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992 Porsche 911 GT1 Street Version Rendered, Sadly Won't Happen

Porsche returned to the uppermost level of sports car racing in the 1990s, and the German automaker's weapon of choice was revealed in 1996. The 911 GT1 is how it's called, a sports prototype that had little in common with the 996 series of that era. Like, very little indeed.
992 Porsche 911 GT1 Street Version rendering by Guillaume Lerouge 16 photos
Photo: Guillaume Lerouge on Behance
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That generation of the Neunelfer had 3.4- and 3.6-liter aspirated and twin-turbo engines. The 911 GT1 and the Straßenversion – which is German for Street Version – used a mid-mounted 3.2 and a sequential transmission instead of a manual or a torque-converter automatic.

Even the chassis consists of a steel-tube frame instead of the 996 unibody architecture, and that’s about enough to get my point across. The 911 GT1-98 won the 1998 edition of Le Mans, finishing ahead of LMP1 prototypes and other LMGT1 candidates such as the McLaren F1 GTR with the glorious S70 engine designed by BMW Motorsport.

All told, the 911 GT1 won 47 times in 135 races, racking up 34 poles as well. The road-going version’s planned production run of 30 units makes it one of the rarest and most collectible Neunelfers of all time, a kind reminder of Porsche’s motorsport legacy from the 1990s. The Straßenversion used to cost 10 times as much as the 911 Carrera, but as opposed to the racecar, the engine was detuned to 544 PS (536 horsepower) to meet emissions laws.

That’s still more than the 911 GT2 of that time, but have you ever wondered how the 911 GT1 Straßenversion would look like today had Porsche developed the 992 into a special-edition road racer? French transportation designer Guillaume Lerouge has the answer to that question in the form of three renderings described as “a quick – for fun – exercise in Photoshop.”

The rear end is undoubtedly taken from the 911 Turbo S based on the shape of the exhaust outlets and the gaping air intakes right next to the doors. The carbon-fiber rear wing is complemented by a sharp-looking lip spoiler up front. Guillaume has also applied a yellow tint to the headlights to underscore the car’s racecraft, and yes, that’s a louvered hood with a small intake right next to the Porsche emblem. A roof intake is also featured.

It may be a little too soon to speculate what kind of powerplant the 992 GT2 RS will feature, but if the road-going 992 GT1 were to happen as a limited edition, there’s no denying the engine from the GT2 RS would hide under the hood with a little more suck-squeeze-bang-blow. For reference, the 991.2 GT2 RS sports a 3.8-liter motor with 700 PS (690 horsepower) at 7,000 rpm and 750 Nm of torque (553 pound-feet) of torque.

The 991.2 series 935 that Porsche revealed at the Rennsport Reunion VI is even more extreme. The track-only tribute to the 935/78 “Moby Dick” is seriously light at 1,380 kilograms (3,042 pounds) and seriously expensive as well at 701,948 euros plus value-added tax.

On that note, do you think that Porsche will revisit the 996 GT1 for a new special edition? Considering the automaker’s involvement in Formula E at the expense of the LMP1 class in the World Endurance Championship, don’t get your hopes up for the miracle to come true.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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