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Karl Ludvigsen
JoinedOctober 26, 2022
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Karl E. Ludvigsen is a journalist, author, and historian of the automotive industry and motorsports. Karl Ludvigsen is the author of the definitive history of Porsche. His Porsche history, Excellence was Expected, is considered to be a model of the researching and writing of the history of an auto company. Ludvigsen is an honorary member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America and the Corvair Society of America. He is also a member of the council of the Historic Automobile Group.
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Porsche Race Cars

The Elva-Porsche Saga

In the early 1960s Porsche built sports-racing cars that were suited to endurance races like Le Mans and Sebring, tough long-distance campaigners that took part in classic competitions that had become traditional for the company and its customers. They were much less tailored to the style of sprint racing common...
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997 GT2 RS

The Ultimate 997: Porsche’s GT3 RSR 4.0

Almost under the radar Porsche introduced a farewell edition of its 997 GT3 RS for 2011. This was the final iteration of the concept for that platform. A hint that it was an afterthought—a final frisson before the 991’s arrival—was that the production line that produced its veteran Mezger-designed engine...
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Porsche Life

Following the Komenda Line

Entering Porsche’s World He was not in the first wave, that small group of engineers supporting Ferdinand Porsche when he decided to set up his own engineering consultancy at the end of 1930. They were chief designer Karl Rabe, engine man Josef Kales, chassis specialist Josef Zahradnik and drive-train designer...
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Porsche Design

Renndienst: Racing Toward the Future

With relationships between Porsche and Volkswagen fructifying in many ways over the years, even decades, this one was inevitable. Its basis was the third generation of the sainted van, sold worldwide under various nameplates including Transporter, Caravelle, Microbus, and Vanagon. Introduced in 1979 as the latest T3 VW, it was...
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Porsche

Porsche’s Betweeners — Branitzki and Bohn

The controversial Panamericana concept car was another birthday “gift” for Ferry Porsche in 1989. Ulrich Bez was behind and Branitzki had hands in pockets.
It all began with a decision that Ferry Porsche would long regret. Beginning in 1970, the familial tensions described by Ferdinand Piëch were: “In our family there’s a kind of unspoken law: Porsche is Stuttgart and Piëch is Salzburg.” Porsches were taking the top jobs in Zuffenhausen and some Piëchs...
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Porsche Type 64

The First Porsche—Almost

Story by Karl Ludvigsen Creating his own car company was “an old idea of my father’s,” Ferry Porsche recalled. The idea dated back at least to 1923. “When he left Austro Daimler in 1923 to go to Mercedes,” Ferry continued, “he had the idea to do something a little like...
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