The common points of the OG Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche 356 that came before the 911 continue to be on enthusiasts’ minds more than seven decades after the sportscar was introduced. As such, it doesn’t take much for one to imagine a Bettle that can give a Porscha a hard time with the stopwatch running. And the heavily remastered Bug postrayed in this rendering is what happens when such a concept is put into pixels.
Is this still a Beetle, though? Well, you can still recognize the iconic shape of the Vee-Dub, even though we wouldn’t expect any of the original tech bits to be found underneath the wider, longer body of the machine.
The digital artist knows as Piston Zero has a thing for restomods that have a bit of an OEM flair to them, as this modern-day Nissan 240Z, an alternative to the also-retro-styled 2023 Z, has shown. And this Beetle is no exception.
Having obviously been prepared for competition duty, the VW looks like it took a page from the Porsche 919 Hybrid book. You know, the gas-electric racer car that brought Zuffenhausen no less than three Le Mans victories before the carmaker retired following the 2017 win (it’s coming back for the 2023 season).
For one, the wheels/tires, the rear fin and the wing perfectly fit the description above. And while the front end might be the natural focal point for many, it’s the posterior of the racer that seems to stand out the most.
Not only is the Beetle rear-engined, but this digital example fills out the elongated widebody with complex air outlets that would allow this beast to stick to the road at frightening speeds.
And while the pixel master did add the LM particle to the digital build, if we are to go down the RPM (real-life project in the making) Potential path, seeing this at the infamous 24-hour endurance race seems nothing more than wishful thinking.
This Beetle feels more like a Pikes Peak monster
Nevertheless, somebody could always build such a Beetle and take it to the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, hence our title. Speaking of which, we’ll remind that the famed race to the clouds, which has featured an asphalt course for several years now, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this June.
“I wanted to see what would come out of combining a good old Beetle and a modern race car. I ended up with something far from pretty but kind of interesting,” the artist states on Instagram.
After all, Pikes Peak-tackling Beetles with Porsche tech have been known to exist, even though the community usually likes to build off-roading Baha Bugs out of these things.
And the project the Hoonigan YouTube video below, which features a Porsche PDK dual-clutch and a 2.0L VW oil burner with compound turbocharging, which set a new diesel record back in 2020, is an example as good as any.
