Air Cooled 11,000 RPM Flat 6 & 850 kg Wet – The Tuthill 911K Is The Lightweight Porsche As Intended
A Proper lightweight 911 of just 850 kg wet and a 3.1 litre flat 6 with a redline of 11,000 RPM is just as it should be and just as Tuthill intended.
Just reading the spec alone is enough for me to know that if I wanted a lightweight 911, this would be it.
A 3.1 litre short stroke 4 valve engine, with an 11,000 RPM rev limit mated to a magnesium 6 speed 915 K and an all up wet weight of 850 kg read like a race car, but the Tuthill 911 has the appearance of a well sorted road car. Of course, there is the obligatory half roll cage and some nice period enough looking bucket seats. But there’s also a nicely finished full dashboard with decent looking carpets underneath.
To achieve this low weight has meant the use of carbon fibre, in fact the whole body has been produced in it and that roll cage is made of titanium. The quest for weight saving has extended everywhere.
The car rides on gorgeous 15″ carbon Fuchs style wheels, which look correct, but also contribute to a dramatic unsprung mass reduction, along with carbon brake discs.
Richard Tuthill spoke about the lightweight 911 project:
“There are so many great people in the world building amazing Porsche 911’s its sometimes quite daunting to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in. That said, my experience over the last few years, when combined with an extremely enthusiastic and supportive friend and client, was enough to do exactly that.
The idea – to build a simple, light car, beautifully presented but with the mechanical capability to take on anything that is currently out there; old or new. This one is for the drivers and quite honestly, I never imagined it could ever be what it has already become, and we’ve only just started 🙂
Weight is always king and the fun of driving a lightweight car when combined with what I believe to be the most exciting engine I have ever experienced and a chassis that gives one unrivalled compliance on wonderfully diverse backroads has redefined what I thought was possible.
I look forward to everyone having a go in the first of a small series of these cars.”
Amongst the highlights of the build are many bespoke parts, many of them Tuthill developments. The lightweight windows, Tuthill competition pedal box and wiring harness, and a bespoke oil tank.
The brake calipers are Tuthill, and the carbon body panels extend to the roof, doors, rear quarters the front wings, both front and rear bumpers, engine lid and the entire rear bulkhead and seat wells. Even the badge is made from titanium and the Porsche crest is painted on.
Speaking of paint, the colour chosen for this car looks great and really suits the earlier 911 shape. The paint, which is obviously high quality, covers all of the carbon bodywork not giving away what lies beneath. I’m sure this would fit in with a bunch of standard steel bodied 911s and no-one would actually know.
The engine is a four-valve unit to 3.1 litres but built with a short stroke, making it oversquare and capable of hitting that 11,000 RPM limit. This sounds like a race engine and would need to be built very well and perfectly balanced to reliably reach those speeds.
But it doesn’t stop there. There is use of titanium in the suspension, with both the torsion bars and anti-roll bars being made from it. More carbon fibre finds its way inside with those nice-looking seats being carbon along with the RS steering wheel, door cards and the dash panel.
Tuthill Porsche are not new to car preparation having started with a fully prepared Volkswagen Beetle in 1977 where Richard Tuthill’s father raced the London to Sydney Rally. This established Tuthill as a serious rally car builder and this continued with a win with a Porsche 911 in 1993.
Porsche 356 and 911 owners started to approach Tuthill to prepare their cars and Tuthill was soon becoming one of the places to go to have your car prepared.
Significantly it was Prodrive who came to Tuthill to partner with them to prepare the bodyshells of the Rothmans Porsche 911 SC / RS and the Subaru Legacy driven by rallying legend Colin McRae.
It was Tuthill who prepared the first Porsche 911 to compete in the World Rally Championship for nearly 30 years and the team won the 2015 FIA WRC R-GT championship with a 997 GT3 R-GT rally car.
Richard also prepares circuit racers, so if you like historic racing and events like the Le Mans Classic you will have seen some of their work.
Two FIA Masters series trophies have been claimed by Tuthill prepared cars and the company are one of the founding members of the Peter Auto 2.0 litre Cup series.
“The genius of the Porsche 911 is defined by its endurance. In production for almost 60 years, no other sports car has created more memories. Expert restoration is key to their longevity. Few workshops outside of Stuttgart can restore like we do.” – Richard Tuthill.
The Porsche 911 is quite unique with the vast array of iconic and historic road designs and Tuthill Porsche is world famous forrenowned for its ability to build and maintain those classic race and road cars.
They say ypou should never buy a car on spec alone, but in my head I have already done so. Just the photographs and the decsription is enough to tell me that it will be good. No, it’s going to be better than good, I think it’s going to be great. After all it has been built by Tuthill, and in the world of Porsche this is a big deal.
Of course, I’ll have to have an extensive test drive to confirm my suspicions.
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