Porsche Boxster RS 60 Spyder (2008) CAR review

Should Porsche dabble with special editions that raid its historical back catalogue? We've just driven the new Porsche Boxster RS 60 Spyder - the car that takes its name from the Porsche Type 718 RS 60 Spyder, the racer that Hans Herrmann and Olivier Gendebien drove to outright victory in the 1960 12 Hours of Sebring. At £45,400 the RS 60 carries a £5500 premium over the standard Boxster S on which it’s based, but it does come loaded with desirable extras and it’s limited to a reasonably low-volume run of 1960 examples.

It’s a homologation special, then?

It ‘reflects the sporting character and design purism of that successful mid-engined, two-seater sports racing car’, according to the PR blurb, but it’s not built to go racing. And the Type 718 certainly didn’t feature a blood red leather interior quite so sumptuous. Some cruder members of the CAR team likened said innards to a ‘tart’s boudoir’ and treated the matching red hood with similar disdain. Thankfully, the RS 60 is also available with dark grey leather and matching black roof, but I’d be brave, risk ridicule and tick the red box. Am I alone? Comments please.

The gear lever, however, is less convincing, the cold, bulky metal knob drawing unnecessary attention to the fact that the six-speed shift simply isn’t as slick as it should be. Another black mark goes against the cheap-looking and no-doubt scratch prone silver paint that covers the centre console – the same aerosol’s been used on the roll hoops and seat backs – while a question mark hangs over the decision to remove the traditional hood from the instrument cluster and spray the binnacles – yep – silver. We drove the RS 60 in less than scorching conditions, yet the silver finish reflected in the top right of the windscreen making it look as though the glass was starting to mist. Not a big deal on dull days, but it could prove annoying in bright sunlight.

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