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Porsche of the 80s, a technologically superintendent animal of a sports car: the 959

The 80s, remembered with reverence and disgust for old-fashioned synth music, the overuse of the word "dude", and a scandalous display of fantastic cheap sci-fi movies, was an indisputably important decade in a step toward modern society (in relative terms today). Similarly, the 1980s were the decade when Porsche began producing more extravagant models and experimented with the advanced automotive technology that now defines the company.

There is no better example of this than the short-lived Porsche 959, then regarded as one of the most radical and forward-thinking cars ever created when it prevailed on the consumer market in 1986.

In 1981, Helmuth Bott and Peter Schutz agreed on the concept of a new 911 model that could be developed over time, which was ultimately the beginning of the creation of the Porsche 959 (which at the time had the name Gruppe B due to a Bott imagines that the car will be used extensively in Group B rallies). The flamboyant and internally robust vehicle was later announced at the 1983 Frankfurt Motor Show, where it was remarkably still undergoing major tinkering while on display.

The 959, unsurprisingly, shared many of the same aspects that you would expect to find in 911; for example, they both had a rear engine (which was also a low suspension engine) and similar outboard designs; However, the 959 had a noticeably different suspension than the 911 and, regarding the difference in the bodywork, aluminum was used for the doors and the trunk (the rest of the exterior is Kevlar) in the Porsche 959, a great contrast to the all-steel Porsche 911. Foundation. These followed subtle aesthetic design alterations that had a different effect on the 959's driving experience.

Unsurprisingly, the Porsche 959 was still marketed as a completely different model race than the Porsche 911, which is easily deduced just by looking at the difference in the names of the two models; It can be assumed that this was mainly due to it being much earlier than the 911, especially in terms of the components of the time, to say the least.

Some of these recently implemented features include air vents installed at both corners of the wheel housings along with air "sucks" added to the rear wheels, twin turbos combined with water-cooled cylinder heads, a six-cylinder power plant, and a 2.85 liter engine. with sequential turbos. If that wasn't enough to take in, the incredibly sophisticated hardware also drove at recorded speeds of 197 mph, making it the fastest production car created at the time.

So why did it only last seven years, until 1993?

Well, it is often argued that the similar 911 turbo model from the mid-1980s felt remarkably similar to the 959 when behind the wheel, this despite the fact that the Porsche 959 was priced at nearly three times its older relative. near.

Not only this, but, as mentioned above, the Porsche 959 was developed around the Gruppe B idea of ​​track racing.

Unfortunately, the Gruppe B side of the track was never updated; This was the time when he figuratively put the 959 back in its cage, largely due to the fact that it had no other real avenues for consumers to explore and no loose gravel roads to break down.

As if that wasn't enough, there was also an extreme lack of interest from the manufacturer, which made maintaining the model over the years nearly impossible for Porsche, especially with profits in mind.

However, unsurprisingly, the legacy of the Porsche 959 lives on. Considered today as one of the newest, most robust and utterly bizarre models to ever come out of the Porsche factory gates; fighting to get one is almost a given today.