Recently unveiled at the recent Rennsport Reunion in California, McLaren specialist Lanzante has a very special 930 Porsche 911 Turbo rocking a 1980’s era Formula One 1.5-liter turbocharged V6 engine.
It’s actually one of the actual engines the team used to win 26 Grand Prix and three World Championships split between Niki Lauda and Alain Prost. From 1984 through to 1987 the reinvigorated McLaren Formula One team used a turbocharged V6 engine developed and manufactured by Porsche, but the engine was actually financed by Luxembourgian holdings company Techniques d’Avant Garde, leading to the engine being branded as the TAG Turbo.
As part of the original project, one of those F1-spec TAG Turbos made its way into the back of a 930 911 Turbo–one of the nastiest, most snap oversteery car in the history of nasty snap oversteery things–as a test mule deemed necessary by mischievous engineers.
The original was hardly a showstopper, with only RUF wheels, a 10,000 rpm tachometer, and a pair of massive intercoolers tucked away under the whale tail giving away its true identity.
Now though, British engineering firm, Lanzante, will be creating 11 more TAG F1-powered 930 911s with permission from McLaren Racing. Each of the TAG F1 engines has real racing pedigree, for example, the weapon in the back of the Rennsport display car was driven to victory by Lauda.
In 1985, the Porsche-made 1.5-liter turbo V6 could kick out nearly 1,000 hp in qualifying spec when it was being jammed with more than 70 psi of boost, in race trim the engine made a more conservative 750 horsepower. It will most definitely be detuned to prolong the life of the high-revving race engines, however.
Even detuned this 930 will be the nastiest little sleeper on the streets–if its even street legal that is.
