The Porsche 911 is a legendary car from the Stuttgart company, but 40 years ago another model attracted more attention. It is a Porsche 959 that was produced in only a few hundred copies, of which only 29 were Sport models. In its time, it was the world’s fastest street-legal production car.

The Porsche 959 Sport is an extremely rare collector’s car, and one such car is owned by former Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld. “I’ve had the privilege of driving many high-performance cars, but driving this legend is something special for me even today. It doesn’t drive like a 3-decade-old car, but like a much more modern vehicle,” said Heidfeld.

Nick decided to restore the car even though it only had 4,000 km on the odometer. The process was entrusted to one of the best, Uwe Makrutzki of Porsche Classic, who said: “If such a technologically innovative car is not driven regularly, damage is unfortunately inevitable. The drive and chassis must be rebuilt.” The renovation process itself lasted 4 years.

Porsche Classic took 4 years to restore the 959 Sport. The result? Well, see for yourself.

The Porsche 959 Sport is powered by a 2.9L twin-turbo flat 6 engine with 508 hp (373 kW) @ 6500 rpm and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque. Power is transmitted to all wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox. It reaches 62 mph in 3.7 seconds with a top speed of a remarkable 198 mph (319 km/h).

Source: Porsche