Porsche 911 in Targa and rally-rep guises
Porsche has a new 911, the gorgeous Targa. But if that’s too conventional, German specialists H&R will build you the rally 911 of your dreams.
What, exactly, am I looking at?
911 Targa: The new Targa version of the 992-generation 911, due with its first customers in August. You’ll need £98,170 for a Targa 4 and £109,725 for a Targa 4S. For that you get the best sports car of its generation, all-wheel drive, standard-fit PASM adaptive dampers, the 911’s effective Wet mode and an evolution of the elegant, balletic folding roof mechanism that debuted on the 991-gen 911.
Syberia RS: A G-series-based rally weapon, and the result of one client’s daydream – a dream that started with a Humvee but ended with a go-anywhere classic 911. The Syberia RS began as an ’86 G-series 911 imported from Japan. The wheelarches were cut and extended, the interior rebuilt within a stout rollcage (with Recaro buckets, a Momo wheel and a fly-off handbrake)
and the factory wheels replaced by Fuchs rims with DynaPro Mud Terrain truck tyres. There’s also a winch, a roof rack and a lot of lights.
What makes it special?
911 Targa: All that standard 911 goodness plus the Targa roof, which strikes a handsome balance between coupe purity and cabriolet thrills. It retains a similar roof mechanism to the 991-generation Targa, which in turn was a neat nod to the ’65 original.
‘Eighteen per cent of 991 Carrera and Carrera S cars were Targa, a bigger number than was the case with the previous Targas,’ says Frank-Steffen Walliser, Porsche sport car boss. ‘The earlier Targas were pretty much a big glass sunroof. The iconic Targa look, which the 991 brought in, was a breakthrough.’
Weight is up about 20kg over the Cabriolet.
Syberia RS: What, apart from it self-evidently being both the least sensible and most appealing modified 911 in years, and a kind of 21st-century reboot of the jacked-up 953s and 959s that dominated rallying? Well, apart from that there’s the bespoke suspension. The Syberia is the work of German bouncy-bits wizards H&R, who junked the standard rear torsion beams, replacing them with bespoke ultra-long-travel coilovers, a modification that in turn required the fabrication of numerous one-off mounting points and links. Syberia-specific anti-roll bars should stop it lolling into the scenery at speed. Total cost? Some £175,000, not including the donor car…
What’s under the engine cover?
911 Targa: The standard twin-turbo, 3.0-litre flat-six, hooked up to either the latest eight-speed PDK auto or Porsche’s seven-speed manual. The 380bhp Targa 4 is good for 0-62mph in 4.2sec and 180mph; the 4S 0-62mph in 3.6sec and 189mph. As before, rear-drive isn’t offered. Says Walliser: ‘Maybe there is a small case for a two-wheel-drive Targa, but there is a constant pressure not to offer too many 911 variants.’
Syberia RS: The original air-cooled flat-six, refreshed, driving the rear wheels via a limited-slip diff and piping sweet music into the world through the one-off stainless-steel exhaust. In line with the car’s on-/off-road pretensions, top speed’s been traded for increased acceleration via close-ratio internals in the Porsche 915 gearbox. No claims for straight-line performance but, while the RS won’t see which way the 992 Targa went, neither will it care; every wet hairpin’s a playground, every gravel track a gently oversteering dream come true.
Both the least sensible and most appealing modified 911 in years