For more than 70 years, the Porsche Speedster has stood for something pretty simple: an open-top sports car that focuses on driving without distractions. What started as a lightweight version of the Porsche 356 for American customers in the 1950s grew into one of the most recognizable variants in the...
Porsche’s motorsport legacy is mostly defined by its dominance on tarmac in competitions such as Le Mans, Nürburgring, and Spa. But go back a few decades, and you’ll find a different side of the brand: one forged in gravel, snow, and sand. In the 1970s and early ’80s, Porsche was...
The 1974 world premiere of the 911 Turbo at the Paris Motor Show caused a sensation. Half a century later, we return to a place that saw the dawning of a new era to tell a story of boldness, energy, and timeless elegance. The Champs-Élysées and the Élysée Palace are...
The life of Jonkheer Gijsbert “Gijs” van Lennep is by no means short of special moments. In 1971, he won the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 917, repeating the feat in 1976 in the Porsche 936. He drove in Formula 1 and won the sports car...
Background In the early 1970s, a new European Grand Touring Championship gave the competition 911s a fresh lease of life. This model almost completely filled race grids. By the Autumn of 1972, Porsche launched its new 911 ‘Carrera’ with engine capacity raised from 2.4 to 2.7-litres, and a batch of...
History Long regarded as the best entry-level air-cooled 911, the Carrera 3.2 remains highly desirable. It was the final evolution of the original torsion bar 911 built from 1964 to 1989. Visually the only significant change came in 1974 with the so-called ‘impact bumpers’ of the G series, but under...
The original idea for this “special” feature had been to do a test on Porsche’s famed Moby Dick…the 935/78 long-tail beast from 1978, the company’s first racecar with water-cooled cylinder heads. However, that particular machine was on tour in China and not due back at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart...
The Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0, which was produced for only 2 years in 1976 and 1977, is a very special version of the inimitable 911. Due to its low production numbers, with only 3,687 units produced, it is also one of the rarest of the non-special edition 911s out there....
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...
When I first started writing my book, “R to RSR: The Racing Porsche 911s” in 1987, whilst living in England, I had little or no idea which RS/RSR cars had been raced in France. This was despite the fact that France was only 21 miles away across the Channel. The...
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 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...
Daytona 24 Hours, 3-4 February 1973: The start 1973 Daytona 24 hours led by John Watson in the Mirage on pole 1973 saw a return to normality for the Daytona 24-hour race. The distance was set back at 24 hours, after running only a 6-hour length in 1972. Ferrari in...
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 911 Carrera 3.2 Clubsport (1985) in the Museum workshop As I’ve explained on the few occasions I’ve burst into print in Porsche Road & Race, my enduring love affair with the Porsche brand was developed and nurtured from the late 1950s. My father, a dentist by profession, was very...
1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR Turbo 2.1 (chassis #911 460 9101) photographed at the Porsche Museum, Stuttgart, Germany, May 2019 The year 1974 will be remembered for many different reasons, depending on where you were living in the world at the time and what caught your eye. For instance, Richard...
John Fitzpatrick Group C Porsches – The Definitive History, Mark Cole. © Porter Press There seem to be a number of books entering the market right now on Porsche’s motor racing history. This is not a bad thing, because there is so much to explore about these fantastic and iconic...
Le Mans 24 Hours, 23-24 June 1951: In the foreground of the workshop at Teloché is the #46 Porsche 356 SL driven by Edmond Mouche and Auguste Veuillet, while in the background is the #47 Porsche 356 SL which was damaged in practice by Rudolph Sauerwein Porsche has been represented...
A True Head Turner We included a car from Makellos Classics in a list of our favorite Porsche custom cars in 2018, so when we were alerted of their most recent build we were pretty excited. The team at Makellos Classics got its hands on a European-spec 1978 Porsche 911SC....
Long Beach, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, 14 April 2018: #912 Porsche 911 RSR of Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber bounces over the kerbs during the race The efforts of the factory Porsches over the weekend came to naught, as the two 911 RSRs finished well down the order in the...
#5 Porsche 908/3 – Juan Fernandez/Francesco Torredemer/Eugenio Baturone – NRF The 1972 season broke, ushering in with it a new era of racing. The Porsche 917 had reigned supreme for two years, but the race authorities (read FIA) had had their fill of Porsche interpreting the rules their way, and...
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