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Tuning

Gunther Werks Gemini Commission: Subtlety, Turned Up to 862 Horsepower

In the restomod world, subtlety is usually the first thing sacrificed on the altar of excess. Widebody kits shout, carbon fiber gleams like a mirror, and horsepower figures are wielded like blunt instruments. Gunther Werks’ latest creation—the Gemini Commission—takes a different approach. It’s proof that an 862-hp Porsche 911 can whisper instead of scream, even while bending the laws of physics in the process.

The Gemini is one of just 75 cars built under Gunther Werks’ Turbo program, which already puts it in rarefied air. But this particular commission pushes exclusivity further, layering bespoke design choices over an already obsessive reengineering of Porsche’s beloved 993-generation 911. Somewhere, a very fortunate owner is about to have the kind of New Year that makes the rest of us question our life choices.

Like every Gunther Werks build, the Gemini starts with the 993 chassis—the last of the air-cooled 911s and, to many purists, the last truly analog one. From there, the Turbo program adds a widened stance and serious aerodynamic upgrades. A vented hood relieves high-pressure air trapped beneath the car to reduce lift, while gills in the front and rear fenders improve cooling and stability. These aren’t styling flourishes; they’re functional necessities when you’re dealing with supercar-level performance wrapped in a ’90s silhouette.

For the Gemini, that aggression is cloaked in restraint. The body is finished in a muted gray selected from four possible hues, and it’s the kind of color that reveals itself slowly, changing character with light and angle. It’s not orange, red, or yellow—and that’s precisely the point. This car doesn’t demand attention; it earns it.

The wheels nod to the original 993 Turbo design but reinterpret it with modern precision and a striking white-gold finish. It’s a bold choice, yet somehow still elegant. Elsewhere, Gunther Werks adds subtle exterior touches, including a stealth-gray wrap on the CNC-machined mirror caps and door handles. The result is a cohesive palette of tones that feels considered rather than conspicuous.

Inside, the Gemini continues its balancing act between craftsmanship and performance. Carbon fiber dominates, as expected, appearing on the upper instrument panel, door panels, center console, and even the racing seat shells. But Gunther Werks knows when to soften the edges. Tangerine orange Italian leather appears in key areas, injecting warmth and contrast without overwhelming the cabin.

This is also the first Gunther Werks build to feature two distinct cockpit motifs. The driver’s seat is trimmed in luxurious Japanese denim with orange stitching and detailing—a material choice that sounds odd until you see how perfectly it works. The passenger seat, meanwhile, is upholstered in fine Italian leather, creating an asymmetry that feels deliberate rather than gimmicky. The center-mounted tachometer, ringed in orange just as Ferdinand Porsche intended, stands out against the other gauges, which wear gray-coated CNC-machined bezels matching the exterior accents.

Lift the rear hatch, and the Gemini stops being subtle altogether—at least mechanically. Nestled beneath is a 4.0-liter flat-six assembled by Rothsport Racing, and it’s mechanical art in the purest sense. Unlike the vertical cooling fan used in standard 911 Turbos, this engine employs a horizontal fan that pushes more air and cools all six cylinders more evenly. It’s a small detail with enormous implications for reliability and performance.

The rest of the engineering reads like a wish list for speed obsessives. Radiators ensure the turbochargers are fed a steady supply of cooled air, while side vents and a ram-air effect at speed sharpen throttle response. Individual throttle bodies on each cylinder add immediacy that modern turbo engines often lack. In normal driving mode, the engine produces a still-absurd 608 horsepower. Switch to Track mode, and that number jumps to 862 hp—enough to make the notion of “restomod” feel hilariously inadequate.

Gunther Werks isn’t revealing the price of the Gemini Commission, citing customer discretion. Fair enough. What we do know is that the Turbo program starts at $850,000, which tells you everything you need to know without saying anything at all.

The Gemini doesn’t exist to shock. It exists to demonstrate restraint at the extreme edge of performance—a rare quality in a world that often confuses loudness with greatness. And that may be its most impressive achievement of all.

Source: Gunther Werks

NEW CARS

Two Cars, One Number: Porsche 911 S/T and the Human Side of Perfection

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Porsche doesn’t miss details. It obsesses over them. So when a company that can tell you the weight difference between two paint finishes accidentally duplicates a limited-edition number on one of the most collectible 911s ever made, it’s less a scandal than a reminder: even perfection is assembled by humans.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 911, Porsche built the 911 S/T—arguably the purest modern 911 this side of a motorsports paddock. Production was capped at 1,963 units, a nod to the year the original 911 debuted. Each car carries its individual build number on a badge mounted on the passenger-side dash. Or at least, it’s supposed to.

Somewhere between Zuffenhausen and the far corners of the globe, number 1724 was born twice.

One 911 S/T with that number went to Pedro Solís Klussmann, president of Porsche Club Guatemala. The other landed with Suzan Taher, who pilots her S/T on the opposite side of the planet. Same car. Same badge. Same number. Not exactly the sort of rarity Porsche intended.

The mistake stemmed from the most old-school part of the Sonderwunsch process: manual ordering. According to Karl-Heinz Volz, Director of Porsche Sonderwunsch, that human involvement is both the program’s greatest strength—and its occasional vulnerability. “Mistakes can happen,” Volz said, “The important thing is how you deal with them.” Credit Porsche for not hiding behind bureaucracy.

The irony? Klussmann had chosen 1724 with care. The 17th ties together birthdays shared by his mother, grandmother, and himself; the 24 marks his father’s birthday. Taher’s car, meanwhile, was meant to wear 1742, a number with no emotional backstory at all. Fate, it seems, had a sense of humor.

Porsche’s solution was peak Stuttgart. The company flew both owners to Zuffenhausen for a private, ceremonial mea culpa. There, they received corrected plaques, a framed photograph of their two cars together, and presentation boxes containing samples of their respective interior and exterior materials. The incorrect badge—the physical proof of the mix-up—was formally handed over to the Porsche archive, catalogued as part of company history while the owners looked on. Somewhere, a future brand historian is already smiling.

Beyond their brief numerical overlap, the two 911 S/Ts couldn’t be more different—and that’s the point.

Klussmann’s car wears the Heritage Design package, finished in Shore Blue Metallic, a color that feels lifted from Porsche’s greatest hits album. Inside, Classic Cognac fabric seat centers with black pinstripes deliver a tasteful wink to Porsche’s past, while a carbon-fiber roll cage reminds you this is no museum piece—it’s meant to be driven.

Taher’s S/T goes in the opposite direction, drenched in Paint to Sample Plus Rose Red. If the color feels familiar, it should. Known as “Fraise” in the 1970s, it adorned legends like the Carrera RS 2.7 and the IROC-spec 911 Carrera RSR 3.0. The shade was so compelling in this modern execution that Porsche will officially add it to the Paint to Sample catalog for the 2026 model year. Inside, Guards Red leather covers much of the cabin, turning the S/T into something that’s equal parts time capsule and contemporary statement.

And underneath all that personalization is the real reason the 911 S/T exists.

Developed in Weissach with a singular mission, the S/T is a love letter to lightness and involvement. Power comes from a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six producing 525 horsepower, paired exclusively with a close-ratio manual transmission. No turbos. No PDK. No distractions. Weight savings are obsessive, the chassis tuned for agility rather than lap-time bragging rights.

The name itself reaches back to Porsche history. In 1969, the 911 S spawned a competition-focused variant internally known as the 911 ST. The modern S/T carries that same philosophy forward: less mass, more feel, and a direct connection between driver and machine that’s increasingly rare in today’s performance-car landscape.

In the end, the duplicated number didn’t cheapen the 911 S/T. If anything, it added another layer to its story. These cars aren’t just collections of carbon fiber and carefully calibrated steering feel—they’re artifacts of a company that still does things by hand, still invites customers into its history, and still believes that owning a Porsche should feel personal.

Even when the numbers don’t quite add up the first time.

Source: Porsche

News

Air-Cooled Endurance: Jeff Zwart’s Safari Rally Challenge

At 70 years old, Jeff Zwart is not a man with many unfinished chapters. Between directing award-winning commercials, redefining hillclimb heroics at Pikes Peak and curating the now-mythical Luftgekühlt gatherings, his life has long existed at the intersection of speed, aesthetics and endurance. When he isn’t flat-out in a Porsche, he’s back home on his Colorado ranch, posting serene images of snow-draped landscapes, air-cooled icons and his beloved Bernese Mountain Dogs.

And yet, even for Zwart, there remained one box unticked.

More than half a century after first reading about it as a teenager, the American Porsche racer has finally conquered what he describes as “probably the hardest event I’ve ever done”: the East African Safari Classic Rally. Not in a modern weapon, but in a competition-prepared classic Porsche 911—exactly the kind of car that helped ignite his passion all those years ago.

For someone with multiple marathon rallies to his name, that statement carries weight. This year’s Safari Classic stretched across nine days and 2,220 competitive kilometres of some of the most punishing terrain imaginable. Heat shimmered relentlessly, dust and mud alternated by the hour, water crossings tested both nerve and machinery, and wildlife ensured concentration never wavered for a second. It is rallying distilled to its rawest form—and that is precisely the appeal.

“I read about this race while I was in high school and I’d always hoped that I’d one day do it,” Zwart explains. “To be able to compete here in a car from the same era as my school days has made the whole experience feel even more special.”

Alongside co-driver Alex Gelsomino, Zwart finished an impressive 17th overall from a starting field of around 60 cars. Remarkably, more than half were classic 911s, underlining just how well Stuttgart’s air-cooled icon continues to thrive under extreme conditions. The overall victory went to British endurance racer Harry Hunt and co-driver Steve McPhee—also in a 911—further cementing the model’s legendary resilience.

The East African Safari Rally traces its origins back to 1953, created to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Traversing Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, it quickly earned a reputation as motorsport’s ultimate endurance test. After evolving through multiple formats, the event was reborn in 2003 as the East African Safari Classic Rally, now run biennially for historic machinery. This year’s route carved through Diani, Voi and Amboseli, framed by the dramatic silhouette of Mount Kilimanjaro—beautiful, unforgiving and utterly relentless.

“In the 1970s this was considered the most difficult automotive event in the world, and I don’t think it’s got any easier,” Zwart says, smiling. His early F-series 911 was packed to the roof with spares and tools, a necessity rather than a precaution. “It was super rough and super fast, with lots of wild animals on the course. But the scenery was unparalleled, the people were incredible, and being in a classic 911 just feels like home. Every day the car surprised me with how well it handled things.”

That sense of meaning was amplified by the man in the right-hand seat. Gelsomino was the long-time co-driver of the late Ken Block, who contested the rally in 2022. For Zwart, their partnership carried emotional weight.

“I remember Ken telling me how incredible this rally was. He said, ‘Jeff, you’ve got to do it,’” he recalls. “So to be here with Alex as my co-driver feels like coming full circle. At times it’s been pretty emotional for both of us.”

The rally was far from trouble-free. Suspension damage on day three and a transmission issue late in the event forced the pair to crawl nearly 40 kilometres of a stage in first gear. Yet time loss was minimal, a testament to both mechanical sympathy and the extraordinary durability of the car. Zwart describes the 911 as having taken “an incredible beating” while still running flawlessly as it crossed the final finish line, moments before celebrations on the beach.

Exhausted but elated, Zwart is still processing what he calls “the adventure of a lifetime.”

“It was definitely the toughest event I’ve done,” he says, “but it challenged us in so many ways that I’m incredibly glad we went for it. That said—after all that heat and humidity—I’ll be very happy to be back in the snow.”

Even at 70, Jeff Zwart has proven that some dreams are worth waiting half a century to fulfil—especially when they end, fittingly, behind the wheel of an air-cooled 911.

Source: Porsche