It’s not every day that you get a chance to bring a dormant legend back to life, but that’s what happened with the Porsche LMP 2000.
But at Weissach, Porsche’s iconic Development Centre, the LMP 2000, a car that once held the promise of dominating Le Mans, has roared back into existence.
Designed for the LMP900 Le Mans prototype class, the LMP 2000 was all set to revolutionise endurance racing in the early 2000s. With a svelte carbon chassis, a naturally aspirated 5.5-litre V10 engine pumping out over 600PS, and a lean build that tipped the scales at under 900kg, it was every bit the thoroughbred racer.
But fate had other plans. Budget cuts saw the project shelved in 1999, just after a mere 78 kilometres of testing. The car was left covered in the Porsche archives.
Fast forward to today. Porsche’s Heritage and Museum team has resurrected this sleeping beauty. And to ensure it was more than just a trip down memory lane, Allan McNish, the man who last drove the car in 1999, was back in the cockpit for its triumphant return.
For McNish, now 54, the experience was nothing short of surreal. “It feels like I’ve just travelled back 25 years,” he said, his excitement mirroring the smiles of the original team members who had gathered for this moment.
For Timo Bernhard, Le Mans winner and Porsche Brand Ambassador, the LMP 2000 symbolised youthful aspirations.
“When I first saw it, I dreamt of driving it one day. And now, here I am, 25 years later, taking it for a spin,” he shared, clearly enthralled by the car’s agility and its “buttery smooth” V10 engine.
Reviving a car that had spent decades in hibernation was no small feat. The team had to reverse-engineer its gearbox and adapt modern Formula E control units to make the paddle shifters functional.
“Hearing the V10 engine roar back to life was a moment of pure magic,” said Steffen Wolf, an engineer from Porsche’s engine management systems. It was a painstaking process, but the reward was unmistakable.
The LMP 2000 also represents a bridge between eras. Its V10 engine draws inspiration from Porsche’s earlier Formula 1 ventures, modified for the gruelling demands of Le Mans.
For Norbert Singer, the project’s original race engineer, the LMP 2000 has always been a bittersweet chapter.
“We built it to win Le Mans,” he recalled. Yet, the car never got its moment under the race-day lights. Still, seeing it revived 25 years later was a triumph. “This car embodies what Porsche is all about—pushing boundaries and daring to dream.”
Today, as the LMP 2000 takes to the track once more. With fewer than 80 kilometres on the odometer, it may not have a race history to boast of, but it has a story worth telling.
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