Porsche Veteran Roland Kussmaul

Except perhaps at one or two retirement parties or other formal occasions, no one ever saw Roland Kussmaul wearing a suit and tie. Racing or workshop overalls, Porsche’s pit lane uniform perhaps, even a mere pair of grubby shorts in those shots of the sweltering Dakar where he raced during the day and serviced the cars in the evening, but never a shirt and tie: Roland Kussmaul was always hands on.

Another of the wave of engineering graduates from Stuttgart University who joined Porsche at the end of the sixties, Kussmaul remembers that exciting time when Ferdinand Piëch, a man who “knew what he wanted” was driving the Porsche Motorsport to the very top with an energy that was felt throughout the company.