Porsche 997 GT3 RSR

A third example must be 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR chassis number WP0ZZZ99Z7S799913. Purchased from Porsche Motorsport by Flying Lizard Motorsports, its first livery, naturally, was the world-famous silver and red, consistently worn by their Porsches from their founding in 2003 until 2014. It was worn by this car, start number 45, throughout 2007 American Le Mans Series season, racking up class wins at Lime Rock, Mid Ohio, and the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. The wins and consistent finishes paved the way to 2nd in the GT2 team standings and an equal 3rd for teammates Jörg Bergmeister and Johannes Van Overbeek in the driver’s championship. Yet for all the wins, its second place at the 12 Hours of Sebring may be its most spectacular result. The final laps of the race in GT2 featured a head-to-head battle between Jaime Melo in the Risi Competizione F430GT and Jörg Bergmeister in this very car. After 12 hours of hard racing and with his high beams flashing, Bergmeister outbraked Melo into the bumpy final turn 17, taking a temporary lead before Melo nipped ahead on the power by a fraction of a second as the two cars flashed under the checkered flag. Truly an epic finish for the ages, done while wearing the Flying Lizard silver and red.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking place mid-way through the ALMS season, the Lizards took a new artistic approach to the liveries for their two-car team. The team contacted Troy Lee, the legendary California-based motorsport artist, to create a custom “art car” design for the newly aggressive profile of the 997-generation RSR, specifically for the famous 24-hour race. In the words of Lee, “whether it’s two wheels or 18, I want to make it look like it’s going 200 mph while standing still.” After participating in the early June Le Mans Test in silver and red with Patrick Long at the wheel, Lee flew to Le Mans to apply the wrap. According to Lee, after receiving the graphics from England, it took three full days to wrap the car. Quoted in Autoweek the artist was ecstatic about his design which was unveiled on 11 June in front of thousands of motorsport-mad fanatics at official scrutineering in the historic town of Le Mans. Lee summarized his feelings about his work before the race, “So this was kind of my dream come true. This was just fun to really do something of an art car. Something wild. And in France, they’re all about art.”

The Flying Lizard / Troy Lee Designs art car wearing start number 80 was nothing short of a sensation. Having qualified 4th in their LMGT2 class the trio of Johannes van Overbeek, Jörg Bergmeister, and team-owner Seth Neiman had high hopes for the race. And not without good reason. After the race began in front of over 250,000 spectators, start number 80 set the fastest GT2 lap of the race running quite well until around midnight when it retired with gearbox issues after over 1,000 miles and 124 laps of hard racing.

In true art car tradition, when this RSR returned to the United States, winning the Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park, it was once again liveried in the traditional Flying Lizard silver and red as number 45 and remained that way to close out the season. In 2008, the GT3 RSR was unretired for a single race, competing at Laguna Seca at the ALMS season finale as start number 46 with Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet behind the wheel. With that, the car was officially entered into retirement and returned to Porsche Motorsport in Germany for a refresh. Already a well-known icon for the team and an era at Le Mans, it returned to Troy Lee who reinstalled the famous 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans art car livery in time for Porsche’s return as the featured marque of the 2009 Monterey Historic races.

It should go without saying that after its riveting Sebring 12 Hour finish, three class wins during the 2007 ALMS season and, of course, its famous Troy Lee art car livery, this is no ordinary Porsche GT3 RSR. It often takes years or decades for a car’s exceptional history to return to prominence after multiple owners, color changes, and racing in lower profile events. Perhaps, most impressively, this RSR has not suffered that fate. Shortly after restoration, it was displayed on the stand of the 2009 New York International Auto Show, set beside the newly released 997.2-generation GT3. In fact, Porsche favored the livery so much that it featured the art car in its marketing materials for the 2008 911 GT3 RSR.

Today, the Flying Lizard art car appears very much as it did after restoration with only two private owners since. It was purchased from Flying Lizard Motorsports after restoration by its first private owner in 2009. Chassis number 13 has been a celebrated attendee of both Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI and 7. In advance of Rennsport 7 in September 2023, this RSR was serviced by Alegra Motorsports with new race belts, all new fluids, a certified fire bottle with the consignor noting that it features approximately five hours on an engine refresh and new clutch since 2018. It is sold with a large digital history file along with a trove of digital photography from Le Mans. Additionally, a spares package of used parts is included that is comprised of suspension components, a carbon under tray, three sets of BBS center lock wheels, a set of rebuilt heads, and more, which will be made available to the winning bidder with shipping to be paid for by the buyer from its location in Savannah, Georgia.