Top 5 Lightweight Porsches According to Porsche
Porsche took five of its lightweight icons to the Grossglockner mountain pass in Austria for our entertainment and education.
When it comes to building lightweight cars, Porsche is up there with the best. When it comes to mountain passes to show off these five lightweight icons, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road is quite spectacular. It’s the highest surfaced mountain pass road in Austria and was the road used for the European Hill Climb Championship in the 1930s. It’s also where Porsche’s number 1 lightweight car is most at home.
Unfortunately, but understandably, Porsche didn’t run these priceless icons up the snowy mountain pass for their video. However, it’s a genuine treat to see them outside of a museum and somewhere so beautiful.
Porsche’s lightweight pole position goes to the Porsche 909 Bergspyder. It weighs just 846 pounds (384 kg). To put that into perspective, four 909 Bergspyders together weigh as much as a modern Toyota Camry. The 909 is most at home on the Grossglockner pass as, along with the 910 Bergspyder, dominated hillclimb competitions in 1968.
Other Porsches featured include the 911 Carrera RS 2.7, the 356 SL, and the 718 Formula 2. The 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was stripped of anything that wasn’t essential to the operation of the car. The SL in 356 SL literally stood for ‘Sport Light’, and the 718 in its single-seater Formula 2 variation. Perhaps the most curious car here is the ZDF-branded Porsche 906. Although it’s a race car, it didn’t actually compete. Instead, it ran the 1967 Nürburgring 1000 kilometer race as a camera car.
We’re not entirely sure how Porsche arrived at this order of ranking. We suspect availability of cars may have had something to do with the selection given what else could be in there. The legendary 917K and the IMSA spec 962 spring to mind. However, it’s a top 5 list and not to be taken seriously. We love that Porsche are making such YouTube videos and showing off these outstanding cars to us.
