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Background Anchored by the 42nd Los Angeles Lit & Toy Show (aka Lit Show) at the LAX Hilton, this year’s group of events that form “Lit Week” gave proof of a healthy air-cooled Porsche community that has endured decades of high and low tides, not to mention a few big...
Background While Porsche has long since been revered as a European sports car company, “Supercar” has not been part of their vocabulary. That changed with the Porsche 959, introduced in 1986, which many consider the first German supercar. Designed as a technological marvel, it featured advanced all-wheel drive, a 2.85L...
Round four at WeatherTech Raceway, Laguna Seca, brought adrenalin levels back up to “red line” for Porsche enthusiasts lucky enough to watch the weekend unfold. This iconic course near the Monterey peninsula has challenged the world’s greatest racers since 1957 when it took over the duties from nearby Pebble Beach,...
First air-cooled adventure Ryan Polson’s first word was car. Not Mama or Dada. Car. It seems that Ryan’s trajectory was set from the beginning. It also might have had something to do with his dad’s 1939 Ford Street rod that Ryan rode shotgun to car shows and the like. As...
In complete honesty, I am guilty of amassing far too many books and magazine collections on European sportscars, especially Porsche. It’s almost impossible to come across any “never seen before” photos, so when I’m asked to look at a new historical Porsche book, my excitement is understandably tempered. However, I...
1995 Porsche Kremer K8
Round 2 Held for a second year at historic Weathertech Raceway, Laguna Seca, the 2022 Velocity Invitational is poised to offer the finest combination of vintage racing and luxury lifestyle in North America. Last year’s event included a world-class display of Porsche 917s, many of which went out on track...
The Goodwood Festival of Speed 2022 presented yet another year of stellar lineups for the 200,000 attendees. Attracting a pedigree of car that few events can lure, and an array of rare machinery, the world’s largest motorsport festival is a delight for petrolheads, gifted the opportunity to see these rare...
Brian Redman standing next to Porsce on track at Targa Sixty Six
Endurance racing legend Brian Redman is once again hosting Targa Sixty Six, a vintage race car gathering he founded in 1991 where owners can “properly exercise” their sleek machinery in a controlled atmosphere. This year’s event will be held from February 11-13 at the 10-turn Palm Beach International Raceway just...
The IROC Porsches
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...
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...
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...
Rolf Sprenger pauses for a photograph during an interview in 2007 It was with great sadness that we learned last week of the passing of one of Porsche’s stalwarts, Rolf Sprenger, on Wednesday 24 February 2021. Sprenger arrived at Porsche in 1967 as a young engineer, and as he explained...
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...
Molly ready for the Peking to Paris rally in 2007 © David & Julie Harrison She was manufactured in 1958, and much of her early life is unrecorded. But in 2004, a customer of Gantspeed Engineering, Lincolnshire, England, asked the workshop’s owner, Robert Gant, to find him a right-hand drive...
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...
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...
Obviously these two attractive models from the lingerie manufacturer Triumph (München) like this Porsche 914/6 – Rutesheim Athletics Club, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (1969) Very different from previous production Porsches, the 914 was an attempt by Zuffenhausen to introduce a lower cost model. Commercially it was only a moderate success, but it’s...
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...
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: The Carrera Dynasty by Glen Smale © Glen Smale A Spanish noun, ‘carrera’ can mean road, track or race and since the 1970s ‘Carrera’ has been a model name synonymous with Porsche. In fact, and as the author explains, Porsche had been using the name ‘Carrera’ since 1954 to...
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...
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...
(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...
Two old friends – André Loubser hands a copy of his book ‘Kyalami’ to Sir Stirling Moss in the Drivers’ Club Lounge at the 2011 Goodwood Revival © Tony Willitt It is with great sadness that we bring you the news of André’s passing this last weekend. André was an...
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...
Arno Bohn at Weissach with the 968 Cabriolet (1991) Arno Bohn was managing director of Porsche from 1990-92. An outsider who came from the computer industry, he arrived at a company seared by falling sales and riven by internal division about future direction. He left a Porsche which though still...
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....
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...
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...
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...
Porsche mourns the death of Hans Mezger – this photo was taken in 2007 It was with great sadness that the motoring and motorsport world learned last week of the passing of Hans Mezger, Porsche engineer extraordinaire. He died at the age of 90 years, having grown up and lived...
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...
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...
Porsche 356 Cabriolet competing at an aerodrome race in the USA, ca. 1952/1953 America has for decades been Porsche’s biggest market, and this was important for the young and growing company. In some ways, the importance of this market even influenced the development of certain models. In this feature, Porsche...
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...
ENDURANCE is a look back at the two greatest endurance races that the Porsche GT Team faced on back-to-back weekends in 2019: the Le Mans 24 Hours and the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. It covers driver interviews explaining the highs and lows, including a look behind the scenes during both...
In this video, Gavin Rooke, Founder Owner of The Dutchmann in Johannesburg, South Africa, explains how he and his team of very experienced technicians and helpers rebuilt the engine of his 2.7-litre 911 in time for the Knysna Hill Climb. It was a time of learning to handle the car...
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...
1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 Lightweight presented by Serge Heitz Automobile Between 5th and 9th February, the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Centre in Paris hosted the 2020 edition of Retromobile. This year’s edition, boosted by the continuing success of previous years, was considered a huge success as massive crowds...
Le Mans 24 Hour, 16-17 June 2012: The #55 JWA-Avila Porsche 997 GT3 RSR driven by Paul Daniels, Joël Camathias and Markus Palttala gets the full attention of the team in the pits. This car would finish 33rd overall and eighth in the GTE Am class This feature, the second...
Le Mans: The Official History 1960–69 by Quentin Spurring © Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale This edition of Quentin Spurring’s fabulous series covering the Le Mans 24 Hours decade-by-decade, concerns the 1960s. Many will agree that the decade, 1960 to 1969, saw some of the most innovative race cars, and with relatively...
The two factory Porsches approach Turn 1 which leaves the oval. The immensity of the grandstands can be seen behind. The factory cars ran well, given that they are brand new cars. Driver line-ups are slightly changed from last year: the #911 will have Nick Tandy, Fred Makowiecki and new...
Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, 4 May 2019: Imagine the surprise when we arrived at the track, to be greeted by a scene of snowy white with zero degrees showing on the circuit thermometer, and then to get a further snowy blast at the start of the race. This was...
24 Stunden Nürburgring Nordschleife 2019 © Gruppe C Motorsport Verlag It must rank as one of the most awesome races in the world. This year was my first visit to the famed 24 Stunden Nürburgring Nordschleife, the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, and what a baptism it was. Having covered...
Classic Car Auction Yearbook 2018-2019 Edition © Historica Selecta It’s a case of, more of the same for the 2018-2019 Edition of the Classic Car Auction Yearbook. Once again, the authors Adolfo Orsi and Raffaele Gazzi, have delivered an excellent publication providing good quality, industry-leading, analytical information on the classic...
1956 Porsche 356 A Carrera 1500 GS – 752 LMA For many years now, the name ‘Carrera’ has been associated with Porsche sports cars. But the story of how the fledgling 356 first got its ‘Carrera’ name is a fascinating one. This required the far-sightedness of the company founder, Ferry...
Kyalami 9 Hour, 21-23 November 2019: #09 Team Perfect Circle Porsche 911 GT3 R On 23 November 2019, the sound of approximately 15,000 bhp will break the long silence that has persisted over the famous Midrand circuit as twenty-eight top GT3 race cars tear down the start/finish straight in the...
Porsche: Excellence was Expected by Karl Ludvigsen – © Bentley Publishers For many years, Excellence Was Expected, the book on Porsche’s models, motorsport, company history and much more, has been regarded as the final word on the subject. That accolade was well justified because the author, Karl Ludvigsen, has been...
Lined up in the pit lane before the 1994 Le Mans 24-Hours, is from the left: #36 962 Dauer Le Mans GT driven by Mauri Baldi, Yannick Dalmas and Hurley Haywood; centre is the street-legal 962 Dauer with rather appropriate Boeblingen region (Weissach) registration plate ‘P 962’; on the right...
Kyalami Racing Circuit – 2019 Last held officially as a 9-hour race back in 1982, Kyalami will play host to the revival of a great classic endurance race next month, the Kyalami 9 Hour. Run by the masters of the international endurance motor racing scene today, the SRO Motorsport Group,...
Works Porsche 956 – The Definitive History: by Serge Vanbockryck – © Porter Press International I met the author, Serge Vanbockryck, a good number of years back at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and since then I have known him to be the quiet, hardworking PR manager for the Chev...