Porsche Secret Cars

Porsche’s secret stars revealed

Porsche Unseen, a new book by Stefan Bogner and Jan Karl Baedeker, reveals the concept cars that until now have been hidden away on designers’ laptops, never before seen outside the firm’s R&D centre in Weissach. Despite Porsche’s reputation for evolution rather than revolution, some of them are left-field in the extreme. By Piers Ward

PORSCHE 919 STREET

This is what the 919 LMP1 prototype could have looked like if it had been made street legal. The car runs the same carbonfibre tub and 888bhp hybrid powertrain as the racer but wrapped in a road-friendly skin and with driving characteristics more suited to amateurs. Presumably for when your imagined Mark Webber skills don’t match reality.

PORSCHE 904 Based on the same carbon monocoque as the futuristic Volkswagen XL, this is the modern interpretation of what a 904 Carrera GTS could look like. It weighs only 900kg and Porsche thought about using a mid-mounted vee-twin motorbike engine to power it. A stripped-out, banshee-engined sub-Cayman sports car gets our vote.

PORSCHE VISION 920 The car with Le Mans in mind. The Vision 920 was designed either as a hypercar for the road or as a customer racer, based around an LMP1 prototype. Either way, it’s probably the most extreme machine to come out of Porsche in recent history. Next stop La Sarthe?

PORSCHE 918 RS

Hailing from 2019, the 918 RS was intended to offer the next step on from the 918. Like its ancestor, the RS features hybrid technology, only this time enhanced to be even more dramatic on road and track. Will Porsche build it to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 918? We can but hope.

With 911 ‘Safari’ conversion kits frequently popping up on the web recently, and Porsche’s own historic and continued success in rallying, it’s inevitable that a 911 Safari would form part of this group of concepts. What’s more interesting is when Porsche thought of this: the concept dates back to 2012. PORSCHE 911 SAFARI

PORSCHE VISION 916 This one draws inspiration from two sources: the 916 prototype from the early 1970s and the electric Lohner-Porsche of 1900 (one of Ferdinand Porsche’s first creations). The lightweight 916 was designed with four wheel-hub motors in mind. Impressively, a design intern penned it.

PORSCHE VISION RACE SERVICE A people carrier isn’t what springs to mind when you mention Porsche, but the designers thought they could reimagine the future of fast family transport with this Race Service concept. It also draws inspiration from the achingly desirable VW race service van. Seating six, it has a central driving position.

PORSCHE VISION SPYDER

With its raked back windscreen and flat, minimalist design, it’s no wonder this car was inspired by the 550 Spyder made famous by James Dean. There are some neat design touches on it, such as the flying buttresses and, if you look carefully, the 551 decal on the front lip and side panel.