Porsche’s all-conquering 919 Hybrid won races, titles, and our hearts in the span of its four-season run in the top-flight LMP1 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. From 33 races, the 919 Hybrid found its way to 17 race victories, three constructors championships, three drivers championships, and three Le Mans 24 overall wins. By any measure, that’s an impressive chassis, engine, and driver lineup combination. Porsche came to the class to win it all, which it did and more. What we didn’t know, however, was that Porsche built a mockup of the 919 Hybrid Le Mans racer as a potential street-dominating production hypercar. Yeah, you read that right.
Aston Martin Valkyrie? Mercedes-AMG Project 1? Toyota GR Super Sport? Forget all of that, none of those supercars have straight up Le Mans cred yet, but Porsche’s 919 came, saw, and conquered. Porsche built the design study you see here back in 2017 and kept it under wraps all these years. With a carbon chassis, over 900 horsepower delivered by a four cylinder engine paired to a hybrid electric motor, and the exact dimensions as the race car, this could have been a proper track day weapon for the well-heeled Porsche fanatic.
Presumably the interior of the 919 street car would have been a bit on the tight side, but you’re willing to get up close and personal with your passenger for the treat of a mega Porsche, right? I know I would be. It’s possible that because the race car was so intense that the street car was never green lit. Could any of Porsche’s street-focused clientele really extract the most from this machine? Doubtful.
It’s possible that this car could have really been something, however. Given that the FIA WEC has gotten rid of the LMP1 class in favor of a class it is calling Le Mans Hypercar, Porsche could have done a 962 gambit all over again. Back in the 1990s when the Group C category had its speed wings clipped, Porsche’s dominant 962 was no longer the winning strategy. The top class was shuffled out for a more street-oriented class with a homologation regulation requiring at least one street version be made. Tuning company Dauer made a street-legal 962 race car in 1993 and Porsche jumped through the loophole in the FIA’s rulebook. The street-legal Dauer, with narrower tires, less aggressive aero, a leather interior, and a luggage compartment, won at Le Mans in 1994.
How awesome would it have been for Porsche to pull off the same exact thing 27 years later?
Alas, for the 919 Street concept was shuffled off to a shelf in the basement of Porsche’s design warehouse. Nobody saw it until today, when Porsche unveiled it to the world. What could have been?
To find out more about this car and 14 other concepts Porsche never released, check out the book Porsche Unseen from Delius Klasing.