Back for the future
02/04/2016
Porsche has just unveiled the new Boxster, and it's not just the new designation - 718 - that makes you sit up and take notice.
In fact, its mid-engine has four cylinders in a boxer arrangement. Yes, just like in the Porsche 718 RSK.
The press release reads as follows:
"The new mid-engined roadsters with four-cylinder engines: Porsche 718 Boxster: 20 years after the debut of the first Boxster, Porsche is relaunching its mid-engined roadsters: The new model generation is called the 718 Boxster and 718 Boxster S. The open-top two-seaters are more powerful and more efficient at the same time. With them, Porsche is continuing the tradition of the four-cylinder boxer engines of the 718 mid-engined sports cars. It won numerous races in the 1950s and 1960s, including the legendary Targa Florio and Le Mans."
We have already documented this a little more comprehensively earlier, namely in an extensive vehicle report. Here again in brief: The four-cylinder boxer in the 718 RSK racing car of the time produced 142 hp at 7500 rpm in 1958 and 148 hp at 8000 rpm in 1959. The maximum speed was 8400 rpm, 0-100 km/h in 9 seconds and 250 km/h were specified. In races, drivers were forbidden to push the engine above 7,600 rpm over longer distances, but 8,000 rpm was permitted for short periods. The most powerful models with a displacement of 1.6 liters even achieved over 160 hp, while the weight remained under 600 kg.
Today's 718 Boxster is much more powerful, with 300 or 350 hp and a displacement of two or 2.5 liters respectively. And this thanks to turbocharging, which did not even exist in a car in 1958.
However, the 718 RSK did not even weigh half as much as the modern sports car, but there was nothing in it that could have prevented it from winning, unlike the modern Boxster, where of course all the comforts of life must or may be carried along.
Downsizing is mainly done with the engine size, unfortunately not with the weight. Today's lightest Boxster weighs 1355 kg, compared to less than 600 kg for the 718 RSK from 1958. Nevertheless, the modern Boxster is likely to consume barely a third of the amount of gasoline per 100 km compared to its ancestor, which is also progress.
Our wish for the Geneva Motor Show: put a 718 RSK next to the 718 Boxster, please!
