2 days ago
‘Project F-26' is a $1.5m, 1,000bhp air-cooled Porsche 911 by Gunther Werks
'Project F-26' is a $1.5m, 1,000bhp air-cooled Porsche 911 by Gunther Werks
Named after a fighter jet, designed like a slantnose, powered by witchcraft
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A Californian company that specialises in remastering Porsche 911s has unleashed its latest missive. No, not that company, the other one. Not that one either. It's Gunther Werks, and the mad, bad 'Project F-26'. You should be quite afraid.
Because underneath that aggressive, lightly bonkers visage lies a very dark heart. GW has taken the bones of a 993-spec 911 – the last of the air-cooled 911s! – and filled it with so much horsepower it's practically bursting out of its 935-inspired suit.
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There's a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre flat-six co-developed by Rothsport Racing, cooled by a 'race-derived' flat fan – apparently able to provide double the air than a regular vertical one – able to produce a cool 1,000bhp.
And 750lb ft of torque. Those horsies and torques are bravely marshalled by a six-speed manual gearbox and a limited slip diff, sending drive to the rear wheels alone. There is no 0-62mph time, but you'll be too busy hanging on to care.
Especially because F-26's chassis has been given enough scaffolding to allow a 200 per cent increase in rigidity over the base 993. It's been slightly stretched, too. There's a hydraulic steering setup, custom suspension arms, adaptive JRZ dampers, motorsport-spec ABS, and advanced traction control (very wise).
READ MORE This is Rezvani's carbon-bodied 600bhp retro Porsche
Elsewhere you'll find massive carbon ceramic brakes all round (six pots up front, four on the back), magnesium 18in wheels, and a bespoke '935-style' exhaust.
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Speaking of the 935, GW has fitted carbon fibre body panels and doors, and a bespoke CF front-end with headlights that recall the famous slantnose. Only these aren't pop-ups, but fixed. Still, there's a high-downforce CF rear wing too, and all in, GW reckons on a weight of just 1,225kg.
Looks fairly special inside, too: lots of leather and Alcantara, exposed carbon fibre, a steering wheel that 'draws inspiration from the wing-angle profile of a fighter jet', and a wooden gearknob that doffs its little wooden cap to classic racing Porsches.
'It's our way of bridging nostalgia with next-gen performance for the modern driver,' said Gunther Werks founder Peter Nam. For a selected number of modern drivers, as is the way with such unobtanium: GW is only building 26 of these mad, bad Project F-26 cars, and each one starts at $1,570,000.
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