Tuthill Porsche launches sensational 911K
It weighs less than 900kg, revs to 11,000rpm and looks like this - what else do you need to know?
If you care about Porsche 911s, you know Tuthill. ‘The Porsche 911 as it was intended’ is the website strapline, be that a road car, race car - Tuthill built those WRC-spec 997 GT3s a few years back - or as an ice driving experience like no other. When Singer wanted to make a Safari-style car, it spoke to Tuthill. That’s the reputation they have. So, when its good folk say they’re building a 911 that revs to 11,000rpm and weighs less than 900kg, you pay attention. (That being said, anyone building a car to those numbers would have our ears.)
This is the new 911K. It’s probably what would be termed a restomod, though that classification rather seems to sell this project short. There isn’t a full press release from Tuthill Porsche just yet, though sufficient details have been released to know this is a very, very special 911. It powered by a 3.1-litre, four-valve, short stroke engine, meaning it can rev to 11,000rpm - power and torque seem a little irrelevant with that number in mind. Which is good, because we don’t have them yet. The engine is hooked up to a magnesium, six-speed 915 K ‘box and breathes through a carbon plenum.
Then we get into the really good stuff. “Weight is always king and the fun of driving a lightweight car when combined with what I believe to be the most exciting engine I have ever experienced and a chassis that gives one unrivalled compliance on wonderfully diverse backroads has redefined what I thought was possible.”
That’s Richard Tuthill’s view on the 911K, and you suspect he knows a thing or two about old Porsche engines and chassis. Wet with fluids, this car weighs a scarcely believable 856kg, thanks to such extraordinary measures as fitting carbon wheels and ceramic discs, making the vast majority of body panels from carbon and then using titanium for almost everything else - the roll cage most notably, but also the torsion bars, anti-roll bars and even the gearknob.
So, it’ll look and sound sensational, but obviously that wouldn’t be enough for a Tuthill Porsche. The 911K has also been kitted out with Tuthill calipers and two-way adjustable rally dampers, so it should drive as good as it looks. To be frank it could drive like a 300,000-mile VW Passat and we’d still want one, but just in case the 911K wasn’t desirable enough already that’s another tidbit.
This K has been built for a Tuthill customer in California, in case you were wondering why this didn’t seem much like rural Oxfordshire, and is at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering right now. Richard Tuthill describes them as an “extremely enthusiastic and supportive friend and client” - you suspect they might be quite pleased with what’s been created. Apparently, the idea was to build a light and simple car “beautifully presented but with the mechanical capability to take on anything that is currently out there.” Everything we know of the 911K so far suggests it’s right on target, because you wouldn’t expect anything less from a Tuthill Porsche. And if you want your own K built, best give them a call…
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