If Porsche comes out with a mid-engine 911 race car for 2017, it won’t be their first. Behold the absolutely bonkers twin-turbo 911 GT1 Evo race car, or proof that Porsche would call just about anything a 911 if it allowed them to win.
The Goodwood Road & Racing folks sent British Touring Car Championship driver Andrew Jordan to check out the 911 GT1 Evo, who found the big black Playstation-liveried battleship to be surprisingly easy to drive. That’s the joy of a purpose-built mid-engine race car: it’s very balanced and manageable.
And let’s not kid ourselves: there may have been a 911 GT1 Straßenversion “road car” for homologation purposes, but that was really just a lightly tweaked race car with some space for a license plate. This mid-engine, tube-frame, carbon-fiber-bodied boost-beast of a car was all race car, built to exploit the GT1 class rules to the fullest.
One of the first things Jordan points out, however, isn’t necessarily related to how the car drives. It’s that delightful chirp of the turbo wastegate. I’d be content to sit in there and make chirpy noises all day. Given the car’s short gearing, you hear those chirps quite a bit.