A Californian company that specializes in remastering the Porsche 911 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 Porsche 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.
There’s a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged 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 1,000hp.
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And 1,017Nm of torque. Those horsies and torques are bravely marshaled by a six-speed manual gearbox and a limited-slip diff, sending drive to the rear wheels alone. There is no 0-100kph 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% 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).
Elsewhere, you’ll find massive carbon-ceramic brakes all around (six-pots up front, four on the back), magnesium 18-inch wheels, and a bespoke ‘935-style’ exhaust.
Speaking of the 935, GW has fitted carbon-fiber 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 carbon-fiber rear wing, too, and all in, GW reckons on a weight of just 1,225kg.
Looks fairly special inside as well: lots of leather and alcantara, exposed carbon fiber, a steering wheel that “draws inspiration from the wing-angle profile of a fighter jet,” and a wooden gear knob 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 units of these mad, bad Project F-26 cars, and each one starts at $1,570,000 (P88.9 million before taxes).
More photos of the Gunther Werks Project F-26:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
