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Concept

This unofficial, unreal Porsche GT Vision concept is gorgeous

Stunning homage to Porsche's greatest race cars debuts, cures post-holiday malaise

  • January can be a bit of a letdown, frankly. The heady Christmas/Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/New Year’s party glow has departed, leaving only a slightly malodorous cake and curiously tighter trousers in its wake.

    Designer Alex Imnadze has, thankfully, provided an antidote to the post-holiday fugue – a modern interpretation of what’s arguably two of Porsche’s greatest hits. And, considering that Porsche has had quite a few over the past 80-odd years, this is a good thing.

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  • The entirely unofficial renderings are a sleek blend of Porsche’s best racing cars – the 907 and 917 – with more than a hint of the modern 918 and a dash of modern endurance racer. There might even be a bit of Oldsmobile Aerotech in there, but that could be wishful thinking on our part. The result is the GT Vision 906/917 Concept and, quite frankly, it’s gorgeous.

  • And that’s not really a surprise. Imnadze’s oeuvre includes gorgeous renditions of Alfas, Maseratis and Bugattis, which leads us to believe that he might actually be pretty good at the whole ‘car design’ thing, in a way our etch-a-sketch doodles never seem to be.

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  • Now, a bit of history. The original Porsche 907 debuted at the 1967 Le Mans 24 Hour, with its super-sleek, long-tailed body giving a top speed of more than 190mph – even with a comparatively paltry 220bhp on offer from the 2.0-litre, six-cylinder engine.

  • The 917, on the other hand, boasted a flat-12 engine that could fling the Gulf-liveried beauty from zero to 124mph in 5.3 seconds and on to a top speed of 240mph – with a long enough track, that is. In competition, it was more like 225mph, which is still pretty brisk.

  • In fact, the 917 was so fast that by the end of its run in 1973, it was pumping out nearly 1,600bhp. Along with super-light bodywork, it was actually labelled ‘unbeatable’ at the time.

  • With Audi out of endurance competition for the foreseeable future, is now the time for Porsche to make its Le Mans cars beautiful again?

    Well, yes, obviously. Please, Porsche?

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