This is the most extensive ever road test of the fire-breathing Schuppan-Porsche 962 CR. Octane putsDickie Meadenbehind the wheel of a road-legal, race-bred unicorn
Photography Aston Parrott
More people have walked on the moon than driven a Schuppan-Porsche 962 CR in anger. For a brief time the world’s fastest and most expensive car – a snip at $1.5-1.9m according to authority Karl Ludvigsen – this remarkable Porsche-powered machine rose to prominence in the early ’90s. Outlandish looks, otherworldly performance and exotic construction ensured it stole headlines and captured imaginations, yet the project collapsed with just a handful of cars built.
In the three decades since its troubled existence and premature end, the Schuppan-Porsche 962 CR has attained cult status. Shrouded in mystery and denied the chance to deliver on its abundant promise, the story reads like a bestselling novel: the bold dream of Australian former Porsche factory driver and 1983 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Vern Schuppan (see page 70), shattered by the double whammy of a global recession and less-than-scrupulous financiers.
As for the eponymous supercar? Well, of the handful made at the High Wycombe premises of Vern Schuppan Ltd (VSL), one was destroyed in a fire and the rest promptly disappeared into collections. Art Sports, upon whose 20-car order the project was built, took just three, providing Schuppan with letters of credit of £300k for each.
This much has been known for decades if you cared to dig deep enough. Yet the most enduring mystery of all has always been whether the 962 CR was actually any good. Step forward Simon Kidston – classic car broker, noted collector and inveterate petrolhead – who acquired this example back in 2022. Like every other Schuppan-Porsche it had covered single-digit mileage, but unlike every other it finally found the hands of a custodian who was determined it should be driven properly for a meaningful distance, on road and track.
Kidston being in the business of selling cars means generating attention is in his interests, but he is also an automotive storyteller. No wonder the opportunity to tell this untold tale proved irresistible. His idea was to shoot a short film about the car – search YouTube for The Flaming Unicorn – showing it in action and shifting the narrative from oft-repeated tawdry tittle-tattle to the real nitty-gritty. Namely, how it drives.
To do so, Kidston needed a driver with plenty of supercar experience. And some wheel time in a 956 or 962. Thank
