Tiff Needell Drives One of the Rarest Road-legal Porsche 911 of All Time
Famed British racecar driver gets behind the wheel of a Porsche 911 GT1 Strassenversion and shares his insights about the racing legend!
Porsche is quite proud of its motorsport heritage and rightly so. The Stuttgart-based car manufacturer recently unveiled a few concepts, some of which were inspired by the company’s iconic racing models of yesteryears.
Now, British racecar driver and TV presenter Tiff Needell has managed to get his hands on one such iconic Porsche supercar- the 911 GT1. This was one of the last Porsche models to win the legendary Le Mans 24 hour endurance championship in the GT1 category before it was replaced by the RS(RennSport) Spyder, once new regulations were imposed.
In the latest video of LoveCars, Tiff Needell is seen driving a road-going version of this racing legend, and the British motoring journalist puts the car through its paces around the Highlands of Caledonia. Back in the 90s, the track-only 911 GT1 racecar competed against the likes of Ferrari F40, McLaren F1, Bugatti EB 110 LM, and Jaguar XJ 220, amongst other thoroughbred supercar models.
In one of the most unprecedented moves at the time, Porsche modified the 911 GT1 into a road-legal supercar to meet the homologation regulation. The 911 GT1’s road-legal models were given the moniker Strassenversion. Other car manufacturers were simply competing with modified versions of their road-going supercars that were re-tuned to race in the 24 hour Le Mans championship. As a result of this, Porsche only manufactured 20 versions of the 996-style 911 GT Strassenversion that Tiff is seen driving which makes it one of the rarest supercars in the world.
The 911 GT1 made its debut in 1996 and to create this racing icon, Porsche swapped the bodywork of its mid-engine 962 racecar with that of the rear-engine 911 turbo model. The car was powered by a 3.2-liter, water-cooled flat-six motor that was coupled to a 6-speed sequential manual gearbox.
The 911 GT1 Strassenversion driven by Needell features the same twin-turbocharged engine as the race car that produces 536 HP of power and 443 lb-ft of peak torque. The car only ways 2535 lbs that means it can accelerate from 0 to 62 MPH in just 3.9 seconds and achieve a top speed of 191.4 MPH.