Reimagined Porsches and classics continue to be lapped up by collectors which has led to a rise in the ‘resto-mod’ car culture. Here, the emphasis is not on restoring a car to its exact specifications but to enhance it every which way. California tuner Guntherwerks is no stranger to wild Porsches but its latest project is arguably its most radical one yet.
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Revealed at the Monterey Car Week in California, the ‘Project Tornado’ is a 993 Porsche being dipped in modern-day supercar trickery. While it’s based on a 993 Turbo, the shape has been redesigned and layered with a distinct supercar-like persona. Most of it has to do with the widebody stance and the all-new carbon-fibre body panels.
There’s carbon fibre everywhere right from the entire body to the cockpit and even the steering wheel. As a result, the Project Tornado is lighter than the original 993 by 165kg.
Unlike Singer-reimagined Porsches, the Guntherwerks way is a lot less subtle but does raise the visual impact of the legendary 911 silhouette, while the 993 shape has nicely blended in with those huge wheel-arches, massive rear spoiler and 3D-printed exhaust tips. A bespoke light bar, massive diffuser and new LED lighting further round out the changes.
In terms of powertrain, there’s a Rothsport Racing 4.0-litre twin-turbo engine that develops up to 700 horsepower and is built by Jeff Gamroth and the team. Standard power figures are rated at 599bhp while the torque comes in at 759Nm but there’s also a track mode that unleashes the entire 700bhp output.
Guntherwerks has added stability and detracted the sketchy driving experience of the traditional 911 with a wider track while allowing the driver to extract maximum power from this drivetrain. All this power is channelled via a 6-speed manual gearbox for an authentic driving experience and bigger Brembo brakes also provide adequate stopping power.
Guntherwerks will only make 25 of these bewinged monsters but even compared to its other creations, the Project Tornado must be the wildest car that these tuners have made till now.
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