrivance. A harkening back to a time that no longer is, just without style and character. It is pointless as a car, it is simply love of consumerism and worship of wealth that changes its meaning into a thing worth coveting.
crshbndct@reddit
Do you also want think the Dauer 962 LM is pointless?
Bonerchill@reddit
Not in the same way.
It’s closer to a street car than the 963. One person can start and drive it. Its price was high but not obscene.
crshbndct@reddit
This is a one off. The equivalent of putting plates and lights on a race car.
If they actually made them they’d use the normal 918 engine. When they made the 962 they changed the engines for street use.
You seem to be really bent out of shape over the requirement to have technician there to start it.
Bonerchill@reddit
It’s just pointless dick-waving. I’m bent out of shape because cars are meant to be driven and this ugly thing is just gross excess.
sl0ppy_steaks@reddit
Anyone who thinks that driving their race car to the track is cool has never actually done it. It's a pain in the ass and is a stupid risk if you crash on track and can't get back home.
You're going to be taping headlights/out right removing them, draining your coolant for water. Getting everything scrutinized takes time and if you ain't got tools to fix something your day is over before it starts.
A car trailer with tools and a truck to pull it is what you actually need. "Road legal race car" is a marketing term that you get to use when your friends ask about your new car that will never touch a circuit.
Bonerchill@reddit
I mean 908s and Tipo 33s being driven from the ferry to staging and then on recces in 1972.
maveric101@reddit
So it is cool?
Bonerchill@reddit
The race car is cool. This is a worse race car.
Discopandda@reddit
Exactly, it doesn't make me EXCITED to see.
Those "road legal" cars were great because you felt like it was something that ACTUALLY competed on a track but COULD be used as a "regular" car, even if it had some inconveniences.
But a car that's "road legal" but you can't use anywhere else and you can't use without a team of engineers it's just a pointless exercise of ego-centrism. What's the point of a road legal that's just a race car? Keep it as a race car and whatever...
junkmiles@reddit
The thing has a cup holder. How can you not love the absurdity of it?
RevvedUpLikeADeuce09@reddit
Even better since you can barely reach it based on the sitting position.
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
It's a "road car" that can't actually be used on the road. So what's the point of this compared with just getting an actual 963 LMDh car and painting it silver?
assblast420@reddit
But it can. There's just a whole bunch of conditions to it that your team of engineers will sort out for you the couple of times you'll be driving it to the Concours events.
myCarAccount--@reddit
That stinks though
maveric101@reddit
Then don't buy one.
myCarAccount--@reddit
Haha don't worry. Don't get me wrong, it's cool
StatusCount7032@reddit
\^This is NOT a counterpoint.
unatleticodemadrid@reddit
As inconvenient as it sounds, it’s really not going to be a problem for anyone in the buyer pool for a vehicle of this calibre.
Besides, these are only problems if you drive it. Fairly sure it’s going to be sitting stationary in a collection anyway.
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
The article states this is literally a one-off Porsche made for Roger Penske.
I'm pretty sure this is destined to become a garage queen after doing its promotional runs.
rockinadios@reddit
Fucking why? The dude is 88 years old. How fast is an 88 year old going to drive a Le Mans racecar?
Boulder_The_Rock@reddit
Because it's a gift...? If not for The Captain, we probably wouldn't even see the 963 the way it is now. Porsche just want to show gratitude to the guy who is running their factory Le Mans effort. I think there need be no more reason beyond that
arcticrobot@reddit
Makes sense now. Guy already has team of mechanics with laptop to start the car
Electronic_Parfait36@reddit
He also runs the porsche 963 factory effort. So the guys who run 963's are partially on his payroll.
arcticrobot@reddit
Yeah, I know:)
HighClassProletariat@reddit
Yeah he has an extensive collection of old race cars that probably all require ridiculous maintenance and startup procedures. What's one more?
Bonerchill@reddit
As someone with experience in vintage race cars, I’m going to detail the startup procedure for the vast majority of them:
Turn battery switch to on.
Turn auxiliary fuel pump to on if applicable. Wait for system to build pressure.
Turn key or press button. If it doesn’t start, gradually increase throttle. If it still doesn’t start, turn off. Pump twice. Start.
If it still doesn’t start, your mechanic sucks.
HighClassProletariat@reddit
Sure a lot of them will be that way, but if you recreationally own something like an older IndyCar that doesn't even have an onboard starter (like Penske does), that is going to require a bit more of a maintenance and starting procedure than most people will ever deal with.
Electronic_Parfait36@reddit
that checks out with the "extra chassis" hypothesis I had. Porsche was expecting to try with the 963 what they did with the 917/935/962 etc. Have a bunch of customers running around. But The finances of IMSA for privateer's and the field restrictions for WEC have all but killed that. Proton might even get pushed out of the WEC field next year.
Poison_Pancakes@reddit
Can an 80 something year old man even get themselves inside that car?
DarkMatterM4@reddit
Guess the car's title is going to go in the file.
Haematobic@reddit
Being able to recognise that a product or rebrand or whatever Isn’t Meant For You (And That’s Probably Okay) is a level of maturity that escapes the vast majority of Reddit commentators.
This car as a whole is an exercise in restraint, and I applaud Porsche for taking on the challenge.
Electronic_Parfait36@reddit
"So if you want one and you’ve got oodles of cash to spend, get in touch."
Considering multimatic upscaled to support around 10 cars globally and are barely supporting 6 this year. This is something I would say IS NOT just marketing speak. I guarantee if you wrote a check for like 4-5 million, multimatic would gladly convert one of their spare unbuilt chassis into a road car on behalf of porsche.
mr_beanoz@reddit
I wonder how did the Dauer or Schuppan 962s become road legal.
GTE_Engineering@reddit
Supposedly (and I’m mostly just summarizing an article from AutoEvolution and a few different Wikipedia articles) Dauer had several chassis built for racing in Europe but they weren’t successful and gave up after 2 years. By 1993, they had turned the first one into a road car. They make the distinction that the Schuppan cars were built from scratch to be road cars around Porsche racing engines. The Dauer road cars I think were built out for Le Mans homologation purposes. Porsche partnered with them which allowed them to get the 962’s into the GT1 class in 1994 since there wasn’t a requirement on how many road cars were made, just that a homologated car existed. If they hadn’t, their 962 would have been limited to 550HP and a 50 liter gas tank. Being in GT1, they could have 650HP and a 120 liter gas tank. Afterwards, the rules were changed an a minimum requirement was added for the number of production cars to meet homologation standards.
I guess it must have just been a lot easier back then to say “hey, we built a car with a VIN, can I get it registered for the road please?”
Electronic_Parfait36@reddit
Limited production and specialty cars have waivers in a lot of EU countries, just like the U.S.
Electronic_Parfait36@reddit
It's most likely left over 963 chassis that won't be used for racing.
Porsche came out right away claiming they planned to support 9-10 cars globally. Most they ever got up to was 9 at one point, (WEC: 2 Penske, 2 Jota, 1, Proton. IMSA: 2 Penske, 1 JDC, 1 Proton.) with it now being 6 (2 Penske, 1 Proton in WEC, 2 Penske and 1 JDC in IMSA). This is mostly because of the new WEC rules, the field limit size and number of manufacturers coming into both series.
Basically Multimatic/Porsche probably have some extra chassis' they need to do something with their racing/marketing budget with.
sleepinglucid@reddit
I worked in a private collection for awhile, not only did he have a full team at his garage he had a full staff ready to go for his jet and kept staff at every one of his facilities and houses.
This is who this car is for. I can't imagine that he's not going to get one and he will happily have his guy call the garage morning of use with little to no warning and want it ready to go.
It's a billionaire toy, nothing more.
maveric101@reddit
So? Anyone who can afford it can afford to pay the team and deal with everything around that.
No-Reach-1329@reddit
Except the Bolide isn’t road legal at all
shellmiro@reddit
The point of this car isn't to be driven to 10/10ths in the canyons every weekend. It's made to be a technological marvel, a one-off that can be shown off to the world that one of the most successful Le Mans winners can now be driven on the road. And to its owner, Sean Penske, who owns the team that won many a races like Sebring and Daytona 24 with the 963, it's a piece of memorabilia, a memoir of you will, of his team's success with Porsche and the 963. To Porsche, it's a wonderful way to market its success and glory at LeMans while simultaneously honoring one of the people who helped make Porsche Motorsport what it is today with Penske Racing.
You would be incorrect to think that this car will be any more than a celebration piece or a part of history. It will mostly be transported around to events such as Goodwood, Lemans and Monterrey where it'll be shown off and perhaps be driven around for a couple of exhibition laps by the Porsche factory racing drivers.
TLDR: It's meant to be a memento, not a weekend warrior. It'll probably be stored at museums for most of its life.
Bonerchill@reddit
The race car that won is a memento.
This is a tribute… to his wealth.
PickleMaster69@reddit
Fantastic take.
secretlyrobots@reddit
Sean Penske?
OldSchoolSpyMain@reddit
The point is marketing. And it worked. Look at us talking about it now.
BruisendTablet@reddit
I think most cars these days need a laptop and special software to start. But these things have been built in the car!
shloppin@reddit
The amount of regular guys who build track cars and drive them on the street is a big number. Rich dudes can be apart of that as well.
XSC@reddit
Does it really matter when it’s going to sit in someones garage as a showpiece?
RiftHunter4@reddit
You say this as if the intended buyers would ever drive it on the street anyway. When was the last time you saw a 918 Spyder on the street?
StrangeSmellz@reddit
Don’t worry this won’t be a problem for you , I and 99.9% of Reddit
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
It's not a problem for anyone except Roger Penske who Porsche made the car for.
chips92@reddit
That was my thought as well - this isn’t a road car, it’s a softer race car that they call a “road car” but it’s anything but.
That being said, I think things like this are still pretty cool and I do love the brown leather interior. And who can forget the special Porsche Coffee Cup and Holder - would only cost us mortals $400+ to have.
Top-Cardiologist7280@reddit
I hope the owner tracks it and not use it as show piece only.
Haluux@reddit
There is a non-insignificant portion of the petrol-head population that desperately wants to daily a racecar. Not that it's practical or logical but purely because racecar.
leesfer@reddit
And for them Radical, Ultima, and all the others exist for them.
I've always been a Porsche fan but this one strikes me as pointless.
LeBaus7@reddit
it is a 1 of 1 (at least for now) and will not leave porsche. i think it is incredibly cool but basically a concept car at this stage.
thisisjustascreename@reddit
If by "will not leave porsche" you mean "will sit in Roger Penske's garage 364 days out of the year" sure.
swampfox94@reddit
Most petrol heads don’t even go near a track with their regular cars and worry more about the spec sheet than anything lol
GTE_Engineering@reddit
The specs do the racing, they don’t have to be able to drive.
Aztecax@reddit
Yall talking about rules and regulations. Shut up. You would take this IN A HEARTBEAT if money wasn't an issue. How many road legal Le Man cars we have..
Signal_Ball4634@reddit
I was hoping they'd make a legit homologation special like the 911 GT1 and CLK GTR but this one-off is still cool as hell.
soeri27@reddit
Yeah that's what I bet everybody following that little hype was hoping for...
Not a new hypercar. A homologation road car.
Pitty. No matter how cool your hypercar is (Porsche is probably building it). A homologation road car is at minimum at the same level even if it's lacking performance.
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
Porsche did do a design study on creating a road legal version of the 919 which went as far as a clay model, but it was never built.
There's speculation that the dieselgate fallout basically wiped out the budget for the project, killing it altogether.
Signal_Ball4634@reddit
I did see that, the 919 Street. I remember Audi was planning on doing a road-legal version of their old R18 LMP car too at one point.
Imprezzed@reddit
Homologation rules are awesome.
elitegibson@reddit
They need a 918 sequel that is beautiful and inspiring, not a one-off race replica.
Du_Kich_Long_Trang@reddit
Yeah Ferrari and McLaren have theirs, just waiting on Porsche now.
signfang@reddit
Yeah... It's less of a road car than a CLK GT1.
Why bother? It would be a collector's item anyways.
ImDoingItAnyway@reddit
This is for an individual customer (Roger Penske) who wanted this commissioned, Porsche is taking advantage of the press portion of it. So, it’s a one-off for a customer.
good-enoug@reddit
If for some strange reason Porsche would sell this to me, I would immediately divorce my wife and move to Stuttgart and happily drive this around from one coffee shop to the other for the remainder of my days.
-Racer-X@reddit
this would be cool if they made 20 of them
and they didnt need 30 people to start, i feel like they could build an engine for it with not so crazy clearances
Joshyu2@reddit
Will it perhaps make a stop at the Nurburgring to contend for the top spot? Only car that can compete with the AMG-One in the Porsche lineup. Porsche loves their victory laps.
VladimirSteel@reddit
Can Roger's old ass even get in the thing? I know he's fairly active for his age, but he's 88 years old.
I understand the sentiment, and I understand Porsche and Roger's relationship, but it seems silly to say it was built for him.
StatusCount7032@reddit
To compete with AM's Valkyrie?
SprackenZieEnglish@reddit
Only a one-off? Billionaire car collections in shambles, too bad they'll never have the 963 road car they thought they'd have
NOISY_SUN@reddit
This thing is only “road legal” in the most theoretical sense. Porsche says it had to get special permission from the French government to get a plate, and it is only being used to promote Le Mans, after which it is going right back to a museum (save for special occasions when it will be put on private tracks, like the Goodwood Festival of Speed).
All of which is to say, this isn’t a road car. Not in reality. It’s a promotional sculpture.
Boulder_The_Rock@reddit
While I agree it's definitely more a promotional sculpture than anything significant, this shows that Porsche is actively developing things like its hypercar program and might tell us that we are maybe a few steps closer to the third of the holy trinity.
Also knowing that Porsche has the capability to potentially make a road going 963 as long as they put some more effort into it is a very cool prospect to me as someone who has been watching a lot of WEC
peaked-at-7@reddit
I expected to feel more excitement when this reveal happened, but this just feels underwhelming.
Slapping some leather on the inside, making it run on pump gas, and painting it silver just doesn't do it for me.
EloeOmoe@reddit
🥱
DasKaenguruh@reddit
sadly it will just sit in a random garage and never see the track really
leTrull@reddit
Maybe even Roger Searle Penske's garage? hmm
Limesmack91@reddit
Sadly it's just a one off. Also doesn't sound like it's an actual road going version of the Porsche multimatic chassis but a custom made project
secretlyrobots@reddit
I think it’s the same chassis, just not a chassis that’s been used in a race car.
RoyalISF@reddit
Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool but it doesn’t do anything for me since 1. I’ll never see one on the street, 2. It’s not even remotely obtainable