Is Porsche about to give the world a road-legal Le Mans hypercar?
We could see Porsche’s road-going racer unveiled as soon as June at the 24 Hours of Le Mans
A total of 50 years has passed since Porsche’s legendary 917 race car took to the road – and it looks like the German firm might create something just as extraordinary to celebrate.
We’re not talking about an elaborate car-shaped cake here, either, because Porsche has strongly suggested that a road-legal version of its Le Mans hypercar could be in the works.
In a video posted by the company to acknowledge the Porsche 917 that was modified into a road-legal car at the request of Porsche enthusiast, Martini heir ‘Count’ Gregorio Rossi di Montelera, we see what looks like a 2024 Porsche 963 Le Mans race car at the end, preceded by the question ‘what if?’ and a date of ‘June 2025’.
That timing hints at further information or even possibly a reveal of the car itself taking place at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans race, which starts on June 14.
While they might be designed to compete at the highest-level of endurance racing, the idea of a road-going version of a Le Mans car is nothing new. In the 1990s we saw the likes of the McLaren F1 GTR and even Porsche’s own 911 GT1 make it to the public road. Before that there have been several Jaguars and Ferraris from the 1960s that crossed the divide and more recently Aston Martin’s Valkyrie LMDh entry this year is based on an admittedly limited production car.
The Porsche 917 that managed to get a licence plate – in Alabama of all places – back in 1975 was altered with a set of exhaust silencers, extra mirrors, side indicators, a horn and even a spare tyre. We expect a fair few revisions will be needed to make the 2024 World Endurance Championship-winning 963 somewhat fit for the road, though hopefully its hybridised 671bhp twin-turbocharged 4.6-litre V8 can remain untouched.
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