Porsche 959- The Sportscar Inspiration

How Porsche’s 30-year-old supercar inspired today’s most advanced automobiles...

- Chris Nelson

In today’s speed-of-light fast world, we can easily lose track of time and the invaluable perspective it gives us on so much of life. That goes for automobiles as well. These days we have hypercars such as the 350-kmph Mercedes-AMG Project One, which has a hybrid powertrain that produces over 1,000 horsepower, and the aerodynamically wild, fully carbon-fibre Aston Martin Valkyrie with its remarkable low 1:1 power-to-weight ratio.

Compared to these two, the 30-year old Porsche 959 seems somewhat prosaic. What’s so enticing about a sensible, understated supercar with a comfortable ride and a top speed under 320 kmph?

But when the Porsche 959 debuted in 1985, it pushed the boundaries of automotive performance. After its first drive in the US$230,000 supercar, Car and Driver said, “The Porsche 959 can accomplish almost any automotive mission so well that to call it perfect is the mildest of overstatements.” In its November 1987 issue, Automobile magazine called the Porsche 959 the ‘car of the century,’ said it rewrote the rules for supercars and added that Porsche’s competitors would struggle to build something that surpassed the 959’s “astonishing abilities.”

Development of the 959 ushered in a new era of Porsche sports cars, introduced then-exotic technologies now commonly used by Porsche, and set the industry standard for high-performance cars.