Porsche 911 Martini Racing Edition

Forget the 2014 Football World Cup – there is another sporting event taking place this weekend that trumps it – well, in our eyes anyway. The 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans takes place three days from now and more importantly it welcomes Porsche back for the first time to top-tier competition in sixteen years.

A special-edition Porsche 911 Carrera S Martini Racing Edition with the iconic motorsport livery celebrates this historic fact. The red and blue striped Martini racing colours hark back to legendary Porsches of the 1970s – like the 917 and 935 – and they’re complemented with standard fitment of the Sports Chrono pack and an attractive Aerokit Cup body kit which adds an additional rear spoiler and front splitter to give an aerodynamic advantage and extra racing ambiance to the regular Carrera S.

Exclusively offered in white or black, all Martini Racing Editions come standard with a high-end Bose sound system, sports steering wheel and sport leather seats. In terms of the interior, there are body-coloured accents replicated from the outside onto the dash with ‘Martini Racing Edition’ badging and red stainless-steel sills.

The Martini Racing Edition, underneath the stripes, is unchanged from a normally aspirated 3.8-litre flat-six Carrera S, however, with 300kW and 440Nm of torque. The transmission is standard fare too with either the seven-speed manual or PDK dual-clutch capable of a 0-100kph sprint in 4.1sec before topping out at 300kph.

It is believed the Martini Racing Edition will be limited to just 80 units, available across a range of Porsche world markets, not just Europe. The 911 Carrera S price jumps by almost £20 000 in Europe – or R290 000 in a direct currency conversion – quite a sizable chunk for some body work and a cool livery… okay, the coolest livery in motorsport.

If you’re a Porsche or 24 Hours of Le Mans fanatic, perhaps it’s worth the extra outlay. Or you can wait for the sticker kit.