Porsche Is Planning a Street-Legal Le Mans Car

Today marks 50 years since the race-bred 917 went street-legal. Porsche is marking the occasion by teasing a successor.

Photo by: Porsche

By: Brian Silvestro

Apr 25, 2025 at 9:21am ET

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Porsche is planning something big. The company on Friday released a video teasing what looks to be a street-legal version of its Le Mans-competing 963 endurance race car, with a full reveal date of June 2025.

This wouldn't be the first time Porsche turned its mid-engine enduro car into a street-legal machine. Exactly 50 years ago, the company's flat-12-powered 917 took to public roads for the first time. It was the result of a project within Porsche to fulfill the request of a customer who wanted to drive Porsche's rowdy race car on the street.

The car, 917 chassis 30, was originally used to go racing before the factory converted for road use at the request of Italian businessman and Martine heir Gregorio Rossi di Montelera. It was refinished in Martini Silver, and equipped with stuff like side indicators, a horn, mufflers, and a spare tire. The two seats were refinished in tan leather sourced from Hermès, while the rest of the interior was coated in suede.

The car recently underwent a full mechanical restoration, and is still enjoyed on the road by its current owner, as Porsche's video above shows. The company seems keen to revive the tradition of making its Le Mans cars street-legal, flashing a silhouette at the end of the video of what appears to be a 963 alongside this statement:

As its descendent enjoys success on the track today, the spirit and desire within Porsche that allowed the creation of a 917 for the road all that time ago remains very much alive five decades on—prompting the question: what if?

What do you think?

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That's no confirmation, of course, but a fairly strong suggestion. It's possible Porsche could do another one-off, building a single street-legal 963 for a very valuable customer. It's also possible the automaker could build a small run of road-going 963s to compete against the likes of the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Red Bull RB17.

Either way, we won't have to wait long. Porsche suggests a full reveal will happen in June, just a couple of months away.