New Porsche 963 RSP is a sensational one-off racer for the road

Manufacturers such as Ferrari often take technology from race cars and incorporate it into their road cars, but Porsche has gone way beyond that by creating what is literally a road-legal version of the 963 hypercar that’s vying to win this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Sadly for billionaires everywhere, only one Porsche 963 RSP has been produced, inspired by a similar one-off, road-legal version of the two-time Le Mans-winning Porsche 917 race car the company made 50 years ago. That car was modified at the request of Italian Martini heir ‘Count’ Gregorio Rossi di Montelera, who was an enormous fan of the brand, and did manage to get a licence plate, in Alabama in the United States, of all places.

Porsche managed to make the legendary car road-legal by adding a set of exhaust silencers, extra mirrors, side indicators and a horn, and even crammed in a spare tyre. However, the modifications have been slightly more significant for the 963.

For starters, instead of being wrapped like the race car, the ultra-thin carbon fibre and Kevlar bodywork on the 963 RSP has been painted in the exact same Martini Silver hue as Count Rossi’s 917. The Porsche Museum in Germany even used its records to verify the paint-to-sample colour. Sitting pride of place on the nose is an enamel Porsche badge, rather than a sticker, while new vents were added to the front wings and a unique 3D printed badge was added to the rear light bar.

The forged OZ racing wheels are wrapped in 18-inch Michelin tyres which have had the French firm’s seventies-era logo added to them, as another nod to the road-going 917, as is the bespoke, hand-made interior featuring tan leather and Alcantara upholstery. There’s no Apple CarPlay, but Porsche has made a detachable cup-holder, designed to accommodate one of its travel mugs, and the carbon seats are air-conditioned, like the 963 race car’s. 

The Porsche 963 RSP features a race-tuned 671bhp hybrid powertrain that includes a 4.6-litre V8 engine from the Porsche 918 Spyder supercar, boosted by two turbochargers, yet still capable of revving to over 8,000rpm. Compared with the race car, the motor has been remapped to make power delivery smoother and allow it to run on regular petrol. 

The solitary 963 RSP was commissioned by the famous America race team owner Roger Penske, whose initials ‘RSP’ give the car its name. And it wasn’t simply a case of Penske providing a blank cheque, before you get any ideas. The Porsche Penske Motorsport team won both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship with the 963 last year, and will be bringing three cars along to compete in Le Mans. 

The Porsche 963 RSP will make its public debut at the Circuit de la Sarthe during the 24 Hours of Le Mans, before returning to Stuttgart to be shown at the Porsche Museum. But in July, we’ll get a chance to see the car in the UK at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, along with the 917.

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