Mark Webber being interviewed at the Geneva Motor Show 2014, on the occasion of the world debut of the Porsche 919 Hybrid Porsche’s return to the top category of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) was announced by Wolfgang Hatz, Porsche AG Board of Management Member for Research and Development, on...
The 1977 #40 Martini Porsche 935/2.0 Baby (chassis #935 2 001) photographed at the Porsche Museum, Stuttgart, Germany in May 2017 Ernst Fuhrmann’s requirement to develop a significantly updated GT race car in 1977, would present a number of challenges for the Porsche race department. Just to make things interesting,...
Side view of the ANDIAL 935-L ‘Moby Dick’ in the Riverside pit lane 1982 The ANDIAL 935-L ‘Moby Dick’ race car was a one-off creation that raced between 1982-1985. Without any help from the factory, the small team of dedicated professionals at ANDIAL with significant help from Glen Blakely, this...
Rothmans Porsche 962C (chassis #006) 1987 Le Mans 24 Hour winner photographed at Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, May 2017 The Porsche 956 and its successor the 962, are widely and justifiably regarded as the most successful sports racing prototypes of their era, and quite possibly ever. Over a period of...
Donington Park Circuit, 11 April 2017: Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (chassis #WP0ZZZ99Z9S799918) is off-loaded It was a clear day in April, typical of those late winter/early spring days when the weather was trying to impress by showing signs of warmth, but not really succeeding. My assignment that day at Donington...
The formidable Carrera 6 outside the Porsche headquarters, Stuttgart Zuffenhausen, 1966 The Carrera Six, as Porsche officially called the 906, was a radically different car from its predecessor, the 904 GTS. The 904 was a sleek glass fibre bodied racer penned by Butzi Porsche, and it took over as Porsche’s...
#21 Martini Porsche 917 LH (chassis #042) was driven by Gerard Larrousse and Vic Elford in the 1971 Le Mans 24 Hour race – DNF, lost engine cooling fan From 1964 through to 1969, Porsche lifted its game from being a class winner to setting international lap speed and endurance...
Daytona 24 Hours, 31 January/1 February 1981: Bob Garretson, Bobby Rahal and Brian Redman driving the #9 Porsche 935 (chassis #009 00030) would go on to win the race by 13 laps, having started from 16th on the grid The Flying Tigers strike again! Being the best on the planet in...
Jean Behra following his accident at Caracas 3 November 1957 Staring out of period black and white photographs, Jean Behra’s handsome, but battered face tells its own story: a combative soul who seemed to thrive only when living on the ragged edge and for whom an exploit was either going...
Dr. Ulrich Bez (1988) Hailing from the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart, Ulrich Bez, who as Porsche Technical supremo hatched the 993, had two significant stints at Porsche. During the 1970s he worked in research and was responsible for establishing Porsche’s crash test programme; in the 1980s, he followed Porsche’s...
Porsche Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort The crowds attending the Masters Historic racing weekend at Zandvoort were treated to a festival of racing in brilliant weather. To spice up the cars on the race weekend menu, five iconic Porsche racing cars were driven around the circuit which is located in the...
Peter Falk sits on the sill of the famous #23 Porsche 917 KH Coupé, winner of the 1970 Le Mans 24 Hours. On this occasion it is located in the Porsche Museum Workshop on 28 June 2010 In a 34-year career at Porsche, the influence of Peter Falk – Porsche’s...
The inspired engineer behind so much of Porsche’s success, Helmuth Bott has long remained the company’s eminence grise, but little has been written about him. Now, Porsche Road & Race, looks at both the professional and private life of one of Porsche’s most devoted servants, revered by his subordinates, but...
‘Production line racer’ – in their quest to produce 25 running cars in time for the inspection by the FIA, Porsche pulled out all the stops as evidenced by the activity in this image The name Porsche is synonymous with the world’s toughest endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le...
Mont Ventoux, 18 June 1967 – Rolf Stommelen won this hillclimb driving a Porsche 910/8 Bergspyder Rolf Stommelen was one of Germany’s leading racing drivers for over a decade and if as the title (above) of his biography implies, he could drive anything anywhere, this was largely true. Although his...
Official Daytona ’85 poster By 1981 at the earliest, and for sure by the 1983 season of sports car racing, it had become clear to most that the Porsche 935 was reaching the end of its useful racing life. While it had been a great car, it just could not...
The 962 C in the 1990 Le Mans driven by David Sears, Tiff Needell and Anthony Reid. It finished third overall Le Mans 1990 was a whole new ballgame. The circuit had changed drastically. The famous Mulsanne straight was now going to have two chicanes in the middle of it....
Bob Garretson in #009 00030 during practice for the 1980 Daytona 24 hours. This is the original 1979 factory configuration on this car By the time that we reached the IMSA Riverside Los Angeles Times Grand Prix in April, the Dick Barbour Racing team’s IMSA GT championship season had been...
Martin Raffauf and Chris Hill look under the car with the ACO inspectors. Mechanic Jeff Lateer looks on with the camera. Tech inspection went very well for the 935 as we had Annie Verney with us to “discuss” any issues with the ACO as we proceeded. The Garretson Developments Sports...
Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood won the 24 Hours of Daytona on 3/4 February 1973 driving this 911 Carrera RSR 2.8 Peter Gregg was the IMSA driver every one strived to beat. He started in the early ‘70s with Porsches and had done very well. He won the first championship...
Chassis #000 00023 gets a check out on the autobahn by the Kremer brothers prior to Le Mans. Manfred Kremer drove it Erwin Kremer and Jerry Woods followed in a 928 chase car. Le Mans in 1980 was in kind of a transition. The Porsche 935 K3 had won the...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 20/21 June 1964: Porsche 904/8 of Edgar Barth/Herbert Linge before the start of the race The introduction of the Type 904 heralded a new direction for Porsche’s race cars. Gone were the aluminium-bodied racers, as the 904 spearheaded a generation of GRP-bodied Porsches that culminated in...
Hans Stuck at the wheel on the way to winning Sebring in 1986. His co-drivers were Jo Gartner and Bob Akin. (Porsche 962 chassis #962-113) The 2.6-litre Porsche 956 which raced in the 1982/1983 seasons in Europe, was not accepted for racing in the USA, and so the 962 was...
Porsche 964 Carrera RS 3.6-litre (1992), January 2017 Porsche’s popular 911 model range has evolved hugely over the years, but a few iconic models stand out head and shoulders above the rest. In 1973, the Carrera RS 2.7 lifted the bar in the sports car market, but a decade and...
Bob Akin’s 935, one of the major protagonists in the 1983 Sebring 12 Hour race. It was driven by Bob Akin, John O’Steen and Dale Whittington and finished second overall. (©Brian Cleary) The 1983 Sebring 12 Hour was an epic event. Back then the race was run on the ‘old...
The #6 Barbour, Stommelen, Mears car, a 935-78 (935-77A), enters the Sebring front straight. While this was the fastest car there, it was delayed for some laps with a brake issue and finished fourth The IMSA season in the 1970s always started with the two toughest races on the calendar,...
2000MY Porsche 996 GT3 R (chassis #692090) © Coys This Porsche 996 GT3 R is being offered for sale by Coys of London. When it was launched in 1998, the Porsche Type 996 represented one of the most significant changes to the 911 model range in its (then) 35-year history....
Autograph card signed by Jürgen Barth (ca. 1980) More books have been written about Porsche than any other car company so the publication in English of another tome is hardly headline news until you realise that the author, exceptionally, is a Porsche insider, but not just any insider. Jürgen Barth...
The Seikel Motorsport team last raced in the 2007 Le Mans, having participated on no less than eleven occasions in the 24-hour race. The team’s highlight in la Sarthe was in 2001 when they won the GT category, finishing sixth overall. No Subscription? You’re missing out Get immediate ad-free access...
Porsche 906 (chassis #906/108) takes turn 1 on its way up the Hill at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed One of the motoring highlights of my 2016 season, if not of all time, has to be driving a fabulous Porsche 906 on the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb. The...
This is the Peter Gregg car (chassis #930 770 0952) as shown at the Porsche Rennsport 2015. In early 1977, the Peter Gregg car sent home from the Atlanta IMSA race due to ‘illegal modifications.’ This photo shows the car restored with 935 fenders as it was run later in...
Engineering drawing of the Porsche Type 64 (16 September 1938). Note the provision for two spare wheels in the front luggage compartment Often overlooked, the Porsche Type 64 holds a significant place in the history of Porsche sports cars. Great strides were taken in motor car performance during the 1920s...
Porsche’s 1981 Daytona 24-Hour winning poster A lot of people have asked me over the years, what is it like to plan, prepare for and run a 24-hour sports car race. It has changed somewhat over the years from the days of the Porsche 935 at the 1981 Daytona 24...
Valentin Schäffer (1978) Another keen young recruitee to Zuffenhausen in the early 1950s, Valentin Schäffer, would become Porsche’s racing turbo specialist and engineer the induction systems that endowed Porsche sports racers with a dominance that lasted decades. The compact figure of Valentin Schäffer trotted up the steps of the Porsche...
The #8 Kremer K3 Porsche 935 entered by Dick Barbour and driven by John Fitzpatrick, in the pit lane ahead of the 1980 Norisring race. The author, Martin Raffauf, is at the car’s right front wheel The Race for the Pork Cutlets… The end of June 1980 was a busy...
All four of the Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935s line up in the pits ahead of the 1979 Le Mans race, each with the Stars and Stripes draped over the rear wing. From left to right: #73 935/77 (934½) – John Hotchkiss, Bob Kirby and Bob Harmon; #72 935/77 –...
The name Porsche is synonymous with the world’s toughest endurance race, the 24-Hours of Le Mans, boasting an unbroken run of 65 years. During this time, they have amassed 18 victories. This is Part I of their story… The Veuillet/Mouche 356 SL proved reliable on its Le Mans debut in...
A Porsche 904 Carrera GTS Coupé in 1963 outside the factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. The early version had a slatted air intake behind the doors, this being replaced by scoops which were more efficient The Porsche Carrera GTS represented a watershed in the company’s march towards motorsport fulfilment. Gone was the...
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