Start Saving, Porsche Is Building A Mid-Engine 911 RSR Customer Program

Modern motor racing is a lot of things. One apparently being cars with safety systems that are like higher-tech, lower-interference parking sensors that work at 180mph in the dark. That’s one factoid I’m willing to guess we both learned about the 911 RSR today; it has a system that can warn its pilots of possible drama as it approaches at 3AM on the way to Arnage with headlights smearing their vision through the bug-pocked windscreens. This is helpful for obvious reasons, but especially so given the news that Porsche is going to start selling these cars to customers next year.

You’ve probably heard that the German kings of Le Mans are not returning to 2018’s 24 Hours with anything in the top-tier LMP1 field, and will instead be putting more focus on things like GT racing and the fledgling Formula E series in its motorsport pursuits. This exit leaves endurance racing’s premier event in a decidedly worse off position overall, but as this year’s battle for the GTE Pro category showed, there is plenty of good racing left to be had at a WEC event without prototypes like the 919. And now with the promise of a deeper field of 911 RSRs to contend with the Fords, Astons, Chevys, Ferraris, and upcoming BMWs in the class, we can probably expect more of the same, which is a very good thing in this case.

We all know that this latest iteration of the 911’s official racing form is the first mid-engined machine they’ve made that they call a 911 (though the rear of the car is noticeably without these three digits), but aside from the attention that met the news of the motor’s move, it is the little things like the safety sensors that are also signposts of evolution. Doubtless some will repel and revile this addition to a race car, likely using some synonym of sacrilege or devolution, but if that’s the case for you, try to frame it differently before making up your mind completely. Instead of comparing this to the golden era of personality and danger (if that’s your only ruler to measure with you’ll often be disappointed I think, and understandably so), think of this as a means for keeping people around longer. The car is also a mid-engined 911 race car with up to 510hp that you can buy and then churn out to the rear wheels. 

With an incoming slew of new drivers getting into RSRs next year, both as consummate professionals and budding amateurs, both in Europe for the WEC and in North America for IMSA, we’re excited to see Porsche broadening its presence in one of the most exciting modern racing formats going.

Photos courtesy of Porsche