Porsche 911 GT1 Is Street Legal Madness

A very thin line exists between street cars and race cars. For certain classes of racing, manufacturers are obligated to build street legal examples in order to be eligible to race. Known as "homologation cars" they must conform to some notions of civility, which mostly means lights, turn signals, and seatbelts. The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual gathering of all things automotive, and its the best way to see classics in action. En route to the 75th members meeting, Henry Hope-Frost was a lucky hitchhiker who flagged down a stunning Porsche 911 GT1.

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Built to compete in the FIA GT Championship, Porsche was going up against the McLaren F1 and the CLK-GTR from Mercedes-AMG. The late 90's were a time of aero wars between the brands. Computer simulations were doing the best they could to predict airflow at high speeds, and it led to ridiculous spoilers and ducts of incredible proportions. The GT1 was a tube frame chassis that used production 911 suspension components and a 3.2-liter twin turbo flat six. The street version had to be detuned slightly for European emissions, but it made a shocking 537 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. Performace was record setting, even in terms of modern cars. It is capable of reaching 62 mph in 3.9 seconds with a quarter mile in 11.6. We wish the US had the same street-legal standards as England because it would give us an opportunity to see more classics in action. Stay with us for full coverage of Goodwood here on Autofluence.