Most people have kept a secret at work to protect their team’s morale. Few have done it with a race car that might have won Le Mans. A former Porsche engine boss now says that is exactly what happened with the V10 Porsche LMP2000.
The story comes from a visit to Porsche’s Weissach test track by motoring presenter @Mike_Fernie. He went to film the 911 GT1 race cars, then asked if Porsche would wheel out a car it kept quiet about for about 20 years. “Without this thing, there is no Carrera GT,” he says.
Why Porsche Needed A New Le Mans Car
According to the host, the 1998 911 GT1 won Le Mans by surviving while faster rivals broke. But the twin-turbo flat-six behind it had reached its limit against the naturally aspirated competition. Porsche needed something new.
The answer was the Porsche LMP2000, an open-cockpit prototype with a carbon fiber tub and a naturally aspirated V10. In fact, its engine had a remarkable back story.
An Engine That Started As A Formula 1 Project
Herbert, the engineer interviewed in the video, recalls that management asked him to judge a V12 Formula 1 engine for the Footwork team in the early 1990s. However, his verdict was blunt. “Gentlemen, forget it,” he says he told management, explaining that no part of it was good enough.
After that, management asked him to build a new Formula 1 engine instead. He says he used information from a mid-1990s McLaren Formula 1 car and had the engine running on the dyno in about 10 months. The host adds that the V10’s unusual 68-degree angle came from needing to fit that McLaren.
According to the host, Porsche ran the cylinder heads at 20,000 rpm in testing, and the engine made 760 horsepower at 15,000 rpm. For Le Mans, however, the engineers stretched it to 5.5 litres and capped it at 8,000 rpm, with about 600 horsepower.
The Porsche LMP2000 Was Fast From Day One
The host says the LMP2000 was about 150 kilograms lighter than the GT1. Because of that, Porsche’s own calculations, he says, had it five seconds a lap quicker at Le Mans. The story goes that it took the Weissach lap record at its very first shakedown.
After two shakedowns, though, Porsche cancelled the project. In the host’s telling, the money went to the Cayenne SUV, the project meant to secure Porsche’s future.
The White Lie
This is where Herbert’s account turns personal. He says he kept telling his team they were preparing for Le Mans, even though management had already told him they were not going. He calls it a white lie, and says he could not share what he knew.
Afterward, the car went into a locked building, and nobody talked about it. Now, he says, it is history, so people can finally talk about it.
What This Story Says About Great Projects That Get Cancelled
The LMP2000 is a reminder that a cancelled project is not always wasted work:
- Ideas move on. The team went straight to work on the Carrera GT.
- Engines outlive cars. Herbert says the Carrera GT’s V10 is from the same family.
- Business needs can beat racing glory, even at a racing company.
- Good leaders sometimes carry bad news alone for a while.
Where Things Stand
In the end, the LMP2000 never turned a wheel in a race. Even so, it still exists, and Porsche now shows it openly. As the host puts it, “The LMP2000 then was the car that had to die for Porsche to live.”
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