The Porsche 911 Speedster is a stripped-back automotive celebration of la dolce vita

[MUSIC] In 1954, a New York car dealer called Max Hoffman put in a phone call to Ferry Porsche. Having already suggested the iconic 300 SL to Mercedes, he now put forth the idea of a strip type Porsche costing less than $3,000, thus This speedster was born. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] And this is a 991 Speedster. This was a car that Andreas Preuninger, head of the GT Car's department, first actually rooted the idea of six years ago. Back in In 2013 and the fact that it's a duty calls product is important. [SOUND] It's not a poser's car at speeds it shouldn't be. It should be all about the driving. It should be stripped back. They should put you in closer contact. With the road and your surroundings, and of course, your soundtrack. You get in a straightaway you want to press that loud exhaust button, the binoculars button, to give you as much sound as possible, to really hear that [INAUDIBLE] in all it's glory [SOUND] As you may know Porsche just like other manufacturers has had to introduce particulate filters to its exhausts although thanks to a redesign it has somehow managed to lose 10 kilos from the system in the process. There was a worry that the filters would muffle the soundtrack somewhat and indeed the speedster does seem a bit softer in its note. But Porsche says this is just the dampening effect of having a fabric roof on top of the engine cloaking some of the mechanical chatter talking of mechanical chatter speeds does falling to Flat 6 actually has 10 brake horsepower more than the G3 thanks to the addition of individual throttle bodies and even higher pressure injectors taking the total output to 503 brake horsepower at eight thousand four hundred RPA. [MUSIC] [SOUND] It's so lovely having a manual gearbox. That would be no surprise to you but it really, really is. We got an auto [UNKNOWN] button which you can always disable [UNKNOWN] auto [UNKNOWN] if you wanted to in the past. But in sport it was there all the time unless you took the [UNKNOWN] I'm just saying that doing yourself would be one thing. [SOUND] Sardinia is of course a pretty perfect place for pizza. But even on this idyllic Italian island the weather can be capricious. So we should probably have a chat about the roof. [MUSIC] Now originally, this wasn't actually gonna have any roof at all. And indeed the concept that I saw last year at Goodwood, didn't, it just had a tonneau cover which was quite cool. But perhaps for understandable reasons they decided that, bringing this to market, customers won't want some sort of rain cover as all the previous speakers have. So I gonna show you how to put it up. First, I'll press this button here, on the right here. If this big rear deck out which is actually very light is only 10 kilo it's all carbon fiber on the air. And you lift this up being careful not to catch fingers under there. Then. Back around here. [MUSIC] Slide this back into place. Put these eaves down. Just press this button to finish off electrically. And Robert's your mother's brother. Now I shared a really nice quote about the difference between a cabrera and a speedster. A cabrera is a car that you sometimes drive with the roof down on a speedster is a car the only ever a occasion you drive with the roof up. So, I think that's enough sun propection for one day. [music] [MUSIC] Apart from the roof then, most of the rest of the car is pretty much identical to a GT3. Gone are the impractical mirrors and central fuel filler of the concepts. This GT Silver car has something called the Heritage pack which gives you gold lettering, black and cognac interior and the original design of Porsche shield. All of which aesthetically lifts the car more than you might think. Notice 62 miles an hour is covered in four seconds dead. Complain the added 10th of a second on the speedster weighing sadly, but understandably 50 kilos more than the normal manual gt three. Perhaps the marketing department should have that engineer Stick your tongue We will say [UNKNOWN]. You also get PCCD [UNKNOWN] for your 211,000 pounds helping them reduce the [UNKNOWN] weight. The dampers meanwhile have been retuned very slightly to give a subtly more road [UNKNOWN] setup. A bit like the 911 R. So what does all that add Well, as you might imagine, the car that is pretty flipping fabulous. [SOUND] The big question, I suppose, is whether lopping the roof off It's taken away any stigmas. [BLANK_AUDIO] It's made it a less precise machine. [LAUGH] Thankfully not. [MUSIC] It is absolutely Fantastic. [MUSIC] [SOUND] Fast though it is, the speedster isn't about lap times. It is about increased tactility, heightened sense of speed, and that greater connection you get with the landscape you're traveling through when you're in a car. It is all about the experience. It is the embodiment of La Dolce Vita. For people that love driving it also seems like a fitting farewell to fantastic second generation of 9 9 1 GT cars from celebrating the reintroduction of the manual gearbox of the GT3 to seeking out the suits life for the GT 3 hour. [SOUND].