Insane Porsche 935 replica gets 475kW electric conversion
Of all the classic cars you never expected to see running batteries and an electric motor, the Porsche 935 must nudge the top of the list.
The factory racing version of the 911 Turbo (930) road car with its giant twin-turbo flat-six engined helped the 935 terrorise race tracks in the late 70s and early 80s, notching up an outright Le Mans 24 Hour victory in 1979.
To honour and add a very modern twist to this slant nosed icon, Los Angeles tuner Bisimoto Engineering has created a 935 replica using electric components from fellow Californian company EV West.
Called the 935 K3V, its liquid-cooled rear-mounted single drive 403v AC 3-phase induction motor – which apparently spins to 18,000rpm – offers 475kW and claimed 0-100km/h time of a little over two seconds. Yep, you read correctly.
Its weight of 1216kg – impressively light for any EV – helps matters, as do the giant lumps of 345 Toyo rubber that desperately scramble for traction.
A very different beast to an original 935 – renowned for its screaming turbocharged noise and comical turbo lag – Bisimoto’s rear-drive K3V offers an electric motor whine and instant torque.
We know 12 LG Chem batteries (six in the front, six in the rear) with 32kWh capacity hold the charge and there’s an optimistic range claim of 418km. A Type 1 charging port through the sloped bonnet is neatly hidden behind a Porsche 917-style filler cap.
Genuine Porsche 935 racers have telephone number values, so it’s reassuring to know no real 935 was harmed in the creation of the K3V. The donor vehicle was a rolling chassis 1984 911 SC, given a new life using original 935 body moulds from Germany’s Kremer Racing, the company that developed the famous slant-nosed aero bodies for the race cars.
The outrageous wide-body has been given a Porsche slate grey paint finished with a pink and silver wrap, finished off with an APR dual-element carbon rear wing. It rolls on 17-inch (front) and 19-inch (rear) Brixton Forged alloys with Group C racing-esque turbofan wheel covers.
Chassis hardware includes KW Classic Clubsport coilover suspension with KW’s hydraulic lift kit for the front end, while a StopTech big brake kit does the anchors work.
Inside the dashboard remains very 1980s Porsche 911, albeit with Momo race seats, Momo steering wheel and an AEM CD-5 digital display showing all the electric readouts.
A Quaife gear-shifter is all you need to engage forward or reverse gear, while a 76kW regenerative braking system is there to help extend range a smidge.
Our contact, Christian Schmidt, who works for Germany’s KW Automotive, described the drive experience thus: “Simply, it drives like a razor blade through butter. The thing is fast. Unbelievably fast. And when driving it sounds almost like a jet inside. Hard to believe, even without the air-cooled Porsche boxer sound, this car has a certain charm.”
Not one for the Porsche purists perhaps, but with major and influential tuners such as Bisimoto turning its hand to electrification, we can expect the EV conversion scene to evolve at fascinating pace.
Thanks to KW Automotive and Eddy Paesschezoone for images and C. Schmidt for technical details.
