Last year, you may recall, we brought you news that Brabus - the unapologetically power-mad tuner of all things Mercedes - had decided to have a go at enhancing the Porsche 911 Turbo. Naturally, it considered the standard 650hp output a jumping-off point, and breathed on the 3.8-litre flat-six until it produced 820hp. Job done etc. Well, no - it turns out that 820hp was just another jumping-off point for what Brabus really loves to do, which is take something so far that it can legitimately attach the name ‘Rocket’ to it.
Stand well back then for the Brabus 900 Rocket R, a ‘1 of 25’ model still based on the all-wheel-drive Porsche 911 Turbo S, but adorned with even more Bottrop-based fingerprints. As the name suggests (and as the Rocket iterations tend to feature) the special edition develops 900hp alongside 738lb ft of torque, or 250hp and 148lb ft more than a car that was already at the silly end of fast. Accordingly, the Rocket R will hit 62mph in 2.5 seconds and 124mph in 7.2 seconds, the latter making it very marginally quicker to the same mark as a Bugatti Veyron.
So it’s pretty quick. How has Brabus achieved this level of performance? Well, evidently its previous tinkering has led it down much the same path: much as before, the tuner has binned Porsche’s turbochargers and replaced them with a brace of larger VTG specials, running up to a maximum boost pressure of 1.9 bar. On top of that, it has added Brabus diverter valves with BoostXtra adapters (it loves to name things) which are said to ‘produce a clearly audible blow-off noise’ off throttle. You don’t say.
Elsewhere, as you might expect, there are bespoke maps for the injection and ignition systems, and while the eight-speed PDK remains, Brabus says it has ‘adapted’ the controls - whatever that means. It has also replaced the exhaust system with one of its own featuring two high-performance catalysts and custom-made particulate filters, not to mention a whole lot of Inconel in the silencer. With its butterfly valves fully open, Brabus reckons it coaxes ‘a spectacular sound’ from the flat-six.
You’d rather hope it does because the Rocket R is certainly very loud in the styling department. The Rocket R wears tailor-made Brabus Widestar carbon fibre bodywork (with some Kevlar in the wheel arches) which adds menace all over the place - as well as additional airflow for the lustier engine - and makes room for the enormous quad tailpipes and a new set of forged Monoblock P wheels. These are 21-inch to the front and 22-inch at the back, the latter wrapped in ginormous 335-section tyres that see the Rocket R’s total width stretched to almost two metres.
All the better for sticking you to the road, of course - ditto the inevitable fitment of coilover sports springs and model-specific dampers. Brabus says the new components are fully compatible with Porsche’s PASM system, and claims increased downforce from its wind tunnel-perfected rear spoiler. We rather like the latter, much as we rather like the idea of driving a Brabus-badged 911. But you’ll probably need to conjure up a deep sense of longing if you want one: the Brabus R is 461,500 euros excluding tax. Mind boggled.
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