Photo: GerdeeX, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. (Credit links at the end of the content)
There are plenty of forgotten racing cars that never achieved what their creators had hoped for. Yes, we are mainly focused on F1 stories from the past, forgotten teams and forgotten drivers, but we also want to continue bringing classic cars and racing prototypes to CarsRave. Our next story is about the Porsche LMP2000, the Le Mans car that never raced.
The Porsche LMP2000 9R3
The Porsche LMP2000, internally known as the 9R3, is different, this wasn’t a failed experiment that never moved under its own power, Porsche actually built the car, tested it, and developed a formidable 5.5-liter V10 capable of producing more than 600 horsepower, the lightweight prototype reached around 302 km/h during its brief testing program.
And then, almost unbelievably, Porsche simply stopped, the LMP2000 was developed with the intention of taking on the leading prototypes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, instead, after only around 78 kilometers of testing, the project was canceled in November 1999.
The single completed prototype was hidden away for more than two decades, its story eventually became even more fascinating because the engine and transmission technology developed for the abandoned racing program would help shape one of Porsche’s most famous road cars, the Carrera GT.
Porsche Wanted Back at the Top of Le Mans
Porsche hardly needed an introduction to endurance racing; the company had already created some of the most successful sports-racing cars in history, from the legendary 917 to the 956 (The 35-year Nürburgring record holder) and 962,
But by the late 1990s, the top level of sports-car racing was entering another interesting period, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Audi and other manufacturers were investing heavily in prototype racing.
Audi in particular was preparing for a major assault on Le Mans with what would become the hugely successful R8 program. PORSCHE didn’t want to be left behind!
The answer was the 9R3, a new open-cockpit prototype designed around the LMP999 regulations, the project began quietly around 1998, with Porsche aiming to create a machine capable of returning to the top of endurance racing.
The 9R3 Was a Serious Racing Machine
The LMP2000 was built around a lightweight carbon-fiber and aluminum honeycomb structure, Porsche worked with British Specialist Lola Comosites to construct the chassis, while Dutch designer Wiet Huidekoper was involved in the car’s engineering and design.
There was also another very important name in this project, Norberg Singer, who for decades had been one of the most technical figures behind Porsche’s endurance racing success.
The result was an open-cockpit prototype weighting around the 900kg minimum required for its class.
A V10 Born From Porsche’s Formula One Ambitions
The engine inside the LMP2000 was anything but ordinary; Porsche chose a 5.5-liter naturally aspirated V10 engine, but it had an unusual history.
Its roots can be traced back to Porsche’s Formula One ambitions in the early 1990s. After the difficult season with 3.5-liter V12 used by Footwork in 1991. Reports suggest that Porsche developed a lighter 3.5-liter V10 for F1, but the engine never made it to the grid. Several years later, Porsche revived the V10 concept for its Le Mans prototype program, increasing the bore and stroke to expand it from 3.5 to 5.5 liters for the LMP900 regulations.
And this engine would later become one of the most important pieces of the LMP2000 story.
302 km/h After Just 78 Kilometers
The most frustrating part of the entire project is how little Porsche actually tested the finished car, the prototype completed only around 78 kilometers shakedown running before the program was canceled.
Yet even during that extremely limited testing, the LMP demonstrated impressive performance; it reached approximately 302 Km/h, or around 187 mph. This wasn’t full qualifying run down the Mulsanne Straight at Le Mans, it was testing at Porsche’s Weissach facility, where the track is far more compact and technical.
The car never had the opportunity to demonstrate what it could really do on the long straights of the Circuit de la Sarthe, no race setup, no full endurance simulation.
Why Did Porsche Cancel the LMP2000?
This is where the story becomes much more complicated, they officially canceled the project because of financial and strategic considerations, that explanation makes sense when you look at POrsche’s situation at the time.
During the 1990s, Porsche was working to improve its financial position and dramatically expand its business; the company wasn’t in a position where it could simply spend unlimited amounts of money chasing another expensive factory racing program.
Could the Porsche LMP2000 Have Beaten the Audi R8?
This is where it becomes almost impossible to give a definitive answer, the LMP2000 never raced, so there was no real-world evidence showing how it would have performed over 24 hours.
That means claims that it definitely would have beaten Audi should be avoided, but saying it had no chance would be equally unreasonable.
Factory driver Bob Wollek tested the car and reportedly recognized its potential, while Allan McNish was also involved in its early running, the prototype was clearly not a show car!
The problem was that endurance racing is about much more than horsepower, the Audi R8 would eventually prove extremely difficult to beat because of its reliability and outstanding race-team operation.
Fuel consumption would have been particularly important, Audi’s turbocharged V8 had advantages that could become extremely valuable during a 24-hour race.
The LMP2000 looked fast enough to fight Audi, but nobody can honestly say whether it was fast enough to beat it.
Related Content: Want to discover another fascinating Porsche story? Check out Porsche 911 Restoration: The Story Behind a One-of-a-Kind Gift.
The Racing Car That Became a Supercar
The LMP2000 may have disappeared from racing, but its story didn’t end in 1999, the V10 technology developed for the proejct eventually found another home, that home was the Porsche Carrera GT.
According to reports, Porsche significantly reworked the LMP2000 V10 before adapting it for the Carrera GT, turning the racing engine into a road-legal powerplant. The basic architecture remained, but Porsche increased its displacement from 5.5 to 5.7 liters, added variable valve timing, lowered the rev limit and fitted road-legal exhaust and emissions equipment.
The transformation from endurance prototype engine to road-going supercar powerplant is one of the most fascinating chapters in the entire story, a project that had been designed to compete at Le Mans had effectively been given a second life on the road.
Porsche Finally Revealed Its Forgotten Prototype
For more than 20 years, the sole LMP2000 prototype remained largely hidden from the public, the car became something of a ghost, it existed, but almost nobody had seen it in action.
That changed dramatically for its 25th anniversary, Porsche restored the prototype to running condition and brought the long-forgotten machine back to the Weissach test track, and one of the most fitting people to drive it again was Allan McNish, the Porsche factory driver who had originally been involved with its testing, after sitting dormant for decades, the V10 prototype was finally running again.
Related Content: Another fascinating forgotten Le Mans project is the Jaguar XJ13, a legendary prototype that never made it to the starting grid.
The Le Mans Porsche That Exists Only in the History Books
What makes the 9R3 very different from Porsche’s famous Le Mans winners, there are no trophies attached to its name and no championship stats proving what it could achieve, instead, its legacy comes from the question it leaves behind.
What if Porsche had gone to Le Mans in 2000 with the LMP2000? would Audi’s R8 still have dominated the early 2000s?
That makes the 9R3 very different from Porsche’s famous Le Mans winners. There are no trophies attached to its name and no championship statistics proving what it could achieve.
We will never know, what we do know is that Porsche built a genuine 600-hp-plus prototype, tested it at more than 300 km/h, and then abandoned after barely enough running to understand its full potential.
Featured image credits: GerdeeX, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
