Porsche's 963 RSP is a love letter to the only roadgoing 917

It's enshrined into the brand's DNA. If Porsche wants to make a dream happen, it will make a dream happen.

And so, we have its latest one-of-one masterpiece. First hinted at cryptically as a backlit silhouette, then more directly via a visually and aurally breathtaking ASMR-masterpiece in separate videos on Porsche’s official YouTube channel, the Porsche 963 RSP has finally been revealed in full. Naturally, Porsche has chosen to photograph it in its rightful environment too: Not dashing around a track, but cruising gloriously out on a public road.

The one-of-one 963 RSP arrives 50 years after the sole roadgoing 917 took to public roads

In the 963 RSP's case, the dreaming involved the magic of Porsche's past, a powerful seed planted by a surprisingly small team of passionate individuals, and of course, one very successful current endurance race car.

As its name suggests, the 963 RSP is based off the IMSA and FIA WEC-conquering Porsche 963, but has been thoroughly re-examined, and then re-tooled to make it suitable for driving on public roads.

The letters 'RSP' stand for Roger Seale Penske - in homage to its owner and Chairperson of Penske Corporation, Roger Penske 

The hallowed 'RS' letters generally stand for 'Rennsport' (or 'race sport') in Porsche-speak, but 'RSP' here doesn't directly reference the car's motorsport pedigree; it's a homage, instead, to its lucky owner. One very key figure in both the Porsche Penske Motorsport setup and the larger American auto racing scene, in fact... whom you might know as Roger (Seale) Penske.

There should be no ambiguity that the 963 RSP was conceived from the outset, too, as the spiritual successor to the only road-legal Porsche 917 of the 1970s. 2025 marks a landmark 50 years since the Chassis No. 30 car (commissioned by heir of the Martini e Rossi firm, Count Rossi) was fitted with Alabama number plates and took an ambitious road trip - spanning a few hundred kilometres - around Europe. In that sense, you could say the basis for the 963 RSP germinated five decades ago. 

The 963 RSP was built from the outset to embody the DNA of Count Rossi's Martini Silver 917

"This anniversary of 50 years of the 917 being driven on public roads got us thinking… What can we do? Where is the DNA of this car (the 917) as of today?", the team shared with us in a media roundtable a week prior.

It's safe to say that DNA has been transfused as faithfully as possible to the 963 RSP - though it's also worth noting that understanding the Porsche 963 is a key precedent to also understanding the complexity required to bring it to life.

While the car's number plates are likely to be the most obvious telltale signs, other key differences speak to the its road-focused (rather than track-focused) nature.

Among the bits likely to call for your attention most immediately are its sealed-off swollen wheel arches. In contrast, the ones on the original 963 have massive gaps intentionally punctured into them.

With a heavier emphasis now on form over function, the panel gaps on the car are less pronounced. And to ensure that the car could meet road-legal requirements, the 963 RSP also sits lower to the ground than the 963. Come round to the rear and you'll notice the rear air scoops from the GT3, and even a reverse camera peeking out over the massive wing. 

While the 963 RSP - as a product of the 21st century - is a vastly different machine now to the Count's 917, it also speaks to the team's mountain-moving efforts that a few of its features were executed precisely with its spiritual predecessor in mind.

There's the fact that the 'Michelin' lettering on said its rain tyres are blown up for visual heft. But by far the most obvious homage to the 917 is the 963 RSP’s Martini Silver paintcoat, which extends to its front splitter.

Achieving the Martini Silver paintwork with a smooth finish on the 963 RSP's carbon fibre body proved to be one of the biggest challenges during the process - which the team eventually surmounted

As we're told, the decision to go for paintwork rather than a wrap was made quite early on, with consideration given to the fact that the 963 RSP is a car for the road, and not for the track.

Though deceptively simple on first glance, achieving this specific hue presented the team with one of its biggest challenges throughout the process, as it pored over how to give the car's carbon fibre body the right chromatic treatment, while still achieving a smooth finish.

Creature comforts: The 963 RSP gets an interior fitted with leather and alcantara, and even has a cupholder

Still, it's not just the car's styling that has changed. Like the Count's 917, the 963 RSP was built with creature comforts for the road trips in mind too.

Whoever is lucky enough to be able to swing the car's doors outwards will find that the scent that greets their nose is not that of metal, plastic and rubber, but expensive leather - even on the steering wheel. Double stitching covers the seats and headrests.

And whereas driving the 963 would feel almost plane-like - what with all manner of wires running all over on the inside - a pleasant-looking alcantara headliner covers its interior. Electronics and sensors and systems that were not required got the chop too, to create a "more comfortable environment for whoever's driving the car". In similar vein to a number of other hardcore models in Porsche's lineup like the GT3 RS, the 963 RSP even gets a specific extra feature: A cupholder.

"We are in the city of Coca Cola," the team (based in Atlanta) tells us cheekily. "So even a Coke can fits in there perfectly… [The cupholder] is there just in case."

The 963 RSP shares the same hybrid powertrain as the 963, but gets a 'softer' character that puts it in line with its road-ready status

Where the changes haven't been as pronounced is with the car's powertrain. While specific numbers haven't been provided, the 963 RSP has been confirmed to share the same hybrid powertrain as the 963, which marries a twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor.

That's not to say crucial tweaks were not made in order for it to have been certified as road-ready. Over the course of bringing the car to life, the team also tells us that an extensive dyno process was undertaken, "so that non-racing drivers can drive the car".

For starters, whereas the 963 runs strictly on race fuels, you could roll up to any petrol station in France or the U.S.A in the 963 RSP and fill it up normally as you would a 911.

There also seems to have been an intent to make the car slightly softer around the edges, by tuning the engine and driving characters slightly downwards so that it could be driven at around "60km/h, 100km/h, and not be surging around". Specific damper valve settings were also developed to try to "make it as compliant and comfortable as possible while not losing the performance [it] has."

After all, whereas the 963 was designed to breath fire and slay the competition at Le Mans, the 963 RSP's remit is to offer a different driving experience - one in which the optimisation of power is not the be-all and end-all of its existence. Other less significant adjustments - to its control systems, as well as the deployment of its hybrid system (to smoothen out the power curves) - thus contributed to its unique nature.

Let's also properly address the important question again: No, the 963 RSP will categorically not be a limited-production car in the vein of the 918 Spyder, but a strict one-of-one. And yes, that also means that for brand-agnostic petrolheads, the Holy Trinity of hypercars from the 2010s will unfortunately not come to be.

"It was clear from the very beginning that we would not do a completely homologated, and completely street-legal version of a 963. That would be - by far - too much time; too big of a story," the team shares with us.

Instead, special approval has been granted from the French and American authorities for the car to bear the number plates you see in these pictures. The 963 RSP can only be driven on public roads with permission granted beforehand, and only with either manufacturer- or W-plates.

Timing is key to any unveiling and the 963 RSP will soon celebrate its very special public debut. The car will be brought out at the 24H of Le Mans, and is set to be driven alongside the original 917, in a breathtaking union of the past and the present. ("I can already feel the goosebumps right now," the team tells us.)

Thereafter, the man himself, Roger Penske, will still have to wait a bit more to be able to drive it on the regular, since the 963 RSP has quite a busy press tour lined up for it.

After gracing the Welcome Centre at Le Mans through the race weekend, the two cars will head to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, and then over to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The actual handover to the "very, very keen" Penske will be done back in the U.S.A., only at Monterey Car Week.

In case you're armed with infinite millions, and are beating yourself up now wondering if you could have gotten your hands on the car ("We have received questions, yes", the team says when asked about other customers enquiries), go easy on yourself. The team seem to have arrived quite quickly at a consensus that only Penske could be the perfect owner for the car. 

Still, you can count on Porsche to keep the dreaming of its longtime fans and customers alive.

"[There's] no harm in asking. We'll always listen, and as we said earlier, you know, never say never. But for now this is a one-of-one car."