This Road-Legal 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evolution Racer Sold for $3.1 Million
When we talk about race cars for the streets, we usually mean street cars that are hardcore enough to handle almost as well on the track as a proper race car. What we rarely mean is a race car that's been made street legal. But that's exactly what we have here. Unfortunately, you missed the opportunity to buy this 1997 Porsche 911 GT1 Evolution race car that somehow, allegedly, is now street legal because it just sold for $3.1 million at auction.
Don't confuse it with the 911 GT1 Straßenversion , the homologated street-legal version of Porsche's late-'90s Le Mans racer, either. That car was heavier, detuned, and came street legal from the factory.
This particular 911 GT1 Evolution has a pretty decent racing resume: 13 wins from 31 starts. That includes three consecutive Canadian GT championship victories between 1999 and 2001. It also competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. And now you can put a license plate on it, apparently.
Despite receiving an aero upgrade, the 911 GT1 Evolution wasn't ever quite as competitive against the likes of the McLaren F1 GTR or the Mercedes-Benz CLK AMG GTR as Porsche had hoped, but it's still an incredible vehicle. The 3.2-liter twin-turbo flat six's 600+ horsepower definitely helps with that.
It's $3.1 million selling price is right in the middle of auction house RM Sotheby's initial estimate of $2.97 million and $3.3 million. That's quite a bit of cash, but for such a rare car with a bona-fide racing history, it's totally worth it.
This story was last updated at 10:45 a.m. ET on 5/17/16 to add details of the car's sale.
