The Porsche LMP2000 (also known as the Porsche 9R3) is a

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is the type of sports prototype race car used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series and Asian Le Mans Series. Le Mans Prototypes were crea ...

racing car that was developed between 1998 and 2000, but never raced. One car was built, and it was designed around a modified version of Porsche's 3.5-litre

V10 engine A V10 engine is a ten-cylinder piston engine where two banks of five cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V10 engines are much less common than V8 and V12 engines. Several V10 diesel engines have been prod ...

that was originally designed for Formula 1 in 1992. The project was canceled before the car was built, leading to various rumors about the reason for its demise.

Design and development

In 1998 Porsche designed a

for the following season, assigning it the codename 9R3. It was initially to use a modified version of the turbocharged

flat-six engine A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed cy ...

found in the Porsche 911 road car, but, although the design was completed in November 1998, Porsche opted against building the car. Due to the inherent flaws of using the heavy flat-six and the extra cooling the engine would've needed, Porsche instead redeveloped the 3.5-litre

that was originally developed in 1992 for

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

, to replace the V12 used by

Footwork Arrows Footwork Arrows was a British Formula One motor racing team which competed during the mid-1990s. Japanese businessman Wataru Ohashi, who was the president of Footwork Express Co., Ltd., a Japanese logistics company, began investing heavily ...

; it was redesigned for both 5-litre and 5.5-liter capacities, and the

pneumatic valve springs Pneumatic valve springs are metal bellows filled with compressed air used as an alternative to the metal wire springs used to close valves in high-speed internal combustion engines. This system was introduced in Formula One in 1986 with the Renaul ...

were removed, as the

air restrictor A restrictor plate or air restrictor is a device installed at the intake of an engine to limit its power. This kind of system is occasionally used in road vehicles (e.g., motorcycles) for insurance purposes, but mainly in automobile racing, to l ...

s mandated under LMP regulations made them redundant. The chassis was unaltered apart from suspension geometry for newer tires and the engine mountings to accommodate the new engine. In May 1999 the project was halted, but the chassis was completed and underwent a two-day private test, driven by

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013, as well as a three-time winner of the American Le Ma ...

and

Bob Wollek Bob Wollek (4 November 1943 – 16 March 2001), nicknamed "Brilliant Bob", was a race car driver from Strasbourg, France. He was killed on 16 March 2001 at age 57 in a road accident in Florida while riding a bicycle back to his accommodation afte ...

who reportedly gave positive feedback. Despite Porsche's initial denial of the 9R3's existence rumours circulated about its cancellation including: the engineers were diverted to the

Porsche Cayenne The Porsche Cayenne is a series of mid-size luxury crossover sport utility vehicles manufactured by the German automaker Porsche since 2002 (Type 9PA or E1), with North American sales beginning in 2003. It is the first V8-engined vehicle built b ...

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

project; to avoid competing with its

Audi R8 The Audi R8 is a mid-engine, 2-seater sports car, which uses Audi's trademark quattro permanent all-wheel drive system. It was introduced by the German car manufacturer Audi AG in 2006. The car is exclusively designed, developed, and manufac ...

stablemate which won the

2000 24 Hours of Le Mans The 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 68th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 2000. Pre-race After the 1999 race, most of the manufacturers in the top classes went in different directions. BMW and Toyota went into Formul ...

; insufficient competition after the withdrawal of BMW,

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, Nissan and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

. The engine from the car was used in the

Porsche Carrera GT The Porsche Carrera GT (Project Code 980) is a mid-engine sports car that was manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 2004 to 2006. '' Sports Car International'' named the Carrera GT number one on its list of Top Sports Cars ...

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

and was detuned for the production version. In July 2018, the car was seen in public for the first time at the

Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in late June or ...

, as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of Porsche.

References

{{Porsche Le Mans Prototypes Sports prototypes Mid-engined cars Rear-wheel-drive vehicles LMP2000