Porsche reveals road-legal version of 963 LMDh prototype
A new one-off street version of the Porsche 963 breaks cover ahead of Le Mans.
Porsche has taken the covers off the 963 RSP, a road-legal version of its championship-winning LMDh prototype, ahead of the 93rd running of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Porsche 963 RSP made its public debut on Friday on the streets surrounding the Circuit de la Sarthe, two days before the official Le Mans test.
The project was a joint collaboration between Porsche AG, Porsche Penske Motorsport, Porsche Cars North America and legendary team owner Roger Searle Penske.
The car, in fact, has been named after the initials of Penske’s founder, whose team has partnered with Porsche for its twin LMDh programmes in the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The idea for the road-legal 963 was born during a meeting at Road Atlanta involving Timo Resch (CEO of Porsche Cars North America), Thomas Laudenbach (Vice President of Porsche Motorsport) and Urs Kuratle (Director of the LMDh programme). The proposal was later developed with Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Duguid and Roger Penske.
The RSP arrives exactly 50 years after Porsche created a road-going version of the 917 for Martini heir Gregorio Rossi di Montelera.
The 963 RSP also pays homage to the 917 road car with the same Martini Silver livery as its spiritual predecessor.
“This really started out as a ‘what if?’ – a passion project by a small team of enthusiasts at Penske and at Porsche who together imagined a version of the 963 that really resembled as closely as possible the spirit and appearance of the Count Rossi 917,” said Resch.
“The 917 from the story was every inch a race car – albeit one driven on the road – and we took the same approach with the 963 RSP. It uses beautiful materials of the best quality available, but is still every bit a race car underneath.”
To make it road-legal, Porsche introduced a raft of changes to the 963, including a bespoke mechanical and electronic set-up, raised ride height, softened dampers, a programmed control unit, modified bodywork and Michelin wet tyres. A horn was also added to comply with public road regulations.
These modifications allowed Porsche to secure special permission from the French authorities and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) to run the 963 RSP on public roads in Le Mans.
