Gunther Werks brings its Sport Touring ultimate Porsche 993 to the Quail
The small Southern California firm specializes in building idealized versions of Porsche's last air-cooled car.
Gunther Werks is attempting to build the ultimate 993 chassis air-cooled Porsche 911 and it's going about it in a way that's a lot different from that other company that reimagines 911s. Instead of attempting to backdate the car's appearance, Gunther Werks have proudly embraced the late 1990s-ness of the 993 and are simply trying to turn the wick up on the car in every way imaginable.
One of the more notable ways in which it's doing this is through use of a carbon fiber "exoskeleton" that's Gunther Werks' way of saying they replace the steel and aluminum body with custom-designed and custom-made carbon fiber units, allowing it to reduce weight and more easily massage the car's dimensions to accommodate larger wheels and tires. Gunther Werks displayed this "exoskeleton" for the first time, unobscured by paint, at the Quail gathering in Carmel, California.
The Gunther Werks 400R is a love letter to Porsche's last air-cooled car.
The other development that the company displayed is the addition of a "Sport Touring" specification for the base 400R model. It features a new "ducktail" spoiler design reminiscent of that used on the 1973 Porsche Carrera RS. The Sport Touring models also get a new bespoke intake plenum and a host of other upgrades.
"After debuting our project last year at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering, we received a lot of questions regarding the carbon fiber elements of the vehicle," said Peter Nam, CEO of Gunther Werks. "This year, we decided to bring an exposed carbon exoskeleton straight from our production line to showcase the amount of carbon fiber that adorns each Gunther Werks-transformed 911. We also brought a completed customer vehicle so attendees who weren't able to stop by our exhibit last year can see the finished product. This particular vehicle features our Sport Touring package."
The Gunther Werks interior is focused, but not spartan. It's an exercise in what Porsche's current GT group might have done in the mid-1990s.
Each Gunther Werks car gets a handbuilt 4.0-liter engine from Rothsport, the foremost expert on building Porsche's 3.6-liter motor as found originally in the 964 and 993 models. The engine is tuned to produce 400 horsepower and 330 pound-feet of torque. The cars also get adaptive suspension from JRZ and carbon ceramic brakes from Brembo.
Gunther Werks has committed to building 25 of its ultimate 911s and customers have already begun taking delivery.
