Unicorns Do Exist

This 1-of-51 1993 Porsche 911 RSR has only 6 miles on the odometer 

It is an even-rarer custom-order car, too. And now it's for sale.

This Polar Silver Metallic car was highly optioned and only one of two that had a fully trimmed interior. That makes it all the more surprising that the owner decided to park it and never drive it. Outside, the the Speedline wheels are painted purple, or Amethyst Metallic as Porsche calls it. The brake calipers were painted a contrasting gold color. The interior is red over red over red, Can Can Red in Porsche speak. The seats, headliner, the upper and lower dashboard, steering column, steering wheel, door caps, and roll cage were all bright red. Even the six-point racing harness was dyed to match the rest of the interior. Only the gauges, the center of the dashboard, and the door pulls remain untouched.

RM Sotheby's estimates the car will pull in somewhere between $2.2 million and $2.4 million, though it will take a bit of an investment to get this into running condition. The fact that the RSR race car has wins at the Spa 24 Hours, Suzuka 1000 KM, and 24 Hours of Interlagos as well as a Le Mans class win makes this all the more valuable.

(AutoBlog.com) 

Did You Know - 2017 Porsche 911 RSR Edition

6 Things I Found Out About The Mid-Engined Porsche 911 RSR

Last week, we sat down with Porsche motorsport vice president Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser at the LA Auto Show to find out more about the latest 911 RSR 

It's an almost entirely different car

This fundamental change meant the Porsche motorsport team had to start pretty much from scratch. “Setting it up is completely different to the old car. That’s something we had to learn - aero settings, spring/damper settings, the rake of the car, how it behaves….It’s not so easy,” Walliser explains.

While the platform is the same, almost everything else is new. We’re talking new bodywork with new aero, entirely new suspension, and even a new engine, with the legendary Mezger unit retired and replaced with the same flax-six found in the 911 Cup.

Oh and on the subject of aero, that wing is derived from the 919 Hybrid’s. The top mount structure is all about giving a smoother surface on the underside of the wing, which Walliser tells us is the more sensitive side of the aero piece.

Weight distribution hasn't improved by as much as you might expect

Despite the engine now being in front of the rear axle, weight distribution hasn’t improved by a dramatic amount. “We’re talking about two to three per cent difference,” Walliser says, but while that may not sound like a huge amount to you or I, in the precise world of motorsport that’s a considerably improvement.

Crucially, weight distribution only tells part of the story. Having the engine’s mass more centralised will make the car easier to control, and there are packaging advantages too - the 2017 RSR is able to have a much larger and more effective diffuser than the old car since there isn’t a ruddy great flat-six in the way.

It has a longer wheelbase than the 911 GT1

The 2017 RSR technically isn’t the first 911 to be mid-engined. That honour goes to the 911 GT1 prototype racer of the 1990s, which was a 911 in name and little else.

But here’s a fun little pub fact for you: the new RSR’s lengthened wheelbase (increased by 60mm compared to the old car) is actually longer than the GT1’s. That’s progress for you.

Complete list (CarThrottle.com)

 

 

Introducing Porsche's Newest Monster, Now Mid-Engined

The 2017 Porsche 911 RSR goes mid-engine, purists be damned 

The engine in the latest Le Mans competitor is in front of the rear axle. 

Porsche unveiled its World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech Championship competitor with the 2017 911 RSR. And this 911 is different from the rest, as the 4.0-liter flat-six engine powering this beast is in front of the rear axle, not behind it. That's right, this 24 Hours of Le Mans competitor ditches the iconic rear-engine layout.

Porsche isn't talking specifics on how exactly things are arranged back there. The engine is new, now based on the 991 911's block instead of the previous Mezger motor that's been used for years. The transmission design is new as well – it would have to be to accommodate the new location relative to the engine.

The racecar has been engineered to meet the LM-GTE class, where it will go up against other mid-engine cars like the Ford GT and Ferrari 488 GTE. Moving the engine to the middle has given Porsche the ability to fit the 911 RSR with massive bits of aero, like the humongous rear diffuser that looks like it would be more at home on a machine of war. The only thing that can compete with the diffuser for size is the top-mounted rear wing, which shares a similar design to the one found on the 919 Hybrid.

(AutoBlog.com)