Tuner Gives Porsche 911 Turbo Carbon Fiber Body, 650 HP

After introducing its nearly complete carbon fiber body replacement for the refreshed Porsche 911 Turbo last year, Russian tuner Topcar is now offering a limited run of three Carbon Edition sports cars that pair this lightweight upgrade with additional improvements.

Plenty of aftermarket firms offer body kits that just replace the bumpers and some trim, but Topcar goes far further. Everything is now carbon fiber, except for the roof and part of the doors (see below). For the Carbon Edition, the tuner leaves these components unpainted, so everyone can get an eyeful of the extensive changes. If a customer buys this 17-piece set on their own, Topcar charges 37,500 euros ($39,600), plus an additional 4,200 euros ($4440) for the GT3-RS-style front fenders. For the Carbon Edition, the firm also adds a set of forged ADV.1 21 inch-wheels.
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TheSteve - 4/5/2017 5:25:53 PM

+2 Boost

How does it affect crashworthiness? Carbon-fiber performs differently in a crash than steel does. I'd hate to discover that this lighter, more powerful car helps you get killed more easily in a crash.

MDarringer - 4/5/2017 11:33:15 PM

-1 Boost

It's been shown that plastic can be safer than metal. Plastic can potentially flex and return to its shape whereas metal deforms and that's that. Ford pulled 800 pounds out of the current Fusion by going to plastics in one of their prototypes and the resulting car had equal or better crash safety.

qwertyfla - 4/5/2017 9:14:49 PM

0 Boost

I "axed" my dog who makes da best after market Porsche tuner product? Mein schnauzer -Turbo (his real name) answered "RUF".

CANADIANCOMMENTS - 4/5/2017 9:15:56 PM

+2 Boost

Good question. Considering how thin the outer sheet metal is these days, I wonder how much crash protection has to do with the fender or the unibody that it is bolted to. If you see the NHTSA videos, the sheet metal seems to react like the plastic.

MDarringer - 4/5/2017 11:28:38 PM

-1 Boost

Cars these days are designed to have the understructure be the safety component with the skins being entirely that.