For three years in a row from 1984 to 1986 McLaren won the F1 World Championship with TAG-branded but Porsche-built power units. Forty years later three of those very engines are being installed into a trio of TAG Championship Porsche 911s by the engineering wizards at Lanzante.
It’s not the first time such a feat has been achieved, with McLaren originally building a prototype to test the 1.5-litre V6 turbo engine in the Eighties and Lanzante re-interpreting the idea with its TAG Turbo in 2019. Just 11 of those were built and now Lanzante reckons it’s time for a few more.
With the aid of Cosworth the wick of the TAG TTE P01 V6 has been dialed up from 503 to 625 horsepower and the redline raised to 10,250 rpm. There’s a new exhaust system, titanium turbochargers, new pistons, conrods and valve springs, uprated cams, plus a new intake and cooling system. A 993 six-speed gearbox with revised ratios sends drive to the 18-inch Dymag magnesium and carbon rear wheels.
An Eighties’ 930 Turbo is the donor car, but the body panels, doors, front wings, roof, bumpers and rear spoiler are all made from F1-grade carbon fibre. The brakes feature carbon ceramic discs. Further weight is saved by gutting the interior and installing carbon-backed Recaro seats with six-point race harnesses and a roll cage, while electric windows and mirrors are ditched to shed a few more grams. A lightweight air conditioning system is added, but there’s still a saving of 430 kg compared to the original 930 Turbo.
The three cars will each be a tribute to one of McLaren’s winning years and drivers Niki Lauda and Alain Prost with bespoke livery. The first example, which will be revealed at July’s Goodwood Festival of Speed pays homage to Prost in 1995 with a main paint scheme based on his MP4/2B and his helmet design.
