Porsche 960: the forgotten “super 911” with a flat-eight engine

Only a few years ago, at the beginning of the previous decade, when the internal-combustion engine was still universally admired, Porsche explored the possibility of introducing a new model to bridge the gap between the iconic 911 and the 918 Spyder, its limited-production supercar.

It would have been a kind of “super 911” on anabolic steroids: more power, more technology and… more cylinders. At its heart would reportedly have sat an eight-cylinder boxer engine, likely derived from the Porsche 911’s six-cylinder boxer unit.

Note: the Porsche Le Mans Living Legend (2016), a prototype unveiled by Porsche, has been chosen to illustrate this article. As becomes clear below, it could easily have served as a “super 911”.

At the time, the press even suggested a name: Porsche 960. It could have acted as a spiritual successor to the legendary Porsche 959, the car that introduced many technologies later seen in the Porsche 911’s 993 generation.

Those reports, it turns out, had substance. There is a saying that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”, but Porsche ultimately chose to put this particular fire out.

Confirmation of the Porsche 960 “super 911”, a decade later

Confirmation came in an interview with Marcos Marques, Porsche’s current head of the synthetic fuels project.

Speaking to The Intercooler, the Porsche executive disclosed that the German marque had genuinely planned its “super 911”.

It was to use a twin-turbo eight-cylinder boxer engine producing 750 hp at 9000 rpm. The gearbox? A manual. Yes, really: a manual!

While the Porsche 918 Spyder was tasked with demonstrating everything the company could achieve technologically, the proposed Porsche 960 could have shown how far a more analogue supercar could go.

A prototype Porsche 960 was built

According to Marcos Marques, Porsche went as far as building a prototype around a Cayman chassis and conducting some road testing, before suddenly bringing the project to a halt. In the interview, the company representative said Porsche felt that “it wasn’t the right car for that moment”.

Marques also explained that abruptly cancelling projects such as this was part of the engineering development process. “We are an engineering company and are always looking for new answers, different solutions, and sometimes those answers are not the most appropriate for a particular moment,” he said. “But all of that is part of the engineering process.”

This was not Porsche’s only supercar concept to be shelved in recent years. In 2020, the manufacturer revealed a collection of secret prototypes, among them a road-going version of the Le Mans-winning 919 Hybrid.

There was also the 904 Living Legend, a tribute to the 1960s Carrera GTS 904. Based on the Volkswagen XL1, it was supposedly intended to receive a Ducati V2 engine.

Porsche Le Mans Living Legend and the flat-eight connection

It is worth noting that some versions of the original 904 used a flat-eight engine. For that very reason, the 2016 Le Mans Living Legend pictured here may be one of the revealed prototypes that comes closest to this hypothetical “super 911”.

This model featured front and rear clamshells that opened in opposite directions, fuel filling at the front and, according to Porsche, a characterful eight-cylinder engine mounted in a rear-mid position.

As for a true successor to the 918, it will probably arrive at some stage. However, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said in 2021 that it was unlikely to appear before 2025. And it will eventually be electric.

Source: The Intercooler