The Porsche Boxster Bergspyder Came Agonisingly Close To Production
It turns out the ultimate Boxster is not the lightweight, 991 Carrera S flat-six-powered Spyder. A few years ago, Porsche was mulling over something much more extreme.
It was called the Boxster Bergspyder, a car inspired by and taking the name of the 909 Bergspyder, Porsche’s lightest ever competition car which tipped the scales at a scarcely believable 385kg.
The Boxster Bergspyder had no roof, no door handles and only one seat. It didn’t have a proper windscreen either - merely a wind deflector like the old hill climb car. It was possible to open up the passenger door, at least, revealing a luggage compartment.
The dashboard was completely redesigned, while the car’s seats were pinched from the 918 Spyder hypercar. Initially, it had a leather cover which went from the deflector to the engine cover, handily preventing the interior from becoming a swimming pool if the Bergspyder was parked outside in bad weather. There were plans afoot to replace this with one big chunk of carbonfibre.
Power came from the 370bhp 3.8-litre naturally-aspirated flat-six used in the aforementioned second iteration of the Boxster Spyder plus the Cayman GT4. Plenty of poke for a car weighing just 1099kg. Yep, the Bergspyder is around 300kg lighter than a 981 Boxster S.
0-62mph was tipped at just over four seconds, and a 7min 30sec Nurburgring lap time was thought to be possible. None of this was for the sake of it - there was, it seems, a will to put the Boxster Bergspyder into production.
But there was a problem - in multiple markets, the chances of being able to register such a car for road use were slim. With the business case hampered the project had to be cancelled, although Porsche did get as far as building a one-off, driveable prototype.
It was displayed for a couple of years at Porsche’s Weissach development centre, before being transported to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. The car made its first ever public appearance at the Gaisberg hillclimb this past weekend, neatly mirroring the competition debut of the 909 at the same event back in 1968.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
I would actually love this
Thank god im not the only one thinking this
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Fat af compared to the original one but still, would love to drive it
“But there was a problem - in multiple markets, the chances of being able to register such a car for road use were slim…”
The REAL problem is the would-be buyer: If ya can’t afford a 911, why advertise to the World that ya can’t afford a 911 by buying a coxster?
Why not stick with your Astra diesel for another year and save your quid, then buy the real Beetle… uh, I mean porsche
Except every journalist who ever drove the mentioned GT4/Spyder said that they were fantastic to drive in their own right - and crucially different to drive to a 911. Not to mention that those two were as expensive as base 911s if not more so, and this would likely have cost even more.
The Boxster is a fine car in its own right. What other alternatives are there for a good mid-engined sports car at that price range? Basically just the Elise and A110, both of which are more focused than this.
well so why not a lotus ?
Its terribly impractical and I love it
When I first saw it I genuinely thought it was built this year, making it a mini Monza SP1 or sth. Shame it won’t get built