ENDURANCE RACING
Easily the trickiest assignment of the three, this one. Porsche was happy to sketch out its endurance racing vision, but wouldn’t talk about any of the theoretical technical details – the speculation was up to us. Boo, hiss. They were wary about two things: giving away any information about future tech that might give their competitors a leg-up, and giving the impression that this was them committing to the sport for another 10 years – they’re not, necessarily. Hard to blame them for being cautious about their future – even Audi, who stuck around for 18 years, collecting a baker’s dozen of Le Mans 24hrs wins in that time, ducked out recently, swapping its phenomenally expensive WEC campaign for the more cost-efective and squeaky clean Formula E.
Then there’s the issue that its closed-cockpit, 2016 Le Mans-winning LMP1 prototype – the 919 – already looks like something from a decade down the line, and already combines petrol and electricity (via a 500bhp 2.0 V4 turbo and two hybrid systems, producing up to 750bhp) to devastating efect.
So where to from here? Well, fair to say topfight prototype racers won’t be dialling down the extra-terrestrial aesthetic anytime soon. Porsche’s 2027 LMP1 racer is as alien as you’d expect, but elegant in a way that the bluf front end of the current LMP1 crop simply doesn’t permit. The gentler, more organic radius for the wheel pods and the lower, smoother roofine show the emphasis will move on from ever-increasing downforce, to reducing drag and hiking up terminal speeds on the Mulsanne Straight – even the spokeless wheels are in on it. Downforce will be present and correct, of course, just more carefully managed by fns behind the rear wheelarch, gaping Ford GT-style cavities between the fuselage, surfboard-sized side sills and rear wheels, and a socking great front chin spoiler, difuser and a rear wing mounted on what appears to be a moving arm.
Dare I say there’s a little Aston Martin Valkyrie in the passenger cell? A sprinkling of McLaren X-1 concept in those stretched rear pontoons? Some Bugatti Vision Gran Turismo in that dorsal-fn spoiler? OK, you get the idea, it’s chocka with design cues only the planet’s most extreme four-wheeled creations can pull of.
The powertrain? No spec sheet, but the designer has all but spelled it out for us. The ‘E’ in Porsche, highlighted in red signifes signifcant electrical assistance, as we’d expect, and unless Mobil 1 is about to branch out from synthetic engine oils to battery coolant any time soon, the other suggestion here is (just like our 2027 WRC and F1 cars) petrol, and therefore noise, will still have an important role to play. Hip hip, and indeed, hooray.