Porsche 959

Introduction

Certain cars in history force the competition to pull their socks up and embrace the future.

The Ford Model T revolutionised the mass-production process. The original Mini completely rethought the way components of a car could be packaged with its transverse engine employed to maximise passenger space while minimising the car’s footprint. The Toyota Prius shudders may be a dirty word on this website, but it’s difficult to argue with the impact it had on attitudes towards hybrid and low-emission powertrains, now commonplace in vehicles at all levels.

Back in the late eighties, Porsche was working on a vehicle that would have a similar influence on supercar landscape: the 959.

Featuring a 2.85-litre turbocharged rear-mounted flat-six engine based on the flat-six out of a 911, which put 450hp at 6500rpm to all four wheels, the 959 was the peak of supercar performance in its day.

Features like anti-lock brakes were a fairly recent innovation at the time, but the 959’s technological innovation didn’t stop there. Eight hydraulic dampers – four at each corner – meant the 959 did without anti-roll bars. Electronic ride height and damping adjustments were made by the car’s on-board computer, allowing the car to automatically lift or lower itself depending on the conditions and speed.

The 959 was the first production car to be fitted with an electronic tyre pressure monitoring system, which worked on some of the world’s first run-flat tyres – Bridgestone RE71 Denlocs. Those tyres were fitted onto the world’s first production-car magnesium wheels, with hollow spokes. The 959 also featured a front diff with hydraulically-actuated clutches that were computer-controlled.

At a time when mobile phones were the size of your face and barely had screens, the technology seen on the Porsche 959 seemed out of this world, with performance figures that remain competitive with the current crop of supercars.

Design, Styling & Interior

Recognisable beneath the many aerodynamic additions to its shape, the 959 has some resemblance with its lineage; with a bloodline as pure as the Porsche 911, this apple was unlikely to stray far from the tree.

Massive flared arches direct airflow over the car towards the integral rear wing, with teardrop-shaped wing mirrors helping it slice through the air with minimal drag. Porsche managed to keep the 959’s drag coefficient to 0.31 with a ‘zero-lift’ air profile helping give stability at speed.

The ‘bodykit’ widens the car’s profile to accommodate the 959’s all-wheel-drive system and adding length at the back to allow room for the hybrid water- and air-cooling system employed on the flat-six.

To keep the 959’s weight low, the car features a mixture of aluminium, Kevlar and Nomex in its body panels – resulting in a kerb weight of just under 1500kg.

This is not so much a car that was designed in the traditional sense as calculated from the ground up.

Inside, surprisingly for such a high-performance model and breaking with the spartan tradition followed by rivals from the likes of Ferrari at the time, the 959 gets the full-on luxury treatment. Porsche had aimed to retain the luxury appeal of its 911 line, and 959 drivers received all the creature comforts of the ‘lesser’ sports car – air conditioning, leather seats, a radio, electric windows – all of which makes the car’s performance even more impressive.