There are multiple reasons Everrati is taking 964 generation Porsche 911 models and replacing the 3.6-liter flat-six engine and 4-speed Tiptronic transmission for a 500 horsepower electric drivetrain. None of those reasons are a lack of respect for classic 911s, except, perhaps, for the 4-speed Tiptronic transmission.
We’ll get to those, but let’s take a closer look at this particular commission of Everatti’s all-electric homage to the legendary RSR 911 model. We met up with Everrati’s CEO, Justin Lunny, on Sunset Boulevard overlooking the city of LA in Southern California to get that closer look and take it for a spin on the iconic Mulholland Drive.
An All-Electric Classic 911
The specific car we were looking at is called Evergreen, after its paint. It’s a commission for the CEO of the Dirtfish rally school, car collector, and Everatti investor, Steve Rimmer. The base for every Electric Type 964 RSR is a regular Porsche 911 donor car built between 1989 and 1993, sourced with a straight, rust-free chassis, and a clean title. The drivetrain is developed by Everrati with a 62 kWh battery and good for around 200 miles of range. Amazingly, the structural integrity of the chassis is fully maintained, and the powertrain conversion is fully reversible.
To keep the 911 driving and feeling like a 911 should, the 60/40 front/rear weight distribution is carefully maintained. A lot of attention has gone into the brake feel as well, while adding regeneration. The original suspension is replaced with an electronically adjustable Tractive suspension system and a Quaife ATB torque biased limited-slip-differential is added.
The exterior is what catches the attention of anyone passing by. Evergreen has the carbon fiber pack option, giving it the carbon fiber Turbo-look fenders, a carbon fiber roof, and the carbon fiber rear deck with an RSR-style spoiler. In this configuration, Justin tells us the 911 weighs less than in its original factory state. From this writer’s point of view, it’s damn near perfect in how the car sits and looks with its green paint and gold wheels.
Inside, it’s a fairly standard but tastefully done Porsche 911 restomod interior. The Recaro seats, leather covered roll bar, custom Porsche-inspired gauges, and upgraded heating and air-conditioning boxes are ticked. Keeping things low-key is an infotainment system with navigation, digital radio, Bluetooth, and Apple CarPlay. It’s low-key because there’s no big touchscreen, and it’s all tucked down low below the dashboard. On the inside, Evergreen is basically a 1989 Porsche 911 with a few extra black boxes with small screens tucked down low.
On The Road: Modern Nostalgia
Given the breadth and depth of cars I’ve driven since the late 1990s and that writing and photographing cars is my living, I’m an abnormality in this profession. I’ve driven various Porches but, oddly, this is the first Porsche 911 I’ve driven. The good news is that I get to judge Everrati’s Electric Type 964 RSR purely for what it is, not what it was. As someone that started driving in the late 1990s, Everrati’s 911 feels like a complete throwback, despite the super-smooth electric drivetrain.
The steering starts off light and precise, then gains real weight while still being incredibly responsive to small inputs. In my experience, people get too hung up on steering “feel” but it’s something genuinely worth commenting on here. It communicates as much as the chassis does through where it really counts – the hips. It took a matter of minutes to adjust to and, within a few miles, it felt completely natural.
The suspension in Evergreen is not the softer Touring set up, yet despite being so small and light, even in its sportier setting, it never felt rough. And in the hills around LA, the pavement gets ridiculously rough in places. The brakes, surprisingly, feel entirely natural and progressive despite regeneration going on. You have to lean into them to get them to bite, but when they do, they’re strong and help build confidence in the car’s ability.
Mulholland on a weekday afternoon is not a place to start throwing a car around, but picking up the pace showed how purposeful and fun the Evergreen 911 is. Getting stuck behind a slow moving car in the twisting areas wasn’t a punishment, it was a chance to just enjoy the vibe the renewed 911 radiates. Off the line, it’s capable of getting to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, and it’s a satisfying sense of speed that builds quickly then urgently. There’s a sense of tuning there, rather than just throwing neck-snapping power at the car.
Of course, there’s no flat-six gas engine wailing away, but it’s not silent either. Opinions will vary, but I like the sound of the electric motors winding up and whining away inside the car and the lack of attention it brings from the outside.
Who Is Everrati?
Currently, UK-based Justin Lunny comes from an IT and technology background and started Everatti out of a love of cars and Lunny’s daughter’s concern over the environment. However, the electric conversion company, actually named Powered By Everatti, is the tip of an iceberg. The underlying business is developing and providing electric powertrains for automakers. That means the powertrains aren’t pulled out of another car like the brutally scary Superformance Cobra I drove a while back. It also means that these cars will be developed. For example, the 911 series the Evergreen commission comes from has a limited-slip differential. In the future, electric conversions will feature true torque vectoring.
Overall Impression: Pure Sports Car Fun
I can’t tell you if it’s as much fun as the original 964 911, which means I get to judge the Type 964 RSR homage without that baggage and banging on about the howl of a flat-six engine and trot out clichés about Porsche’s older manual transmissions. In short, I had a huge amount of fun tooling about in a pure sports car. It’s small, tuned to be well-balanced, and made me feel nostalgic about driving late 1980s and early 1990s cars.
The long version is how it brought back a memory from a piece of mountain road I drive regularly. I’ve come down the mountain pushing all sorts of sports cars at pace, including standouts like the Audi R8, Lotus Evira, Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, and C8 Corvette. However, the only time I’ve reached the bottom of that 15-mile stretch of road, turned around and driven back to the top, so I can come down again was in a Mazda Miata. It was that much fun and, most importantly, it didn’t need to be crazy fast to be fun – just incredibly well-developed while adhering to classic sports car rules. There’s a genuine purity in that, and the 964 RSR homage has that, while being considerably faster than any production MX-5.
by Ian Wright
Source: CarBuzz
