The mystery has been solved, we finally know what that weird Porsche 911 GT1-ish car spotted at LAX last week is. It’s Tuthill’s new GT One limited-edition road car. Only 22 of these machines will be built, and buyers can choose between a screaming naturally-aspirated flat six, or a demure and mindful turbocharged flat six for motivation. This machine is all carbon everywhere, and weighs just 2,645 pounds ready to run. Each is the result of 3,500 build hours, so don’t expect to get one at a bargain price.
Tuthill doesn’t mention whether the GT One is based on any existing Porsche chassis, though if it’s true to Porsche’s 1995 original, the center section and nose will be a stretched 993-generation 911. There are certainly some 993-based components to this car, like the door handles and possibly the structure of the dashboard, but otherwise this looks like a complete custom ground-up design. The back half of the car is a custom tubular frame which houses the mid-engine drivetrain and inboard suspension.
The original Porsche GT1 Strassenversion was a street homologated car built explicitly to allow the factory to race at Le Mans against the likes of McLaren, Mercedes, Jaguar, and Ferrari. The Tuthill GT One is built from the beginning to be a street car, despite aping the race car’s good looks. Tuthill says it may build an optional aero package for track use, if there is demand for such a thing.
From Richard Tuthill: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with this amazing bunch of people at Wardington who continue to have such passion to create these amazing cars. At the heart of this piece of artwork is, of course, the constant pursuit of mechanical excellence. We have taken inspiration from all that we have done in the past and have been inspired by what others have done before us and continue to do. As usual, I sincerely hope those who wish to own one of these will also wish to drive them as often as they can and create memories that will last a lifetime.”
You can wish that all you want, Richie my boy, but every single one of these multi-million dollar monsters will be purchased and chucked into climate controlled storage away from the filthy eye of the public for the rest of time eternity.
The car made its debut in Monterey for Car Week on Friday, and likely by the end of the weekend Tuthill will have sold all 22 of these to prospective clients.
It’s a shame that nobody but the incredibly wealthy will ever be able to even lay eyes on one of these, because the original GT1 is a gorgeous piece of racing history, and this one enhances that with smoother edges and less aggressive aerodynamics. This might be the best 911-adjacent design in recent memory. Designer Florian Flatau, who has done work for Singer in the past, deserves some applause for refining this one.