Thought Porsche must be working at full capacity on the new 911 and Taycan? So did we. We certainly weren’t expecting this.

It’s the Porsche 935, and it takes only a small amount of historic motorsport knowledge to understand it riffs off the gobsmacking 935/78 racecar, better known as Moby Dick.

The modern-day 935 has been revealed at Rennsport Reunion at Laguna Seca as another 70th birthday present from Porsche to, well, itself. Though this one you can actually buy – providing you have around £750,000 and you’re one of the first 77 people in the queue, for this is a very limited-run car.

A very limited-use car, too. It’s track-only, so you won’t be rocking up to your local cars and coffee meeting in it. But being non-homologated, you might also be struggling to find a race series for it. Instead, Porsche says it’s “geared towards clubsport events and private training on racetracks”.

Yet it’s not a brutal racecar beneath. In fact, it’s the current-gen 911 GT2 RS, with its 700hp 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six engine driving the rear wheels via a 7spd PDK paddleshift gearbox. Which makes it about 150bhp shy of Moby Dick.

Making it look altogether different to the GT2 RS is the carbon-reinforced plastic bodykit, which apes the swooping shapes of the 935/78 and lengthens the car significantly at the rear. You can’t miss the new wing, either, which makes its base 911’s spoiler look – for the first time – rather meek. The 935’s even has LED lights incorporated into it, like the Porsche 919 Le Mans car’s.

There are nerdy racing nods all over the 935, in fact. A wooden gear knob is a knowing wink at the 917. The side mirrors are nicked wholesale from the current 911 RSR endurance racer. The protruding tailpipes are inspired by the 908.

The interior is vastly different to the one you’ll find in a GT2 RS, with just the one seat (below a handy escape hatch), a welded-in cage, a Cosworth-supplied data logger and a complex motorsport wheel. But if all of that makes it seem intimidating, there’s still comforting things like stability control, ABS and air conditioning fitted.

Which also means the 935 weighs 1380kg. That may be 150kg less than the GT2 RS, but it’s almost 200kg more than a McLaren Senna, about the only car that presents itself as a potential rival in terms of price, power and intention.

There’s less personalisation here, mind; all 935s come in Agate Grey with the Martini livery optional. You’d probably be a fool to not tick that box.

So, what do you reckon? As this generation of 911 shuffles towards replacement, has Porsche played a blinder with its parts bin?

STORY Stephen Dobie