UK-based car restorer Lanzante has unveiled its latest project, the TAG Championship. It is a limited run of restomods and an evolutionary step forward from the company’s TAG Turbo model (see video).
Lanzante takes a normal Porsche 911 made between 1975 and 1989 and equips it with a genuine Formula 1 racecar engine. The Championship series will comprise just three such restomods, the first of them outfitted with a McLaren mill from the mid-1980s.
Specifically, the car seen here is known as the Championship’85. It pays homage to Alain Prost’s winning his first first champion title in 1985. It comes equipped by a Porsche-designed TTE P01 engine with 1.5 liters of displacement. Cosworth had retrofitted the block with new pistons, connecting rods and shafts, as well as an improved valve system, a part-titanium exhaust system, and a custom ECU.
The engine can rev up to 10,250 RPM and outputs 634 PS (625 hp / 466 kW). A modified six-speed manual transmission carries the torque to the wheels. The top speed is estimated at 320 km/h (199 mph). This becomes possible thanks to drastic weight reductions all around, resulting in the car tipping the scales at a low 920 kg (2,028 lbs).
Other than that, every TAG Championship racecar features a carbon-fiber body, special lightweight wheels and a laconic interior stripped of all creature comforts except climate control. Recaro bucket seats with multi-point safety harnesses round off the project.
Each of the three examples will be styled after a certain Formula racecar of the past. This one wears a livery of white and red in a homage to the McLarens of the era. It will be attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK in mid-July this year.