Wednesday 4th May 2011

New '918 Coupe' To Be Badged Porsche 961?

£200K Porsche range-topper slated to get old racer's numbers

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918 RSR concept from Detroit 2011

The original Porsche 961 was a 1980s racer based on the fabulous 959, but German magazine Autobild reckons the number is coming back on a new V8 'halo' series production model.

Details are sketchy and haven't been confirmed by Porsche, but the story goes that the new 961 will be a V8 powered coupe with styling derived from the 918 Spyder/RSR project. The 918 itself has been confirmed for strictly limited production already, but its carbon monocoque is presumably too esoteric for cost-effective volume build - it's costing the few lucky punters who'll get their hands on it around half a million quid.

And the original 961 circuit racer

The magazine says the new car will make around 500hp in standard guise, with some sort of hybrid option that boosts power to 600bhp. Other than a predicted price in the Euros 200k range, an internal project codename of 9X1, and a projected 2013 on-sale date, there's not much else to the story yet.

[Insight]

Looks Puuuuuurfect.

[croakey]

looks good, but a modern take on the 959 (styling wise especially) would be just about perfect in my books

[GravelBen]

Tough call which of those looks better... both are fantastic

[Burnham]

Love the 961, possibly my favorite Racing Porsche. More pics please Pistonheads!

[JuniorJet]

want.

[lusopiston]

The 918 RSR concept is just stunning, even more so than the Spyder (it's a coupe!), even with the obvious changes for a "cheaper" production version, and not a raciong one at that, I hope this becomes reality...

[B10]

Love it. However have just bought a 924S for £460 which is nearer my price bracket!

[kbf1981]

This would be the 458 / McLaren competitor they talked about making.

[Err Indoors]

Looks a little bit good somewhat.

[Twincam16]

croakey said:

looks good, but a modern take on the 959 (styling wise especially) would be just about perfect in my books

To my mind the current 997 Turbo has just managed to enter 959 territory, in specification as much as anything.

However, you would've thought given the passage of 20-odd years the modern equivalent of the 959 would be absolutely earth-shattering. Pity nothing like Group B still exists to drive development like that.

[Mark-C]

Twincam16 said:

croakey said:

looks good, but a modern take on the 959 (styling wise especially) would be just about perfect in my books

To my mind the current 997 Turbo has just managed to enter 959 territory, in specification as much as anything.

However, you would've thought given the passage of 20-odd years the modern equivalent of the 959 would be absolutely earth-shattering. Pity nothing like Group B still exists to drive development like that.

If they did a modern 959 (and what a car that was) then I imagine we'd be overrun with comments about lazy Porsche stylists .....

[ismegamanthere]

Twincam16 said:

To my mind the current 997 Turbo has just managed to enter 959 territory, in specification as much as anything.

However, you would've thought given the passage of 20-odd years the modern equivalent of the 959 would be absolutely earth-shattering. Pity nothing like Group B still exists to drive development like that.

This. The most recent 997 Turbo's are absolute rockets and can decimate most anything that rolls up next to them. I can't really see how Porsche can honestly top what's been rolling out of the factory in terms of raw power and speed. Sure, the 918 and this supposed 961 will be tire burners as well, but the Turbo along with the GT2 have easily filled the void that was left behind with the passing of the 959.

[ellisd82]

Best looking Porsche! even though it doesn't look like a Porsche...

[soad]

Insight said:

Looks Puuuuuurfect.

It's a beauty

[Niffty951]

Can you please all slate it in reviews so I can afford one one day. Seriously, almost every Porsche is a great car but not often Porsche makes a stunning looker. This must be the third in history.

906, 993, 918

[V8Bart]

LOL, sounds fantastic anything V8 has to be good!

Much better than the oil burning ugly sister on here on Tuesday. ;-)

[jake15919]

ellisd82 said:

Best looking Porsche! even though it doesn't look like a Porsche...

Erm...no.



Calling the new car 914 would have been appropriate if the name hadn't already been wasted.

[ismegamanthere]

jake15919 said:

Erm...no.



Calling the new car 914 would have been appropriate if the name hadn't already been wasted.

It's good to know people have taste out there, epic post.

[GTRene]

loks like, I want...(can't pay though )

[MartinJames]

jake15919 said:

ellisd82 said:

Best looking Porsche! even though it doesn't look like a Porsche...

Erm...no.



Calling the new car 914 would have been appropriate if the name hadn't already been wasted.

914 wasn't wasted, it was a funky little car with a clever seating arrangement and was cheap to buy. Appreciating in value now. Good call on the 904 though, couldn't agree more.