3 years, 4 championships, but 0 Le Mans wins: Assessing the Porsche 963
The car world has long had a thing about numbers. Engine outputs. Top speeds. Zero-to-60 times. Displacement. But the numbers go beyond bench racing specs. Some cars have numbers for names, and few more memorably than Porsche. Its most famous model shares its appellation with the emergency services here in North America; although the car should accurately be nine-11," you call it nine-one-one."
Some numbers are less well-known, but perhaps more special to Porsche's fans, especially those who like racing. 908. 917. 956. 962. 919. But how about 963?
That's Porsche's current sports prototype, a 670-hp (500 kW) hybrid that for the last three years has battled against rivals in what is starting to look like, if not a golden era for endurance racing, then at least a very purple patch. And the 963 has done well, racing here in IMSA's WeatherTech Sportscar Championship and around the globe in the FIA World Endurance Championship.