MISSION R: THE INSPIRATION

CAYMAN GT4 CLUBSPORT

At the almost a ordable end of Porsche’s customer racing programme sits the GT4 Clubsport, a mid-engined partsbin special that marries the best of the Cayman GT4 road car with plenty of racederived stu , including a plumbed-in fire extinguisher, welded-in rollcage and six-point harness. Available in full ‘competition’ and slightly more a ordable ‘trackday’ specs. Mission R has a similar ethos.

935

Mission R’s aerooptimised, rotor-cooling wheels are a nod to the similar rims fitted to Porsche’s wildly successful (and much modified) motorsportdeveloped 911 variant, the 935 (and its modern reboot, above). Mission R also one of few cars able to eclipse Moby Dick’s power output. That car punched out 845bhp from a 3.2-litre flat-six with everything dialled up – Mission R clears 1000bhp.

VISION 920

One of several futuristic racers in Porsche’s Unseen series, the 920 donates its front wings, colour scheme and pronounced horizontal upper/lower split to the Mission R. Michael Mauer: ‘The idea [of the Unseen cars] is to let your thoughts jump to the day after tomorrow, and to then move back from there to tomorrow.’ The 920-inspired Boxster and Cayman will be along in a couple of years, not tomorrow.

919 HYBRID

Porsche’s Le Mans hybrid was ambitious and, in its early running, plagued with technical issues. But it evolved into a winning machine, and helped rapidly accelerate Porsche’s EV development. The 919 Hybrid, which won Le Mans in 2015, 2016 and 2017, blooded the 800-volt architecture the Taycan employs, and used the direct oil-cooling system Porsche plans to use in the batteries of its performance roadgoing EVs.