How to build an F1-engined 911

LANZANTE'S TAKE ON THE PORSCHE 911 IS UNIQUE BUT ITS CREATION WAS MORE A HAPPY ACCIDENT

- CHARLIE MARTIN

PORSCHE 911 RESTOMODS have become something of a cliche, with new firms popping up almost weekly with the promise of analogue thrills and retro-modern looks.

But Lanzante - the British firm known for maintaining many of the world's McLaren F1s, as well as making some of the world's most iconic race cars road legal - has produced one with a genuine difference.

Rather than upgrade the contemporary flat six, as is par for the course, Lanzante opted to retrofit a 911 with a genuine Formula 1 V6 from McLaren's back catalogue.

Developed by Porsche and wearing TAG branding after the team's contemporary sponsor, Techniques d'Avant Garde, the turbocharged 1.5-litre powerplant is rumoured to have put out more than 745kW (1000bhp) in qualifying trim.

It thrust McLaren to three consecutive drivers' championships between 1984 and 1986- at which point it was succeeded by the legendary Honda unit that delivered Ayrton Senna three titles.

Retrofitting such a potent engine into a classic is a tantalising proposition but, as Dean Lanzante told us at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it was never the original plan.

He simply wanted to purchase McLaren's original TAG test mule, a 930-generation Porsche 911 Turbo, from the firm's racing arm. Team boss Zak Brown politely declined the request, but Lanzante was undeterred.

"They had a load of engines. These engines had stood since the '80s, but they were all crated up," he says.

Sensing an opportunity, he began to assemble a business case for building a small run of road cars referencing that original mule. Cosworth was chosen to modify the engines for reliability and tractability on the road, but the costs quickly began to mount.