Although a relatively late starter compared to others in the 20th century, what Porsche has accomplished over its 75-year history is quite remarkable. Few other manufacturers can match Porsche’s success in the showroom or on the racetrack over the past 75 years. Author Randy Leffingwell has written a new book...
Porsche History
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...
Few cars can rival the Porsche 911’s ability to stir the soul. The German sports car evokes images of a timeless design, power and unparalleled driving exhilaration. A lineup of Porsche 911 Generations © Porsche Ferdinand ‘Ferry’ Porsche always harboured dreams of a true sports car. This vision materialized in...
There’s hardly a brand more connected to sports cars than Porsche. To this very day, the iconic Porsche 911 remains a benchmark sports car with nothing but a few formidable competitors in the vast and ever expanding industry. While only a handful of cars came to rival it, many more...
Technology In 1901, hot on the heels of the success of his electric cars of 1900, Ferdinand Porsche created his first vehicles with an electric drive from a petrol engine — effectively an electric automatic transmission. No Subscription? You’re missing out Get immediate ad-free access to all our premium content....
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By Miles Collier The Mighty Porsche Carrera 6 I’ve had my 1966 Porsche Carrera 6 (906-125) in restoration for the last four or five years. It’s hard to remember such things across a gulf of time so fantastic. But, as inevitably as the Himalayas will finally erode into foothills, restoration...
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In a garage full of legendary vehicles, one in particular stands out: the Porsche 935. The Porsche 935 was the first rear-engine race car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. On the occasion of the classic car’s centennial, we visited the 1979 winning vehicle in its current owner’s...
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Proven through competition Engineering, design, innovation; while the list is long for what describes the Porsche name, it can be distilled into one word; racing. Even before the days of cars that would bare his name, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche believed competition was the ultimate test for proving excellence in design...
Evolution, not Revolution Since its debut in 1964, the Porsche 911 has epitomized engineering evolution. Conceived by Ferdinand “Butzi” Porsche, this iconic vehicle has undergone continuous refinement, while preserving its distinctive rear-engine layout and silhouette. Each stage represents a chapter in Porsche’s heritage, from air-cooled engines of the yesteryears to...
1987 model 911 Carrera 3.2 Club Sport Coupé The 911 Carrera Club Sport was Porsche’s attempt at rolling back the years and once again, stoking the fires of high performance, lightweight motoring. Porsche Road & Race pulls back the covers to reveal the origins of the 911 Carrera CS. Originally...
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In the rolling fields of post-war Germany, a visionary project took shape—not on racetracks or autobahns, but on farmlands. Years before Porsche became a household name in sleek sports cars, it left its mark in agriculture with the Porsche-Diesel tractor. Manufactured in Friedrichshafen-Manzell, Germany, these tractors embodied engineering precision tailored...
As early as their drive home from Le Mans in 1997 Porsche racing chief Norbert Singer and racing engineer Herbert Ampferer started scheming their plans for the 1998 season. It would be a crunch year for Porsche’s revived racing program, which was now under heavy attack from Mercedes-Benz. They were...
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No matter who you are or where you’re from, there are three things that connect everyone that is reading this opening line of this article. The first is that we are all enthusiasts of mechanical things with wheels, be them quad bikes, motorcycles, cars, or any variation thereof. Secondly, we...
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Over a hundred years ago, Ferdinand Porsche designed an extraordinary race car, the Austro-Daimler ADS-R, in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. Today, Christophorus and 9:11 Magazine brings the former Targa Florio class champion, whose nickname is Sascha, back home. Following a vigorous turn of the crank, the gas pedal is applied ever...
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A-zug, Austro Daimler, B-zug, C-zug, Ferdinand Porsche, M17-80hp, Rabe, Zugwagen M12 In July 1906, 30-year-old Ferdinand Porsche, who had previously worked for the small Austrian company Lohner, joined Austro-Daimler as chief engineer. He brought with him his development of the so-called “mixed or hybrid drive”—the Mixte: an internal combustion engine...
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Le Mans 24 Hour, 6/7 June 1998: Allan McNish, Stephane Ortelli and Laurent Aiello took the works #26 Porsche 911 GT1 to victory in the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours This year, 2018, Porsche will celebrate its 70th anniversary. Although the official date for the registration of the first car, 356-001,...
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In Switzerland Ernst and Fritz Beutler made a good living from special bodies on both Volkswagen and Porsche chassis. Ultimately Porsche took a close interest in what the brothers were doing because it had 2+2 ambitions of its own. The Swiss brothers Beutler stepped on the stage of Porsche-car history...
Porsche’s 917 was, by most measures, the best endurance racing car in the world by 1970. It had taken the factory years of difficult development to get there, and on the right circuit, it was close to unbeatable. The problem was that two of the most important races on the...
‘Ludique’ – a French word which has no exact translation in English. ‘Playful but with an underlying serious intent’ is one interpretation, and in 2005, this was very much how testers and owners found the new Porsche Cayman. Few cars then, and certainly not its most obvious rivals, could match...
Celebrations for the #55 Porsche 550 Spyder after finishing third in the 1954 La Carrera Panamericana. Sitting on the #55 car is Herbert Linge (left and Hans Herrmann (right). Sitting on the #56 car is driver Jaroslav Juhan with Porsche PR supremo Baron Huschke von Hanstein standing between the drivers...
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Four originals: Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, his son Ferdinand, and two Porsche 550 Spyders on the Großglockner High Alpine Road – a mountain that figures prominently in Porsche family lore. What a panorama: At an altitude of 2,571 meters, the Edelweißspitze offers a magnificent view of the Großglockner, Austria’s highest peak....
9:11 Podcast In the current episode of the 9:11 Porsche Podcast, Dr. Wolfgang Porsche talks about the company’s history, the current anniversary year, and his 80th birthday. Dr. Wolfgang Porsche embodies ‘75 years of Porsche sports cars in a very special way. He has witnessed the entire history of the...
A 911 Turbo Sonderwunsch and the new Panamera were among the highlights of Dubai’s annual Icons of Porsche festival. Fans of classic cars, arts, and culture were on hand to commemorate 75 years of Porsche sports cars, as well as 60 years of the 911. The gathering at the Dubai...
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F.A. “Butzi” Porsche (1935 – 2012) Better known to Porsche enthusiasts as F.A. “Butzi” Porsche, he was the son of Dr.-Ing. Ferdinand “Ferry” and Dorothea Porsche, and grandson of Professor Ferdinand and Aloisia Porsche. While heading up the styling department at Porsche, he played a pivotal role in the design...
Ferry Porsche 1909 – 1998 Born on September 19, 1909, of Austrian descent, Ferry Porsche kept the Porsche flame alive when his father was imprisoned in France. Ferry Porsche was one of the first employees to work in his father’s design engineering office, but it is his mark on the...
Ferdinand Piëch (1937 – 2019) Named car executive of the century in 1999, Ferdinand Piëch transformed Volkswagen into the world’s largest carmaker by revenue. Piëch was the grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. Piëch did everything from leading motor racing operations at Porsche during the 1960s, to turning Audi into a true...
Ferdinand Porsche (1875 – 1951) Ferdinand Porsche was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche car company. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing car, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK and several other important automobiles and technologies. Most importantly...
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When I’m not helping to sell the occasional old race car, or visiting old race car meetings, I’ve usually got my head down, researching various projects for clients, usually to do with Porsches—although Lola T70s and the like often pass my way too. Probably the most interesting project that I’ve...
The Flair’s story begins with Fletcher Aviation, founded in 1941 in Pasadena by three Fletcher brothers: Wendell, Frank, and Maurice. They initially formed the company to build a basic trainer for the US Army, and in 1953, Fletcher Aviation again attempted to secure a government contract, this time for an...
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 Terms The world of Porsche is filled with all kinds of names, terms and abbreviations and it’s hard for even a passionate enthusiast to remember them all. That’s why we’ve put together the following. If you find anything amiss or have anything to add, don’t hesitate to give us...
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Porsche’s Forrest Gump—the irrepressible Herbert Linge—pops up everywhere in Porsche history even after his retirement almost thirty years ago. The amazingly varied Porsche career of Herbert Linge would be unimaginable today—from wartime apprentice to manager of Weissach via workshop, development testing, race track, Porsche in the US, and Formula 1....
In the beginning… The engine of the Porsche 911 has come a long way over the past 60 years, now with four times the power from twice the displacement. Its drive technology has continued to develop, but the fundamental concept has remained unchanged—whether naturally aspirated, as a turbo, or in...
The Story of the Porsche 911 – A Timeline Porsche Prepares To Evolve Beyond The 356 By the early 1960’s, with the commercial success of the 356 (in all of its variants) over the past decade, Porsche had garnered a reputation for building quality, high-performance vehicles that handled equally well...
When people think of Porsche, the image that comes to mind is usually one of sleek sports cars and legendary flat-six engines. But long before the 911 became an icon, and well before electric vehicles were mainstream, Porsche’s story had already been set “electrically” in motion. From the late 19th...
Start and finish in Vienna. Total distance: 2,364 km. 85 competitors started, 72 qualified. Basic rules: a) non-stop movement from the start to the finish of each stage; stopping will result in penalty points; b) engine shutdown is prohibited during the race; violations will result in penalty points; c) a...
This story covers the development of the Porsche 911 RS/RSR prototype in the middle of 1972. Surprisingly, the very first Porsche RS/RSR, chassis number 911 360 0001 started life as a rally car—a factory built ST, 911 230 0769, which the factory itself re-numbered after the car had been returned...
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The Le Mans 24-Hour race is arguably the greatest motor race in the world. It started in 1923 on some public roads at Le Mans, France and continues to this day. While there maybe a few older races, notably the Indianapolis 500 and the Isle of Man TT, Le Mans...
Vic Elford, Porsche motorsport legend, passed away at his home in Plantation Florida on March 13. In the last few years, the 86-year-old battled cancer with the same courage, will, and determination that he had on track. These same values made him one of only four drivers to have six...
Lightweight racer is born During the 1960s, Ferdinand Piëch, the head of Porsche Research and Development, spearheaded the development of a new generation of lightweight race cars. By utilizing advanced materials and taking advantage of regulation changes, Piëch’s team created race cars with tubular frames and unstressed fiberglass bodies, offering...
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The Search for an Open 911 Did the phasing out of the Type 356 and its cabriolet model mean that in its new 911 coupe regime Porsche lacked an open car of any kind? Technically it didn’t but actually it did. In September of 1965, at the Frankfurt Show, Porsche...
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In collaboration with Porsche Cars North America, the never-seen-before display – named “We are Porsche” – will celebrate the storied marque’s 75th anniversary and feature the key models and personalities behind the brand’s success. “We Are Porsche” opens to the public on April 16 at the Petersen Automotive Museum and...
Between 1987 and 1990, Porsche forged a remarkable path in American motorsports, with one of its most memorable moments being the team’s short-lived, yet intense, stint in CART/IndyCar. Join us in the first part about the story of this adventure, as the Zuffenhausen-based company tried to establish itself in the...
Between 1987 and 1990, Porsche forged a remarkable path in American motorsports, with one of its most memorable moments being the team’s short-lived, yet intense, stint in CART/IndyCar. Join us in the second part about the story of this epic, as the Zuffenhausen-based company faced growing challenges to establish itself...
We return to the year 1980 and the ill-fated Typ 940 program. By 1979, Porsche had become ubiquitous in the American car market. Offering products that mixed economy, performance, and, more importantly, an identity blended with a unique lifestyle, the Zuffenhausen brand knew it had struck gold. It is no...
Porsche 356 SL bodies lined up in the Reutter workshop (Werk 2) in 1951. This facility was used as the Porsche race department in the early days The date was 23 June 1951, and sixty race cars lined up at 16h00 for the start of the nineteenth running of 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...
906: Born to Race Considered one of the most distinctive designs of the 1960s, the Porsche Carrera 6, more popularly known as the 906, was certainly also one of the most remarkable pieces of German engineering. As is already well known, the origins of the model can be traced back...
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....
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...
Words by: Glen Smale. Images by: Glen Smale & Corporate Archives Porsche AG International Hill Climbing The FIA European Hill Climb Championship is the oldest of the FIA Championships still running today, all disciplines combined. The first edition dates back to as early as 1930. Hill climbing became extremely popular...
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...
A Brief History In mid-1967 the International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced that it had decided to modify the regulations pertaining to the Sport Prototype, Sport and Gran Turismo categories. As a result, the World Brands Championship was on the brink of the greatest crisis in its history. Many were the...
Story by Glen Smale. All images © as stated in the book & on the DVD Brilliant…just brilliant!! I don’t often start a book review in this manner, in fact I can’t remember when I last did so, but this book and DVD set certainly deserve such a response. No...
1969 Porsche 917 LH poses outside the workshops in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen © Porsche Werkfoto The world has become obsessed with anniversaries or facts that you can leverage, in order to bring your message across. And that is also true to some extent about this account of a legendary race car, but...
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 ‘white, red and blue’ 956 LHs line up at Weissach ready for their onslaught at the Le Mans 24-Hour 1982 The decline of Group 6 and the growth of Group C saw the emergence of what is today widely regarded as the most entertaining and successful era in modern...




































































































