Words by: Glen Smale Images by: Glen Smale & Corporate Archives Porsche AG The Dependable 908 As previously noted, thanks to the revised Group 6 regulations for the 1968 season, the engine capacity limit was restricted to 3-litres. This allowed the Porsche factory racers to shift up a gear, becoming...
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South African-born Smale started his professional motor journalism and photography career back in 1994, but if truth be told, Glen has had a driving passion for all things motoring since a tender age. In 1997, Glen launched Autosport & Classics, a classic motoring and historic motorsport magazine covering the local scene in SA. Two years later, having sold his share in the magazine. Between 2004 and 2016 Smale has authored thirteen books covering sports cars and motor racing. In 2007 he received the Laurin and Klement ‘Design Writer of the Year’ award for his book Jaguar E-type: Portrait of a Design Icon. In 2012 his book, Porsche at Le Mans: 60 Years of Porsche Participation in the World’s Greatest Motor Race, was shortlisted in the British Sports Book Awards. Of his thirteen books, no less than seven have been on Porsche cars, perhaps suggesting where his passion lies. Glen first started writing for the only magazine dedicated entirely to the Porsche 911, namely Total 911, as far back as 2005 and still contributes to this magazine on a regular basis. He has also written for the well-known Porsche magazines in America, Excellence, for a number of years. In addition to this, Glen has contributed to the Porsche Club of North America monthly publication, Panorama, as well as a host of other titles over the years in Europe, the UK and South Africa. Away from the race track, Glen was an aspiring golfer in his younger days and represented his province in the under-18 age group for a number of years. He went on to win his University Championships and represented Rhodes University for five years, as well as playing club league golf for ten years. With both children now out of the house and working, Glen lives with his lovely German wife, Elke, in the beautiful county of Carmarthenshire in West Wales. Glen has been a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers since 1995.
Images by: Glen Smale & Corporate Archives Porsche AG Foreword This article is part of our series featuring the historical development of various iconic Porsche models over the years. Be sure to check out our other features: Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
All images: © Dalton Watson Fine Books There are so many books that have been written on just about every Porsche model and motorsport achievement over the years, that it would be a fair to ask why we need yet another one. But therein lies the opportunity, because the subject...
The Porsche 907 has probably received the least amount of coverage of all Porsche’s 1960s ‘plastic prototypes’. But this lack of attention is unjustified, as the 907 played just as important a role in Porsche’s rise to motorsport stardom as any of the other successful Porsche racers of the time....
By the time the mid-1960s arrived, Ferdinand Piëch had got his hooks well and truly into Porsche’s motorsport programme. With the 904, introduced in 1964, Porsche showed that it could mix it with the top runners even if overall victories were out of reach. With its successor, the 906, the...
Setting the Scene The 1960s represented for Porsche, the busiest decade in the company’s history to date, with ten new road and race cars being introduced during the decade. And since those heady days, the Stuttgart manufacturer has not seen another decade in which so many different race cars were...
They say that the cream always rises to the top, an expression used to illustrate that if something is really great, then by virtue of its superior qualities, it will rise to a level above its contemporaries. This then surely describes what a superb example of the iconic Porsche 935...
For some, motor racing is an inevitability. It is a passion that they are born with and it is just a matter of time before they slip behind the wheel of a racing car. For these chosen few, this inborn factor elevates them to a level above the rest of...
All Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale and Corporate Archives Porsche AG In the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hour race, the Iron Dames team of Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting driving the No. 85 Porsche 911 RSR, was the only all-female squad in the centennial race. This was the...
Written by: Glen Smale Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale and Corporate Archives Porsche AG Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Written by: Glen Smale Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale and Corporate Archives Porsche AG Already a Member? Sign in to your account here....
Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale and Corporate Archives Porsche AG The Porsche 917 was the culmination of a line of race cars produced by the Stuttgart manufacturer during possibly the busiest decade, from 1964 to 1973, of its (by then) short existence. Just 21 short years after Porsche opened its...
The Porsche 962, following in the footsteps of the already massively successful 956, was introduced in 1984 in response to specific regulatory requirements as laid down by the American IMSA GTP Championship. IMSA’s refusal to allow the 956 to race in the US championship was based on the rule that...
Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale and Corporate Archives Porsche AG The Porsche 908 is widely regarded as one of the Stuttgart manufacturer’s most reliable and important racers. The 908 came in many different guises, including Coupe, Spyder, long tail, short tail and turbo, and it excelled in all of these...
Race day dawned with a blanket of morning mist covering the area. It was a crisp morning as I departed my accommodation to the east of Le Mans at around 07h15, and making my way towards the circuit, the pockets of mist became more sporadic. Approaching the airfield which lies...
Without doubt, this race is recognised as the most important, the most charged and the one that everyone who is anybody in endurance racing wants to drive in or watch from the stands. In particular, this year, being the 99th year since its inception, there are great expectations and high...
Words by Glen Smale / Images by Glen Smale & Corporate Archives Porsche AG The motorsport world woke up on Monday this week to learn of the passing of one of the sport’s greatest drivers. Vic Elford, or ‘Quick Vic’ as he was affectionately known, passed away on Sunday 13...
Porsche is well known for its limited production runs of both its road cars and race cars. This makes those special models all the more attractive to the racing fraternity, as well as to private collectors. The Essen Motor Show in November 1994 was chosen as the event at which...
Mille Miglia 2019 I have been an avid follower of the Mille Miglia for over a decade, with a bucket list dream to be there and experience the spectacle of the cars as they were being prepared to leave the start line for the four-day return journey from Brescia to...
Having spent its early days as a test and development hack, this 911 Carrera RSR rose to the occasion when pressed into action in the final Targa Florio. 1973 was significant for a couple of reasons. The first is that on 3 April that year, the first mobile call was made by...
The start of the 89th Le Mans 24 Hours gets underway in the wet, with Derek Bell leading the field in the Porsche 911 pace car. The weather had been warm all week, but on race day, the heavens opened just in time for the start, which meant the formation...
The works #92 Porsche 911 RSR will be driven in the second round event at Portimão by Kevin Estre, Neel Jani and Michael Christensen Round 1 of the 9th season of the WEC was contested at the legendary Spa circuit on 1 May 2021. The result of this race in...
The IROC Porsches: The International Race of Champions, Porsche’s 911 RSR and the Men Who Raced Them by Matt Stone © Motorbooks This is the story of the International Race of Champions Porsche Carrera 911 RSRs and the drivers who raced them. It’s a story that is long overdue, as...
Porsche 911 Turbo Air Cooled Years 1975 – 1998 / Hans Mezger Edition 2020 by Andreas Gabriel, Thomas Nehlert and Matthias Techau © Berlin Motor Books There was hardly a Porsche enthusiast who wasn’t deeply saddened to hear of the passing of one of Porsche’s favourite engineers, Hans Mezger. It...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 14-15 June 1969: On the final lap, the No. 64 Porsche 908 LH of Hans Herrmann/Gérard Larrousse swapped places with the No. 6 Ford GT40 of Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver as many as five times. The two cars were so evenly matched that what the Ford lacked...
Le Mans Classic, 6 July 2018: #79 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS driven by Boden/Lins Those with sharp eyes may have picked up from our Calendar that the Le Mans Classic has been postponed yet again, until July 2022. We at Porsche Road & Race are as disappointed as the rest...
Mr. Le Mans: Tom Kristensen by Tom Kristensen with Dan Philipsen © Glen Smale The interesting thing about racing is that nothing is certain. You can prepare yourself and the car perfectly, but then another car hits you or pulls out in front of you, and there is little if...
Silverstone, FIA GT Championship, 15 May 2005: The #66 GruppeM Racing Porsche 996 GT3 RSR was driven by Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller won the GT2 class of the Tourist Trophy at Silverstone on 15 May 2005 driving the #66 GruppeM Racing Porsche 996 GT3...
ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring, 22-23 June 2019: The #12 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (17) driven by Matteo Cairoli, Lars Kern, Otto Klohs and Dennis Olsen finished 4th overall This feature, the fourth in our mini-series, picks up where we left off last time (Part 3: 2013-2016) and...
Sabine Schmitz at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, 20 May 2012 It is with great sadness that we bring you the news this week of the passing of not one, but two, significant names in the world of Porsche motorsport. Mosport 1000 km, 11 August 1985: (From L-R) Manfred Kremer, Manfred...
1966 Porsche 911 2.0-litre – GVB 911D – parked on track at Lodge Corner after practice for the Oulton Park Gold Cup on 24 August 2013 Originally a showroom demonstrator, this 911 set the market buzzing, winning the UK’s inaugural rallycross and the British Saloon Car Championship in 1967 in...
ACO Museum, Le Mans 16 September 2020: As it was the 50th anniversary of Porsche’s first win at Le Mans, a special display was set up featuring several of Porsche’s winning cars In 1971 the first ever Starbucks coffee house was opened in Seattle, Washington. That same year, the fourth...
Don’t Wash Mine: Kirk F. White © Dalton Watson Fine Books I have been looking forward to seeing this new book from Dalton Watson, covering the very colourful life and times of Kirk F. White. But, who on earth is Kirk F. White you might ask? Well, his name might...
Porsche 904/8 (chassis #008) photographed in the Porsche Museum, September 2020 F.A. ‘Butzi’ Porsche, the eldest son of Ferry and Dorothea Porsche, joined the family business in 1958 having shown great interest in the field of industrial design. Working under the direction of Erwin Komenda, F.A. Porsche set about learning...
Porsche 911 G-Model: The Book 1974-1989 by Andreas Gabriel, Manfred Hering & Tobias Kindermann © Berlin Motor Books Hot off the press, so to speak, is Berlin Motor Books’ latest offering covering the 911 G-Model, and what an impressive publication it is. In line with their other excellent publications in...
Porsche 962-003 finished 3rd in the 1985 Le Mans 24 Hours and came back in 1986 to win the race overall. Other victories include: Hockenheim 1000 Km, Mosport 1000 Km, Brands Hatch 1000 Km, Monza 360 Km, with numerous other podium results From 19-21 February 2021, Brian Redman will again...
Autosport 1000 km, Silverstone, 14 September 2008: In the fifth and final round of the 2008 Le Mans Series season, the #34 Porsche RS Spyder was driven by Peter Van Merksteijn and Jos Verstappen and finished first in the LMP2 class and fifth overall, ahead of a brace of LMP1...
50 Years Porsche 914 by Jürgen Lewandowski, published by Delius Klasing Verlag – © Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale Whether you love it or hate it, the 914 served as a very important family member in the Porsche model line-up of the day. To appreciate this fully, you need to understand the...
Inspiration for this feature came from the post published by Porsche in December 2020. It covers the seven generations of the legendary 911 Turbo from inception in the mid-1970s right up to the current 992 model. No apology is made for using some of the text from the original feature,...
DBR 9 – The Definitive History by Christoph Mäder and Thomas Gruber © T.A.G. Motor Books GmbH At Porsche Road & Race, we receive many books for review, and these include books on all manner of high performance roadgoing sports cars and motorsport. So, when the Aston Martin book, DBR...
Porsche 964: The Modern Classic by Paul Koebrugge – © Paul Koebrugge The history of Porsche sportscars is peppered with iconic models that stand out as special, from the earliest models to the very latest. One of the most notable achievements by Porsche’s designers is how they have retained the...
Porsche 935 JLP-4 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2014 JLP-4 was the final race car in the line of Porsche 935 specials built for the John Paul father and son team. Using this final ‘weapon’, the Pauls notched up several outright victories in IMSA races and, in combination with...
Ferrari 250 LM – The Remarkable History of 6313 by James Page – © Porter Press International Clearly it isn’t a Porsche, but it must rank as one of the best looking sports cars of its era. The Ferrari 250 LM is this writer’s most favourite non-Porsche sports car, it...
Porsche Unseen by Jan Karl Baedeker & Stefan Bogner – © Delius Klasing Verlag Consider what it would be like to be given the opportunity to glimpse behind the scenes, into Porsche’s inner design sanctum, where the Porsche designers imagine the models of the future. There are 120 designers who...
This large poster announced the 50th anniversary of the first victory by the Porsche 917 at the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hour race It all started back in early March of 2020. I had a trip planned to visit the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, to conduct another extensive photo shoot...
ROFGO Collection by Doug Nye – © Porter Press International Most motorsport enthusiasts will have attended historic races, events such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed or Revival, or similar events in the USA, where the familiar and much-admired Gulf orange and blue race cars have competed or been on...
1979 Porsche 935 chassis #009 0004 – Willow Springs International Raceway © Robert Graham Junior The phone rang, it was my old friend Carlos de Quesada. “I’ve just bought a 935 to restore,” he told me. “Great,” I replied, “which one?” “#009 0004,” announced Carlos. Chassis #009 0004? I had...
(From L-R) 1995 Porsche WSC-95 in which Tom Kristensen registered his first Le Mans win (1997) and the first Porsche to win Le Mans outright, the #23 Porsche 917K driven by Hans Herrmann and Richard Attwood at the 1970 race Regular Goodwood attendees would have been starved of all the...
Racing Porsche with Style © Stéphane Coradi This is Stéphane Coradi’s third publication, and the third of his books that I am reviewing. It must be said that Stéphane’s enthusiasm for his work is so irrepressible, it’s contagious. But that is refreshing, because he really encourages the contributors to show...
PORSCHE Speedster: Legends 1954–2020 by Andreas Gabriel, Manfred Hering & Achim Kubiak © Berlin Motor Books There is a model in Porsche’s family line-up that receives little coverage and, as a result, it does not enjoy the attention it so richly deserves. The Speedster played an extremely important role in...
Pendine Sands, South Wales, 18 May 2019: Zef Eisenberg in contemplative mood ahead of his record run in the 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo S It is with great sadness that the motorsport world learned last week that Zef Eisenberg, aged just 47 years, was tragically killed while attempting a land...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 19/20 September 2020: The pre-race grid was a busy place despite the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic – note the empty grandstand The 2020 motor racing season will undoubtedly go down in history as the most unusual and disrupted year on record. Only twice has the...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 19/20 September 2020: The pit lane on Wednesday during the afternoon scrutineering process Under unseasonably hot conditions for late September, the 88th running of the Le Mans 24 Hours is finally a reality. Postponed from its traditional mid-June date, the world famous endurance race fell victim...
The 1970 #23 Porsche 917 KH at the Le Mans 50 years victory celebration at the Museum on 13/14 June 2020 More than 4.75 million visitors have passed through the doors of Porsche’s Museum in Stuttgart since the company officially opened its doors to the public on 31 January 2009....
Kremer Porsche 935 K3/80 (chassis #0013) In the mid-70s, Porsche developed the 935 model, a race car homologated on the 930 road car and aimed at the Group 5 ‘silhouette’ series created by the FIA for the 1976 season. As the records will show, the 935 was a formidable race...
Taken just a year after its completion, the new Porsche Museum presents a striking silhouette on the Stuttgart skyline Have you ever been to the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen? If not, you would do well to plan a visit to this modern and welcoming facility in the heart of Porsche-land....
Twice Around the Clock: The Yanks at Le Mans by Tim Considine © Toll Hall Sexton Books Over the years, there has been a lot written on the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, a race which has earned the reputation as one of the most challenging endurance races...
Driver’s Parade at the 2016 Mexican Formula One GP with Carlos Sainz sitting in the 356 A 1600 Super Cabriolet (centre) ©Sergio Nieto For some Porsche enthusiasts, the road to ownership follows a course which perhaps starts as an interest back as a young child, followed by increasing interest through...
Pendine Sands, Wales, 18 May 2019: The 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo S waits on the beach to be driven by Zef Eisenberg Few people outside of the UK would have noticed that last year, a new land speed record was set on the famous Pendine Sands beach. Pendine Sands is...
Ferrari 333 SP – A Pictorial History 1993-2003: by Terry O’Neil © Dalton Watson Fine Books I first caught sight of the Ferrari 333 SP at Kyalami in Johannesburg, South Africa, in December 1998. It was hot, as Johannesburg is at that time of the year, but the track action...
2010 Porsche 911 GT2 RS (Type 997), Llandow Circuit, Cardiff, Wales, UK (2014) The GT2 has been Porsche’s top performing roadgoing turbo model since ‘95, but the addition of the ‘RS’ lifts this special model into a class of its own. Every now and then you come across a car...
Le Mans: The Official History 1970–79 by Quentin Spurring © Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale This edition of Quentin Spurring’s fabulous series covers the 1970s in his well-known and valuable decade-by-decade history of the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race. The decade from 1970 to 1979, certainly saw some of the most...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 15-16 June 2019: The #93 factory Porsche 911 RSR driven by Nick Tandy, Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet speeds past the pit lane exit in the early evening during Q2 on Thursday 13 June As the weekend of the original 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours approaches,...
1981 Porsche Kremer 935 K4 – chassis #K4-01 In the mid-1970s, Porsche developed the 911 for racing, and in the process, it created the all-conquering 935. In 1978, Norbert Singer was responsible for building the ultimate factory 935, the Moby Dick 935/78, and although this race car had a very...
SportErfolge: by Tony Adriaensens – page photographs by © Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale Simply titled, SportErfolge (English: Success in Sport), this book came my way quite by surprise. It is not a book I knew anything about until I spotted it on the internet, and decided to look for a copy....
Brian Redman in a relaxed mood in the Drivers’ Club at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, 2008 Not many folk would have heard about Redman’s Roast, unless that is, you attended Brian Redman’s Targa Sixty Six event in February 2020, at Palm Beach International Raceway. Most of us like a...
Gérard Larrousse (2017) Former Porsche works driver, Gérard Larrousse, celebrates his 80th birthday on Saturday 23 May 2020. Gérard Gilles Marie Armand Larrousse was born in 1940 in Lyon, where his father ran a textile factory. “I was fascinated by motorbikes and sports cars from a young age but my...
25 Years of GT Racing: Stéphane Ratel and SRO Motorsports by Andrew Cotton © Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale On the world stage, GT racing has enjoyed as many ups as it has had downs over the years, but this class of racing arguably forms the core of what motor racing encompasses,...
Porsche 904 by Jürgen Lewandowski © Delius Klasing Verlag The introduction of the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, to give it its full name, marked the beginning of an unprecedented period of race car development for the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen factory. Not only did every year from 1964 to 1969 see a new...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 18-19 June 2016: Frédéric Makowiecki, Jörg Bergmeister and Earl Bamber posted a DNF having completed 140 laps due to a suspension problem in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR This feature, the third in our four-part mini-series, picks up where we left off last time (Part 2:...
Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe: The autobiography of CSX2300 by Rinsey Mills – © Porter Press International Most motorsport enthusiasts are agreed on the fact that the 1960s was one of the most innovative and exciting decades of the twentieth century in motor racing. In fact, there was such diversity and...
Engine based on modified 3.6 litre 964 unit. Speedline wheels with big red brake calipers. Lessons learned in the Carrera Cup series proved the reliability of the new 3.6-litre engine. An additional three millimetres on the bore and two millimetres on the stroke, resulted in an increase in capacity of 300 cc. Combined with the turbo optimised cylinders, pistons and crank train, and an increase in the compression ratio from 7.0 to 7.5:1, this helped to boost power to 360 bhp. Torque was increased significantly to 520 Nm at 4200 rpm, up from 450 Nm at 4500 rpm in the earlier car.
Sports Car Racing in the South: Texas to Florida 1957-1958: by Willem Oosthoek © Dalton Watson Fine Books Motor racing in America in the late 1950s was beginning to show a much more organised front across the nation. However, race tracks were spread far and wide, and understandably, the media...
Sir Stirling sits back and relaxes at the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed after being interviewed by the author It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Stirling Moss over the Easter weekend. He died on 12 April 2020 in Mayfair, London, England at the age...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 15-16 June 2019: The #93 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR (GTE Pro) driven by Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber approaches the Dunlop Curves after completing the first lap of the race Two of the world’s greatest endurance races for GT vehicles within eight days...
Le Mans 24 Hour, 15-16 June 2019: Jörg Bergmeister at scrutineering in the Place de la République, Le Mans city centre, 10 June 2019 PORSCHE ROAD & RACE caught up with the amiable Jörg Bergmeister, to ask him how he has been dealing with the Coronavirus lock-down. With all major...
Richard Attwood relaxing between stints in the Drivers’ Paddock during the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed On 4 April this year, Richard Attwood will celebrate his 80th birthday, but speaking to him just a few months back about his win at Kyalami in ’69, you would not have thought as...
Ben Baker in a relaxed mood ahead of the WEC Silverstone 6 Hours, 16 August 2018 PORSCHE ROAD & RACE has been out looking for some of the Porsche drivers and finding out what they have been up to during the Coronavirus lock-down that has affected most countries around the...
Before: 1968 Porsche 912 1.6-litre 4-cylinder engine developing 90 bhp; after: 2014 Dutchmann Porsche 912 with 2.8-litre 6-cylinder engine developing 240 bhp What do Porsche 911s, surfboards, bicycles and coffee have in common? A lot, it would seem. South African entrepreneur, Gavin Rooke, hit on a common thread that runs...
An early 901 prototype from the pre-production series (1964), still without its decorative strip under the door and with a round fuel cap – later this was an oval shape Between the years 1962-1964, South African André Loubser worked for Porsche in Stuttgart. In Part I of this two-part mini-series,...
A busy grid before the start of the Le Mans 24H race on 15 June 2019 – many thousands of fans and hangers-on pack the grid After the music had died down, and the last of the revellers had left the party that had just a few hours earlier welcomed...
For two years in the early 1960s, South African André Loubser had the time of his life, working not just for Porsche in Stuttgart, but for Huschke von Hanstein, one of the most colourful figures in the company’s history. Von Hanstein’s death, in early 1996, prompted Loubser to recall those...
Porsche 993 Carrera RS ‘RSR 9’ parked in the pit lane at the 10th RS Track Day Oulton Park, March 2010 If any two letters have encapsulated Porsche’s sporting prowess over the years, it is these – RS. It is now forty-seven years since the introduction of Porsche’s first RS,...
Porsche 356 – Made by Reutter: by Frank Jung © Delius Klasing Verlag When the second edition of this fine publication was released back in April 2019 in German, I enquired immediately as to when the English edition would be available. I was told it would be coming onto the...
1957 Porsche 356 A Speedster – looking chocolate box pretty! It was Max Hoffman, the New York-based Porsche importer, who was instrumental in getting the factory to produce a lightweight sports car for local competition in the USA. Hoffman’s clients were demanding a stripped-down factory version of the 356 to...
PORSCHE 993 “25 YEARS” 1994–2019: by Andreas Gabriel, Manfred Hering & Thomas Nehlert © Berlin Motor Books Berlin Motor Books, a boutique book publisher located not far from the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) in Berlin, has been steadily raising its profile on the quality automotive book scene since its inception...
Porsche Sport 2019 – © Gruppe C Motorsport Verlag The 27th publishing of this superb edition of Porsche Sport 2019 by Gruppe C Verlag, opens with this paragraph, “The year 2019 marked exactly half a century since a new competition sports car from Porsche was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show....