This is the Porsche Boxster Bergspyder

Car companies are always building stuff we never see. Concepts don’t get signed off, experimental engineering prototypes get sent to the crusher, or lost forever in dusty warehouses never to be seen again. So it’s a wonderous, joyous thing that we’re getting to see the Porsche Boxster Bergspyder – a prototype built in 2015 that never made production, but is quite excellent.  

The story goes like this. In 2015 the legendary Porsche 909 hillclimb car turned 50. Nicknamed the ‘Bergspyder’ (‘Mountain Spyder’, in English), it remains the company’s lightest-ever racecar, with a kerbweight of just 384kg. To celebrate the milestone, Porsche’s Executive Board commissioned a special car based on the then-current Boxster Spyder. It would be white and green, like the 909, and be stripped of as much weight as possible.

The result is a Boxster that doesn’t have a roof, windscreen or even passenger seat. Yep, the second seat was junked and the passenger’s door glued shut – in the seat’s place is space for luggage, a shelf for one’s helmet and a removable cover for the driver’s seat. The driver’s seats and much of the dashboard is borrowed from the 918 Spyder.

By the time Porsche’s engineers were done, the new Bergspyder weighed 1,099kg – a not inconsiderable 216kg less than the normal Boxster Spyder, and only a fraction more than a VW Up GTI. Its engine was the same 3.8-litre boxer from the Cayman GT4, making 387bhp. The company forecasted a 0-62mph time of less than four seconds, and a sub-7min 30sec Nurburgring lap.

Porsche is making 1,948 911 Speedsters, so why not do a few of these too? Well, Porsche says “a major question mark remained as to whether the car would be eligible for registration in some countries”, so it abandoned the project. The one-off was put on display at the development centre in Weissach before being transferred to the Porsche Museum. Its first proper outing was at last weekend’s Gaisberg hillclimb.

What do you think? Should Porsche have put the Bergspyder into production?