Those who really, really want to make an impact with a reimagined Porsche 911 get a Gunther Werks commission. Oh sure, the detailing is exquisite and the engineering flawless, but the design must be the USP. Even the builds that retained a roof looked like something from Mad Max’s Midnight Club, and the drama increased 10-fold with the incredible Speedsters. Now, that run of cars is coming to an end; the ‘final rendition’ of the GW Speedster program is this, Project Endgame, a car described by its maker as ‘a celebratory end to the Speedster’s peerless driving experience.’
They ain’t joking, either. Where all other Speedsters used naturally aspirated flat-sixes - PH drove a very lovely 430hp car that revved to 7,800rpm - this one does not. Project Endgame employs a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged lump from Rothsport Racing for a stupendous 840hp and 660lb ft. Still revs to 7,500rpm, too, as well as driving just the rear wheels through a six-speed with bespoke ratios. According to the boss and founder, Peter Nam, the forced induction was “at the client’s behest’. What a legend.
Much of the rest of the package is familiar Gunther Werks fare, albeit with the dial turned even further. Like intercoolers plated in 24-carat cold, for example. Which can also be found on the mirrors, headlights and gearlever. See as well as being the only turbocharged Speedster, Project Endgame is the first car built under the auspices of GWX, Gunther Werks’ ‘bespoke coachbuilding program that extends the limits of personalisation and craftsmanship’. If expansion is good enough for Singer, it’s good enough for GW. This is just the start; expect ever more exuberant takes on the humble air-cooled 911 to follow.
In typical Gunther Werks fashion, the body of Project Endgame is carbon, ‘crafted for aerodynamic optimisation and enhanced while honouring the Porsche 993’s timeless silhouette.’ More than just scaring people from the concours lawn, this look really does serve a purpose. The carbon, moreover, means a scarcely believable kerbweight; Gunther Werks claims of ‘just over 2,600lbs.’ That’s just over 1,179kg in English. Call it 1,250kg to be sure and that’s still a prodigious amount of power for something that weighs what a GR86 does. With no roof.
There’s more, too. The rear quarter panels are unique to Project Endgame, beefed up to accommodate that monstrous powerplant. (The rest are borrowed from the Gunther Werks Turbo.) The True Candy Red paint took three weeks. The gearlever features ‘six gems arranged in a 1-6 pattern’. Safe to say all subsequent GWX builds are going to be pretty spectacular.
Nam added: “Project Endgame is unlike any Speedster we’ve built before, with every element precision-engineered and designed in absolute collaboration with the client. Even the most granular details were taken into account and refined”. There’ll be a chance for the public to see Project Endgame at Air|Water in Costa Mesa this weekend, after which it’ll go to whoever the lucky soul is that’s commissioned it. No doubt plenty more will follow. Because who wouldn’t want an 840hp Porsche roadster that looked like this?
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