by Octane staff and contributors
OVERDRIVEOther interesting cars we’ve been driving
HIDDEN IN A deliberately anonymous barn in rural Oxfordshire, several Porsche 911s are undergoing restoration, conversion and enhancement. Already finished is this, Theon Design’s first take on a Targa, and the third 911 it has so far transformed for the UK market.
Theon was co-founded by car designer Adam Hawley, a man with 15 years’ experience working for the likes of BMW and JLR. As a hobby, he built his own vision of a 911. The overwhelmingly positive response to that was the foundation for Theon Design, which builds bespoke 964-based cars to order. In the case of this example, coded GBR-003, we’re talking of a carbon-bodied 911 with a six-speed manual gearbox and a 4.0-litre naturally aspirated air-cooled flat-six that pumps out 403bhp at 7100rpm. It weighs a lissome 1228kg, distributed 48:52 front:rear – closer to ideal than the 964 Carrera 2 that was its donor. 993 RS brakes rein it in.
Those are the basics, but the detail is far more involving. Adam shows me around the workshop to a shell undergoing conversion: roof, bonnet, wings, engine cover, they’re all carbon. The structural elements are bonded into the steel substructure at exactly the same points as the equivalent steel panels. In the case of this Targa, tub-like inserts, formed using a laminate ‘sandwich’ of toughened epoxy pre-pregnated carbonfibre and aerospace-grade Nomex honeycomb, strengthen the chassis to such an extent that it exhibits coupé-like stiffness.
The 964’s flat-six has been developed from its standard 240bhp to broach the 100bhp-per-litre barrier, by dint of enlargement from 3.6 to 4.0 litres, all the componentry being machined specifically to Theon’s own specifications. It’s fuelled via independent throttle bodies and breathes through open trumpets. The six-speed manual gearbox is also custom-made to 993 RS spec.
Unlike a standard 964 Targa, the removable roof panel can in this case be stowed in the front luggage compartment. Also within that bay you’ll find a new, lighter power steering pump and a modern air-conditioning unit, as well as the battery, all relocated and lighter than the originals in pursuit of that beneficial weight distribution. The ride height is lower, and damping is provided by a switchable, five-stage TracTive Active Controlled Electronics (ACE) system.
Rather as the early-style bonnet evokes the first generation of 911s (and requires the only chassis
