Porsche-Inspired Alternate Universe Le Mans Prototype Can Be Yours for $600,000
Oil Stain Lab’s Half11 is powered by a Chevy V8 and has quite the fan fiction behind it.
A few years ago, brothers Iliya and Nikita Bridan—designers and car enthusiasts—set out to make their ultimate dream car project based on the Porsche 911 and inspired by race cars of the 1960s. It's called the Half11 because it has the vague looks of a 911, a tubular steel racing chassis, and a JMS Racing Chevy LS. After years of development and testing, the Bridan brothers are finally ready to sell their prototype, and you can buy it if you dare and have a spare $600,000 lying around.
What started as a reimagined Porsche 911 quickly became something almost entirely custom-made. The only bits left of the '60s 911 are some of its front end, such as the bare fenders and frunk floor. That's it, though. Everything else is custom-fabricated tubular steel, like the chassis of a vintage F1 car. Calling it the "Half11" is being generous, as it's more like a Tenth11 at most. Looking at it in its final form, the only thing "911" about the build is the vague shape of its headlights, as its body is made from hand-fabricated aluminum.
Shoehorned into its midship engine bay is a JMS Racing Chevy LS V8 that's claimed to make 650 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. The Bridan brothers, under their company Oil Stain Lab, say it can do 0-60 mph in 2.5 seconds and reach a top speed of 200 mph. Of course, there's no way to prove that without buying it and testing it independently. Though, with 650 horses, a lightweight tube chassis, and massive racing slicks, Oil Stain Lab's claims don't seem out of the question.
Make no mistake, though, this isn't a race car with a storied racing history, nor is it inspired by one, despite what Oil Stain Lab's Instagram photos might suggest. Instead, the Half11 is the brainchild and passion project of the Bridan brothers, who've made something unique, using the general period of '60s endurance racing prototypes as their inspiration.
That doesn't mean it won't be kick-ass to drive, though. The Half11's chassis was designed by Joe Scarbo of Scarbo Performance in California; it uses pushrod-actuated Öhlins dampers; it has a monstrous Chevy LS mated to a 996-gen 911 GT2 six-speed manual; it's rear-wheel drive; and it only weighs 1,850 pounds. It's assuredly absolutely wild behind the wheel much like its inspiration, but that's about where the similarities to the likes of the Porsche 917, Ferrari "P" series, and Ford GT40 end.
The first Half11 prototype is currently being sold through The Arsenale and will set you back $600,000. Oil Stain Lab plans to make 25 of these, teasing coupe and speedster versions to follow this windshield-free proof-of-concept. Why 25? Oil Stain Lab claims that's the number required for "homologation rules," per the listing, to keep up the mid-century motorsport fanfiction theme. If you ever wanted to cosplay street driving the road version of a priceless Le Mans legend, here's your best and likely only chance.
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