The Houndstooth of Love

Retro looks, rear drive, manual shift. What is not to like? The price

- Story: Adam Binnie

IN ROAD CYCLING, A CLASSIC IS A RACE characterised by certain agreed elements such as a historic route, a particularly nasty set of hills or a road surface lined with cobbles.

A Porsche g11 Sport Classic comes with a similar set of defined parameters: namely, a ducktail spoiler, Fuchs-alike wheels, and a very limited-edition badge.

Usually, a collectable 911 is as likely to see daylight as the sunken city of Atlantis. However, unlike the ultrarare 997 Sport Classic, the allocation for the 992 model has been increased to 1,250 cars in an attempt to get at least some on to the road.

The Sport Classic recipe is as stripped back and easy to love as a jam sandwich: 550 hp from a flat-six, fed through a manual gearbox to the rear wheels. One of four Heritage Design specials celebrating 60 years of the gu, the Sport Classic draws on various 1960s and 70s elements, but most heavily the 1972 Carrera RS 2.7.