Arkansas Tuner Brings Out the Best in the Porsche 911 Turbo
Ozark Mountains meet 1,000-horsepower 996 Porsche 911 Turbo.
Covering parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, the Ozark Mountains are generally known for a few things. The area has everything from big rivers and lush forests, to numerous caves and dolomite glades. There’s the beloved Silver Dollar City family theme park, and the “beloved” family theme city of Branson, Missouri. There’s a diamond mine open to the public, and a moonshine industry hidden away from unwanted eyes.
Speaking of hidden, there’s also a family owned Porsche tuner named Protomotive tucked away in the woods near Harrison, Arkansas, located a half-hour south of Branson. Marcus Vandenberg, host of YouTube channel Roads Untraveled, recently visited this hidden gem to drive a 1,000-horsepower 996 911 Turbo that could have been a moonshine runner in another time.
Founded by the husband-and-wife team of Todd and Cynthia Knighton, Protomotive’s small, unassuming shop, hidden amid 150 acres of forest, has been “manufacturing high-performance products for Porsches” since 1984. Cynthia says the isolation the Ozarks provide “is critical in doing what [they] do,” adding that they since they don’t do retail (thus, attracting customers throughout the day), they’re able to focus on manufacturing and engine building for their customers from around the world.
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Protomotive’s high-quality, hand-built products have resulted in builds such as the blue 996 911 Turbo Vandenburg drives throughout the video. The 1,000-horsepower 911 was actually downtuned to “somewhere over 600 at the wheels” for the driving experience. Todd explains near the end of the video, when the car is opened up to 800, then 1,000 horsepower, that “with the boost on, if you’re not on a four-lane, wide-open highway doing roll-ons from 100 [mph] up, forget it.”
As for why Protomotive doesn’t do the things that other tuners do, like road racing and drag racing, Todd says self-promotion is one thing, but their clients do a better job of spreading the gospel, some of whom have gone so far as to fly Todd and Cynthia out places like Kuwait, Virgin Islands, Greece, Japan, and of course, Germany.
Vandenberg says the reason Protomotive’s success is because “there are no compromises” on what they do. And if you’ve got a 911 in need of some power, all you need to do is skip past the tourist traps in Branson, and head deep into the Ozarks.
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