From 1984 through to 1987, the McLaren Formula One team used a turbocharged Porsche V6 engine, which took them to 26 Grand Prix wins and two World Championships.
The engine, which was financed by Luxembourgian holdings company Techniques d’Avant Garde (TAG), eventually found its way into a 930 Porsche 911 test car. The prototype car currently sits in the lobby of the McLaren Technology Center in Woking, but now British engineering firm Lanzante is creating a handful of new TAG F1-powered 930 911s.
Lanzante actually announced this wild program at the recent Rennsport Reunion in California, but it seems to have been overshadowed by the wild new Porsche 935 track car. That’s a shame, because a 1980s 911 with a turbo 1.5-liter F1 engine shoehorned in the back is infinitely cooler than a GT2 RS with fancy bodywork and a rollcage, if you ask us.
Lanzante will build 11 of the wild F1-powered 911s, each powered by a real TAG F1 engine with a racing history. The engine in the display car at Rennsport featured the engine that took Niki Lauda to his British Grand Prix victory in 1984. The same engine also powered him to a second place at the Dutch Grand Prix that year and helped teammate Alain Prost place in Portugal.
26 Formula One wins from 68 Grand Prix between 1984-1987. The Tag Turbo engine was also fitted to a single Porsche 930 as a test mule. We are now making a further 11 cars with permission from McLaren Racing. Seen here for the first time @rennsportreunion 📸 @gilesrozier17 & @a3.rud Thanks also to @iamchrisvassilopoulos #porsche #930turbo #mclarenf1 #nikilauda #alainprost #lanzante #rennsport
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You may be wondering how Lanzante, a former race team and current motorsports engineering company, got its hands on these old TAG F1 engines. The company received permission from McLaren to go ahead with the project, so in a way, this is a real McLaren-backed program. Sounds cool, but also expensive, wouldn’t you say?
Porsche’s 1.5-liter turbo V6 was making around 750 hp in race spec in 1985. We imagine it will be detuned in order to prolong its life in these 911s, though, so it’s hard to say how powerful the cars will be. It’s also not clear if the cars will be road legal, although we have our doubts they will be.
Lanzante is the same company that helped to make some examples of the track-only McLaren P1 GTR road legal. The company also recently created the one-off McLaren P1 Longtail for a wealthy customer, which features elongated bodywork inspired by the F1 Longtail race car and other cosmetic and performance upgrades.
Stay tuned for more information on the company’s insane F1-powered 911s as additional details come to light.
[Source: Lanzante via Carscoops]
a version of this article first appeared on AutoGuide
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