Pop goes the easel
Worlds collided for F1 veteran and artist Stefan Johansson when he was asked to design the livery of a special Porsche powered by one of his old McLaren engines. Damien Smith tags along
The engines came from McLaren’s heritage collection and each is complete with an intricate history file,
Johansson runs the 930 up the hill at this year’s Goodwood FoS
TAG Porsche engine is the one he raced in the 1987 Austrian Grand Pix.
The paint was hand-applied to the Porsche, and even extends to some snazzy matching seatbacks
Imagine the pitch. Take an early 1980s Porsche 930. Stick a TAG turbo Formula 1 engine in the back – not a replica, a real one, straight out of a McLaren grand prix car of 1983-87 vintage, with genuine race history. Add the requisite styling cues, such as a period F1 steering wheel and Hugo Boss-labelled safety belts. Then hand it over to a McLaren F1 driver of that specific era, who also just happens to be an artist, and give him free rein to express himself with a bespoke paint job. It’s a ‘yes’ every time, isn’t it?
Stefan Johansson revealed ‘his’ Porsche 930 TAG Turbo at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, complete with a spin up the hill. We say ‘his’. It’s not literally. But it is powered by one of Johansson’s race engines from his single season with McLaren in 1987, and the Swede did indeed hand-paint the livery. Conceived and built by historic racing and exotic hypercar specialist Lanzante, the project is quirky – much like Johansson – and a delightful example of motor sport’s great Art Car tradition. Some can be sniffy about the ‘Restomod’ label, but if that’s how we describe it for want of a better word, it’s an example of the breed that’s turned up all the way to 11 – which happens to be the number that have been built.