Porsche 963 RSP: road-ready hypercar born from racing legacy

Porsche reveals the 963 RSP, a unique hypercar inspired by the 917. From Le Mans debut to museum display, it celebrates 50 years of racing heritage.

Porsche has never hidden its devotion to racing heritage. But in 2025, the brand took a step that crossed the boundary between grandstands and city streets. On the roads of Le Mans, the Porsche 963 RSP made its debut — a one-of-a-kind hypercar that doesn’t merely reference a legend, but reimagines it in motion. It is not homologated, not for sale, and not built for the masses — it exists because someone once asked, “What if?”

That question was once posed by Count Gregorio Rossi, who in 1975 took a racing Porsche 917 onto public roads. Exactly fifty years later, the company chose not just to recall that moment, but to embody its spirit in carbon and Kevlar — thus, the 963 RSP was born. The idea took shape during a meeting at Road Atlanta, when Timo Resch (President of Porsche Cars North America), Thomas Laudenbach (Vice President, Porsche Motorsport), and Urs Kuratle (Director of LMDh factory racing) imagined what a modern interpretation of the 917 might look like — just as uncompromising and fearless.

Inspiration lives in the details. The body color, Martini Silver, was recreated using archival records. The interior — a light blend of leather and Alcantara — mirrors Count Rossi’s original 917. Even the ventilation grilles echo the shape of the original 917’s cooling fan. The body, made from carbon and Kevlar, wasn’t wrapped like most race cars — it was hand-painted, a rare and technically demanding process.

And beneath this artistic surface lies real racing technology. A 4.6-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with a hybrid system delivers up to 680 horsepower — an evolution of the RS Spyder and 918 Spyder powertrain. Yet for road use, the electric drive was remapped, the suspension softened, and the lighting adapted to meet public regulations. For the first time in the 963’s history, the car received license plates — granted by special permission from the French authorities.

The 963 RSP debuted alongside the very machine that inspired it: the original Porsche 917. According to driver Timo Bernhard, the moment felt “unreal” — two generations of race cars, not on the track, but on the street. After Le Mans, the vehicle will head to the Porsche Museum, followed by the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

This is not just an engineering showcase or nostalgic gesture. The 963 RSP is a rare fusion of precision and passion. A car not built for the race or the market, but as a tribute to the boldness with which Porsche has always looked at the road — and at itself.