A journey back in time to 1999 begins with a roll-out on the Weissach Development Centre test track. The LMP 2000 was originally designed to take victory at Le Mans. However, midway through the development, the company decided, for budgetary reasons, to discontinue the project after the car was completed. After only 78 kilometres of testing, a car cover was draped over it and it was parked up for more than two decades. That is until the team from Porsche Heritage and Museum brought the LMP 2000 back to life, complete with the multitude of myths that swirl around its existence. Twenty-five years later, many who were part of the original programme met again at the car's most recent roll-out, at which Allan McNish was at the wheel, just as he was in 1999.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Normally we talk about success stories here, about Le Mans overall victories, about world
00:08championship, about race victories.
00:10In fact today we speak about a program, about a car which is not known to public and we'd
00:16like to introduce it to you.
00:17A car which only did 80 kilometers of rollout here at the facility at Weissach on the proving
00:23ground which never turned a racing lap.
00:24A car which was originally built for the LMP 900 class which means 900 kilogram minimum
00:29weight V10 atmospheric engine with a super sound, more than 600 horsepower and only
00:35two drivers originally drove that car back in 99, Bob Wolleck and Alan McNish.
00:40And now the team of the Porsche Heritage Museum put that car back in racing condition.
00:44So let's have a closer look, come on guys.
00:59So today is the big day.
01:27Here we are at the proving ground at Weissach for the big reunion of the Porsche LMP 2000
01:31crew.
01:32The car that never raced.
01:33It only did a rollout about 80 kilometers and all the people, the heroes of the days
01:38are here.
01:39The mastermind behind the car, Norbert Singer, former motorsport president, Herbert Ampfer
01:44and the driver Alan McNish who drove that car 25 years ago and unfortunately Bob Wolleck
01:49is not with us anymore.
01:51He drove that car as well in 1999.
01:53But let's see if Alan is ready.
01:54I go to see him.
01:55Let's go and check it out before we can drive the car.
02:55That was 25 again.
02:57It's fantastic to drive again.
03:00And it's fantastic to hear it again.
03:03Because actually, you know, nearly 25 years ago, we drove in here and stopped.
03:09And then there's been this big pause, but the car's alive.
03:12You know, the car's alive.
03:13And you can see the smile on everybody's face, but you can probably see it on mine.
03:17But it just is fantastic.
03:20It's so, so beautiful.
03:22Going down the back straight, it was the first time I went on wide open throttle flat out.
03:28Changed up the gears and you hear the engine, the noise just opens up above 7,000 revs.
03:33It really starts to accelerate, but the noise opens up behind you.
03:37And it's a beautiful, beautiful sound.
03:52For us at Porsche Heritage Museum, this moment is for sure a very special one.
04:06So exactly 25 years after the first test laps of the LMP 2000 project, we're back now here
04:14at Weissach Flacht and to let the car run again.
04:18So the car is really considered even at us as a unicorn in the automobile racing story.
04:26So nobody ever has seen the car at the racetracks and so this is why we are very happy now to
04:32present the car today.
05:02It's a great thing, because it was the very first time that I was part of a racing project
05:08with a piece of white paper.
05:09And that was great.
05:11An incredible learning curve.
05:14And yes, those were the beginnings and it was a huge privilege for me.
05:20For Porsche, winning 98 Le Mans, then to be able to work.
05:27There's two things.
05:29One, the faster you go, the more confidence you get from it.
05:33And that was definitely clear through the tight areas.
05:36It's very, very good on the nose.
05:39For me, it's probably about right at the moment.
05:41Yeah, but I wasn't attacking into the corner.
05:44But it's very positive on the nose and the sound was just stunning.
05:50Amazing, huh?
05:51Every time you open the throttle and it goes up to 7, 7 plus, then the sound is...
05:57You know, you talk about a school reunion and you go back and you see the people you
06:03worked with or were at school with.
06:05For me, this is exactly the school reunion.
06:07And to meet Herbert Ampferer, who was Mr. Ampferer then, and Norbert, who was the boss.
06:14He was the one that guided us to our Le Mans victory the year before.
06:18But also mechanics, it was just really so cool.
06:23Because that's what it's about.
06:24It's about, you know, what people don't realize is all of the work at these tests and sitting
06:30in the factory preparing the seatbelts, where everything is.
06:33You spend so much time as one little team, as one little family.
06:37And it's just like coming back straight back into that family.