Moby Dick reborn: Porsche’s new 935 is the ultimate retro racer

By: Alex Affat, Unique Cars magazine

Date: 01.10.2018

It’s essentially a 991 GT2RS, but less useful, and infinitely cooler!

We should have seen it coming…

The Porsche 935’s return was hinted at earlier this year by a solitary teaser pic showing a closely-cropped Porsche logo flanked by two imposing NACA ducts, though we had no idea how Porsche could possibly live up to the famous Le Mans racer.

Now we have our answer.

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Unveiled over the weekend at the Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca raceway; the storied Stuttgart brand unveiled its reborn Porsche 935.

The slant-nosed retro-racer is capable of 515kW and harks back to the classic 935/78 ‘Moby Dick’ Le Mans competitor.  The Porsche 935 will be limited to a production run of just 77 units, and each example will cost a whopping AUD$1.1 million.

Porsche Vice President of Motorsport and GT Cars, Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser said: "This spectacular car is a birthday present from Porsche Motorsport to fans all over the world".

"Because the car isn’t homologated, engineers and designers didn’t have to follow the usual rules and thus had freedom in the development".

What that means is: while the car is for track-use only, you’ll struggle to find a racing series with which it complies. Subsequently, customers will likely be restricted to private track days and clubsprint events.

The car is largely underpinned by the 991.2 GT2RS, featuring a 3.8lt twin-turbo flat-six capable of 515kW, with cog-swapping handled by Porsche’s telepathic PDK gearbox. In classical context, that’s still a touch over 100kW shy of the original Le Mans 935 car.

Furthermore; Porsche’s reborn 935 tips the scales at a portly-by-comparison 1380kg, while the original ‘White Whale’ was a featherweight at just 900kg.

The extensive aero changes lengthen the car to 4.87 metres from stem to stern, and almost all of the exterior components have been replaced or supplemented with carbon fibre pieces.

It’s not just the original ‘Moby Dick’ that the new 935 harks back to however: the car is filled with details that nod back to significant models throughout Porsche’s extensive motorsport-bred back catalogue.

While the slantnose front end, square and swooping rear haunches, and lovely aero-disk wheels echo the original 935; the LED rear lights positioned on the wing endplates are adopted from the 919 Hybrid LMP1 racer, the side mirrors are lifted from the current Le Mans-winning 911 RSR, and the prominent titanium tailpipes are a potent visual link to the Porsche 908.

The cabin won’t be too familiar to fellow GT2RS owners either. There's just a single racing seat (though a passenger seat can be found on the options list), with a welded-in roll cage and six-point harness. The gear knob is covered in laminated wood, reminiscent of other Porsche racers such as the 917, 909 Bergspyder and Carrera GT.

The new 935 still boasts driver aids and comforts such as traction control, stability control and even air-conditioning – all markedly absent from the original Le Mans racer.

And while 77 will be sold, all will be finished in Agate Grey with the Martini livery found on the options list.

Deliveries will begin from June 2019, and while prices begin at 701,948 Euros (a touch over AUD$1.1 million), you had better get in quick as we suspect all allotments will be sold out in short order.

Missed out on the Porsche 935? Check out the Porsches we have available in our classifieds!

And keep an eye out for Unique Cars magazine #420, which features one of Porsche's greats - the 930 Turbo - on the cover!

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