The name Tuthill has become synonymous with rally-prepped 911s, an association forged through consistent success in the grueling East African Safari Classic Rally. They are also known for collaborating with Singer on the 911 ACS (All-Terrain Competition Study). Richard Tuthill, son of company founder Francis, isn’t one to rest on laurels. A few years ago, he steered Tuthill Porsche into uncharted territory: bespoke road-spec 911 creations. Backed by 50 years of family expertise, the result is a trio of models—the raw and uncompromising 911K, the SC/RS, which bridges rally heritage with road-going sophistication, and the more refined RSR we see here.
The launch of Tuthill’s road-focused project was met with immediate enthusiasm. Most of the SC/RS and RSR models sold out shortly after their debut, yet Richard’s perfectionist streak delayed press drives until every detail met his exacting standards. Now, with the cars finally ready, the moment has arrived. We head to Tuthill Porsche’s Banbury, England headquarters to explore whether the RSR lives up to the type. After years of anticipation, does it deliver?
Background
Before we saw the finished product, we were granted a rare glimpse into Tuthill’s meticulous production process. The journey begins with a donor car, typically a 1995-1998 993-generation 911, chosen based on customer preferences. “A standard 993 is a beautiful car,” Richard says. “Especially for the times, but from a performance perspective, it is sometimes a little numb to drive.”
From there, the car is stripped down to its bare shell. Next comes a rigorous water-blasting process, stripping away decades of paint and underseal to expose the raw metal underneath. Any imperfection or wear on the 30-year-old chassis is repaired, ensuring the structural integrity is as sound as the day it left Stuttgart. The shell is then transferred to the body shop.
A Tuthill craftsman, hard at work transforming a 993 shell into an RSR or SC/RS, gestures toward an intriguing detail: three small holes for the rear side window opening brackets. These vestigial features, functionally discontinued after the F-Series in 1973, are still present on the 993 chassis, nearly two decades later. It’s a testament to the evolutionary nature of air-cooled 911 engineering. That continuity isn’t just a curiosity—it’s a boon. The shared DNA of air-cooled 911s makes adapting a 993 for a backdate project a surprisingly seamless process.
The 993 shell may be a modern foundation, but its transformation into a Tuthill RSR is steeped in tradition. One of the key modifications involves subtly revising Porsche’s original design. To accommodate larger oil coolers and additional engine peripherals, Tuthill raised the slope of the hood and engine lid slightly. But changing the 993 to an early 911 appearance is a straightforward process, requiring only a few inches of metal to be trimmed away.
With the shell prepped, the signature wide-flared arches are fitted. These extensions, reminiscent of the early 1970s RSRs, are iconic. The work is done the old-fashioned way, each fresh weld hammered into place by hand. The rhythmic sound of metal striking metal reverberates through the workshop. In this moment, the modern and the vintage converge.
At Tuthill Porsche, the balance between performance and refinement is a matter of careful deliberation, guided by the customer’s vision. For the SC/RS and RSR models, the use of carbon fiber and composite materials is selective. Hoods and engine lids are typically crafted from ultra-light composites, ensuring reduced weight without sacrificing strength.
Yet, unlike race-prepped counterparts stripped bare for every ounce saved, Tuthill’s creations are designed with a broader goal. These cars embrace refinement and luxury, offering a driving experience that is both sophisticated and thrilling. The result is a car that feels equally at home carving through canyon roads or gliding on city streets.
In a separate building at Tuthill Porsche’s Banbury facility, engines undergo a transformation as bespoke as the cars they power. Each is crafted to meet the needs and desires of its future owner. For the RSR we were set to test, outright performance wasn’t the primary goal. Instead, the focus was on drivability and comfortable touring. As such, its powerplant was designed to deliver low-end responsiveness and torque.
The process begins with a donor engine block stripped down to its core components. Every part is examined, reconditioned, or replaced. For this particular RSR, the cylinders were bored out to 3.8 liters and fitted with cams from a 993 Cup race car. Virtually every moving engine part was disassembled, reworked, balanced, and given a ceramic coating for durability. Finally, a MOTEC M130 ECU was installed and paired with a custom wiring loom. The result? A power output of 320 horsepower and 265 lb-ft of torque—a combination that feels excellent in a car weighing just 2,755 pounds.
The RSR has a powertrain built for spirited driving without veering into track-car brutality. Richard Tuthill quickly emphasizes that this RSR is a road car. Yet, with a knowing smile, he admits that the Tuthill 911K offers a wilder ride for those seeking raw exhilaration.
“What I wanted to create,” Richard explains about the RSR, “was a car I would be happy to drive to the south of France and still feel fine at the end of the journey. There are very few cars in our market you could do that in.”
The key to achieving that goal is the setup. From the very outset, when the first Porsche 356s were wheeled out of the old sawmill in Gmünd, Porsche’s handling characteristics were something other manufacturers sought to emulate. Richard spent a significant amount of time getting the new cars perfectly right.
“Quite a few miles out around the local lanes,” he grins. “We did spend a long time working on the setup before we eventually got it properly dialed in.”
To do that, spring rates were optimized, which was the easiest thing to do in the whole process. But lowering the car meant that the 993’s kinematic toe rear suspension system needed reconfiguring.
“The system, which automatically changes toe rates as you drive, brake, and corner, was quite ground-breaking at the time, but getting it to work properly with the car lowered wasn’t exactly the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” explains Richard. “It needed a lot of work. But once we learned how to do it and made it work with the multi-link suspension, I now think that the 993 is a great car to work with.”
In Richard’s opinion, the most important aspect of a car’s setup is the dampers, and he put many hours of work into getting them right.
“Every single time I drive a car, I think about dampers. It comes with a lifetime of experience,” he says. Other Porsche tuners might put their car on a shaker rig and pour over the computer readout, but for the new Tuthill cars, that wasn’t good enough for Richard. The test track was the local country lanes, working on and driving the car around until he was pleased with it, trusting his instinct—built up with decades of experience. He even went as far as testing different damper internals. But that still wasn’t enough.
“The secret to getting everything to work in combination is to get the suspension working with the tire,” continues Richard. “Many cars are over-tired, and, in my opinion, if you start there, you’re already fighting a losing battle, as you have too much rubber in contact with the ground. I feel that if you have a tire that is too wide, you end up with too much mechanical grip, which can allow the car to track and feel every imperfection in the road. You wouldn’t mind so much on a race track, but I don’t think this is good for nimble country driving. Many people follow performance as the main attribute and so many people make cars that don’t cope very well with bumps.”
The 16-inch wheels on this RSR are made especially for Tuthill, and the tires are Pirelli P-Zeros size 225/50ZR-16.
The Drive
We are handed the keys to this stunning silver RSR. Opening the drilled-out door handle, an item that harks back to the earliest days of competition-spec 911s, the door isn’t as light as I’d expected. I suspect that had something to do with the stunning leather upholstery on the door card.
None of the fifteen cars sold so far is like another, as each is made bespoke for each client. That includes the interiors. Whoever the owner of this Tuthill RSR is, they have very good taste. Blue tartan goes very well with tan leather. The whiskey leather is from a Scottish company called Bridge of Muir, and the tartan pattern is called Madras, but strangely, the owner has no connection with Scotland.
The seats are another Tuthill design. From what I’d learned of Richard by now, shuffling myself into position, it didn’t surprise me that he’d thought of a way to improve the classic Recaro design.
“How you sit absolutely affects the whole driving experience,” he says matter-of-factly. Although the seat is upholstered in luxury leather, its structure is made from carbon fiber. The design brief was a classic style with modern materials. “We went through a few different iterations over a six-month period and had a few 3D models made until I was finally happy enough to have it in one of our creations.”
For the silver RSR, the client requested a Momo Prototipo steering wheel. But it doesn’t surprise me that Richard has created his own. The original RSR four-spoke wheel inspires it but with a smaller diameter and slightly increased dish. It is also made from flax, which Porsche has used more recently on its electric mid-engine sports car prototypes.
The Tuthills’ background is in rallying, not circuit racing, and a Porsche built for the forests and the savannah is much different from the track-bred variety. These rolling English lanes, with their twists, undulations, and less-than-perfect surfaces, are a fitting proving ground for a car shaped by Richard’s rallying expertise. Twisting, undulating, slippery, often not in the greatest condition, and shared with farm machinery, this is the perfect place to test and develop a driver’s 911—the opposite of an often sterile race track.
The 993 will remain in history as the most modern air-cooled 911, but nowadays, it is a long way from being a modern car. The Tuthill RSR feels much more old-school than a 993 Carrera or Carrera S. Gently winding it up on the narrow, twisty lanes around the workshop, there is the familiar flash of cognitive dissonance where different parts of the brain interpret sensory perceptions.
Driving the this RSR feels like a fusion of eras—its lively, old-school character evokes a 930-gen 911 Turbo, yet it delivers the composure of a finely honed modern machine. For stopping power, it has Tuthill’s patented six-pot calipers on the front and four-pots on the rear. Tuthill has used these for many years, and if they can stop a mud-covered 911 on the Safari Rally for a week at a time, then they are perfectly fine for a road car.
The Verdict
The Tuthill RSR is a very nice mix of modern and classic. You can just get in and drive it. It will start right up anywhere, but it also has an old-school feel to it. The dampers give you a lot of feedback. It has smaller wheels but bigger tires than a stock 993, and you get a really good feel from them. This is the type of machine you would drive around all day with a big smile on your face. In the end, this RSR embodies a rare duality: a machine steeped in rallying tradition, yet engineered to deliver joy in every road-going modern mile.
