The Porsche 911 Speedster Concept
A past-meets-present anniversary model.
As part of the celebration for its 70th anniversary, Porsche has announced a new take on its 991.2 generation 911 sports car: the 911 Speedster Concept. The anniversary model blends the early days of Porsche with the most cutting-edge example of its modern road car design.
Replete with a carbon fibre “double-bubble” rear deck and a raked roofline thanks to a more slanted windshield, the 911 Speedster Concept looks somewhat like a modern interpretation of a vintage 356. Much like its forbearers, this 911 Speedster was designed to be driven in an open-top fashion. To that end, the concept car does not have a conventional folding convertible top, but rather a tonneau cover that attaches with an array of fasteners to protect the interior from rain.
With full carbon bucket seats and that lightweight tonneau top, the 911 Speedster Concept continues in the footsteps of legendary lightweight Porsches like the 356 1500 America Roadster. The two-tone paint scheme, the meatball (that’s the large circle on the doors for a racing number), the custom 21-inch Fuchs-inspired wheels, and the centre-mounted fuel filler cap are all callbacks to early Porsche racecar designs. In the interest of further weight saving, the 911 Speedster Concept forgoes heavy creature comforts like air conditioning, sat nav, or even a radio. This setup was optional on the 2016 911 R and replaces the technology with a cubby in the center stack for additional storage.
Nods to early racing Porsches can be seen in the smaller details, like the Talbot-style wing mirrors and the X-pattern on the headlights.
Further nods to early racing Porsches can be seen in the smaller details as well, like the Talbot-style wing mirrors and the X-pattern on the headlights, designed to mimic the look of taped lenses—a tactic used to prevent the lights from shattering on the racetrack. The 911 Speedster Concept is a collection of fun details, such as these, and while I’m not wild about the two-tone paint scheme, I think it would look amazing in full GT Silver or maybe even Dalmatian Blue.
Given the connection to hotted-up Porsches of the past, the 911 Speedster Concept is not built around a base Carrera. The body is based on the wider-tracked Carrera 4 platform and the chassis and engine are taken from the sublime 911 GT3. This means a manual transmission mated to a modern 4-litre flat six engine that makes 500 horsepower and revs to an astonishing 9,000 rpm.
While this 911 Speedster Concept is just that, a concept, it’s not uncommon for Porsche to produce a Speedster variant towards the end of a 911 generation. As the 992-gen 911 is expected to replace the current 991 in the near future, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we did see a limited production run of the Speedster announced sometime soon. While some of the character points, like the centre mount fuel filler or the lack of a backup camera may have to change for the car to be road legal, there is undoubtedly a long line of Porsche fans who would like to celebrate the brand’s 70th birthday with a GT3-powered modern take on a 356 Speedster.
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