Gunther Werks GXR-Evo is a 455bhp air-cooled 911 track weapon

Gunther Werks, the California-based Porsche 911 remastering specialist, focuses exclusively on the 993 generation. It has already reworked plenty of exceptional 993-generation Porsche 911s, and its newest creation provides welcome respite from the flood of horsepower revealed in California last week.

Its engine produces just 455bhp. Four hundred and fifty-five! In 2026, even some electric city cars offer more power. But Gunther Werks has spent years remastering 993-generation Porsche 911s, and this GXR-Evo looks set to be a proper firecracker.

Gunther Werks GXR-Evo: a track-focused 993-generation Porsche 911

Or, at least, that is the promise. “The GXR-Evo represents the purest interpretation of everything Gunther Werks stands for,” said company boss Peter Nam. It has been conceived and constructed as a costly, 993-shaped instrument for dismantling both challenging apexes and your breakfast.

Much of that comes down to the four-cam, twin-valve, air-cooled 4.0-litre flat-six developed alongside Rothsport Racing and installed within it. A slide-valve throttle body replaces conventional butterfly valves, and is claimed to improve accelerator-pedal response. As noted, output is 455bhp, while the engine spins to 9,000rpm.

That shrieking herd is delivered to the rear wheels through a six-speed Gertrag manual gearbox. A suite of aerodynamic devices then helps carry it through those troublesome apexes. They comprise a fresh front splitter, canards, vented wheel arches, a high-downforce rear wing and carbon-fibre rear windows, among other items.

Carbon-fibre body, racing hardware and 1,082kg weight

The body is made entirely from carbon fibre. Elsewhere, the specification includes three-way adjustable dampers, Brembo racing brakes, “motorsport-grade ABS”, magnesium wheels, a straight-pipe exhaust, a Kevlar racing seat for the driver, a fully configurable Motec display, a roll cage and further motorsport-grade equipment. Gunther Werks could scarcely make its track-bred intent more apparent.

The headline figure is that the complete car weighs only 1,082kg: a one-tonne Porsche. Production is limited to 15 examples. In a particularly smart extra, every owner receives a bespoke MYSIM racing simulator, individually commissioned and numbered, which is “precisely configured to mirror the dynamics of their individual vehicle”. There is including an air freshener and six months’ road tax, and then there is this.

“The GXR-Evo stands as the definitive track-focused evolution of the air-cooled 911 silhouette and the most extreme expression of Gunther Werks’ philosophy ever created,” the firm said. Predictably, the price matches both that ambition and the rarity: each car starts at $1.35m, before buyers supply a donor 993 and pay the applicable taxes too.