Ray Mallock Limited – RML, as it’s much more commonly known – has long been one of those companies much revered by motorsport geeks but otherwise fairly unknown. Recently, though, the British firm has been branching out beyond the world of competition, and this, the RML P39, is its next step.
Officially called the P39 40th Special Edition, it celebrates 40 years of RML, and its birthday present to itself is basically an attempt to beat Porsche at its own game. Taking the outgoing 992.1 911 Turbo S, RML has overhauled… pretty much everything.
RML P39 – side
The 911’s 3.7-litre turbocharged flat-six has been boosted from 641 to a mighty 900bhp, and torque is up from 590 to 738lb ft. This is courtesy of a new ECU, uprated turbos and intercoolers, new manifolds and cats and an Inconel sports exhaust, which sounds very cool in more ways than one. It retains the standard car’s eight-speed PDK ’box.
RML, apparently taking inspiration from Le Mans Prototypes, has widened the track and extended the wheelbase of the Turbo S, and entirely replaced the body with a new carbon fibre version. There’s active aero front and rear, including a rear drag-reduction system, and the entire chassis can be hydraulically dropped to hunker down for track driving.
RML P39 – overhead
However, RML’s also keen to emphasise that it’s just as comfortable on the road – the P39 has a dedicated Tour mode which increases the ride height and slackens off the dampers. There are no shots of the interior yet, but it apparently features new sports seats with four-point harnesses, and the 911’s fairly useless rear seats have been swapped out for a half cage.
The projected numbers all sound fairly impressive: 60mph in 2.4 seconds (RML doesn’t quote a 0-62) and 100mph in 4.5 seconds, a 205mph top speed, 923kg of downforce at 177mph, and a target lap time around that big, famous racetrack in Germany of 6min 45sec. With regard to the last of those, RML specifically has the 6min 49sec managed by Porsche’s own track maniac – the 911 GT3 RS – in its sights.
RML P39 – rear
RML only plans to build 10 P39s, and they’ll cost £495,000 a pop – before taxes, and after you’ve sourced yourself a 911 Turbo S donor car. It’s the first of a few very intriguing projects RML has in the pipeline, and is set to be followed by a bespoke, crazy-fast ‘F1-inspired’ track car and a carbon-bodied restomod of the brutish ’70s Aston Martin V8 Vantage. It’s also working on a modular high-performance electric powertrain component, which already sees service in the likes of the Czinger 21C.
