When you were last with Richard Wiley, we were hurtling around a damp La Sarthe in 1988 with Stuck in the Shell Dunlop 962, trimming the grass and setting up great plumes of spray as the Porsche barked its flat tones in a relentless but ultimately fruitless pursuit of a howling Jaguar V12 which was on the brink of grinding to a halt with no gears but which somehow survived to … [Read more...]
Yesteryear
It’s been a long journey – the Norbert Singer interview
Norbert Singer must rank as one of the most successful race engineers in Porsche’s long and glittering motorsport history. Porsche Road & Race spoke to him about his four-decade career with Porsche, the race cars he helped develop and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “It’s been a long journey,” Norbert Singer said with a smile, and how right he was. Growing up in the 1950s and … [Read more...]
Porsche 911 GT1 – The Grand Touring Meister
Porsche 993 GT1 chassis #109 was one of just nine customer racing Porsche 911 GT1s built between 1996 and 1998. The 911 GT1 became the Grand Touring Meister when it triumphed in the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours, but its route to success was not an easy one and at one point, the whole GT1 project looked in jeopardy. How did the 911 GT1 come about Porsche is accustomed to adapting … [Read more...]
A Sting in the Tale
In Part 1, Stories from Le Mans – with a Porsche flavour, our intrepid scribbler who hails from that beautiful part of South Africa, the Western Cape, shares with us some hilarious and revealing stories from his many trips to Le Mans. Richard Wiley, a lifelong motoring journalist, has always loved Le Mans, Group C and especially the Porsches of that era. A sting in the tale, … [Read more...]
Taking the Porsche 919 Hybrid around the world – Logistics Part III
Following a fifteen-year absence from the top tier of prototype racing on the world stage, Porsche officially returned to the LMP1 class in 2014 with the 919 Hybrid race car. Preparing a race car like the Porsche 919 Hybrid at Le Mans was no simple task, and so we have explored what was needed in this feature, Logistics Part III. The way the WEC was set up when the … [Read more...]
Porsche 956/962 at Le Mans – Logistics Part II
In 1982, Porsche introduced the Type 956, the race car manufacturer’s entrant in the newly created Group C racing series which commenced that season. The new car scored a second place on its debut at Silverstone that year, and followed this up a month later with a clean sweep of the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The rest, as they say, is history as the 956 and its modified … [Read more...]
Porsche at Teloché, Le Mans – Logistics Part I
Porsche has been represented at the Le Mans 24 Hours every year since 1951, in both an official factory capacity and by privateer entries. No other manufacturer can boast such a long unbroken record of runs at Le Mans since their first race in this classic French endurance race. For Porsche, their attendance from 1951 to 2018 amounts to 68 consecutive races at Le Mans, and this … [Read more...]
Ernst Fuhrmann – the inspiration behind the 911 Turbo
Porsche’s first CEO is frequently maligned as the man who tried to kill off the 911. There is far more to his Porsche career than this misconception as he was the inspiration behind the 911 Turbo. Viennese Ernst Fuhrmann was one of Ferry Porsche’s first post war employees, joining the Konstructionsbüro, then based in Gmünd in 1947. The pair worked together on several … [Read more...]
The 1989 Daytona 24 hours – Texaco Havoline and the Cruise Brothers
I was really looking forward to the 1989 Daytona 24 Hour race. I had been working as a weekend warrior for Bruce Leven’s Bayside team since early 1987. The team had enjoyed successful seasons in 1987 and 1988, winning multiple IMSA races, the Sebring 12 Hour twice and the Porsche Team Cup. The team had a very good chance to win the 1989 Daytona 24 hours. 1989 would start … [Read more...]
Porsche at Le Mans Part V: 1980 to 1994 the Transaxle years
In this feature, the fifth in our series that looks at the different eras of Porsche’s participation at Le Mans, we examine the part played by the company’s transaxle cars. These front-engined models, that in roadgoing form rescued the company during difficult financial times, have been unjustly maligned over the years. When so many manufacturers of high performance sports cars … [Read more...]
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