In a 34-year career at Porsche, the influence of Peter Falk - Porsche's enduring engineer, can be found throughout the air-cooled and transaxle model ranges, and extends even to the 986/996 generation. He was also team manager for many of Porsche’s Le Mans efforts and oversaw the company’s rise from class winner to crushing overall victory in 1970/71, repeating this performance … [Read more...]
Yesteryear
The Old Warhorse
This is a story of the incredible career of Porsche 935 009 00030, one of the most amazing race cars ever, or as someone once said, the car of a thousand faces. Also known as the ‘Old Warhorse’, Porsche 935 009 00030 is one of the most storied cars ever to race. It has a long and distinguished history, racing in IMSA and World Championship events from 1979-1987. It has won some … [Read more...]
Helmuth Bott – Porsche’s Quiet Engineer
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 whose contribution went increasingly unrecognised by the … [Read more...]
Porsche at Le Mans Part III: 1969 to 1971
The name Porsche is synonymous with the world’s toughest endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, boasting an unbroken run of 66 years. During this time, they have amassed 19 victories. This is Part III of their story… PART III – 1969 to 1971 The introduction of the Porsche Type 917, was the car that Ferdinand Piëch had planned in his mind, all through the 1960s. It was the … [Read more...]
Rolf Stommelen – a driver for all circumstances
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 Formula 1 career with mediocre teams was patchy, in production cars he was reliably top class. But it was with Porsches that Stommelen was at his best, from amateur wins in his … [Read more...]
Porsche 935/84 at the Daytona 24 Hours 1985 – The Last Hurrah
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 compete with the new ground effects prototype designs from Lola, March and subsequently Porsche’s own 956/962 design. The 935 was a production based car … [Read more...]
Doing things right – Le Mans 1990
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. This was part of the new FIA mandated changes to circuits to improve safety. Four-mile-long straights such as the Mulsanne were no longer to be approved by the FIA. The near 250mph speed in a 962 in 1989 on the Mulsanne … [Read more...]
Early 1980 IMSA GT Championship
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 a mixed one. 24 Hour Pepsi Challenge – Daytona (2/3 February) We had started at the Daytona 24 Hours with a new Porsche Kremer K3 935, chassis #000 00009, a Kremer-built K3 from a factory chassis. That car had crashed at … [Read more...]
On Auction: Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.8
Every so often, Porsche creates a short production run of cars that celebrates the attributes of one of their special models. In 1993, the Stuttgart engineers decided to develop a race version of their 911 Type 964 Carrera RS, aptly named the Carrera RSR 3.8, and aimed it squarely at the race track. With the 1993 Carrera 2 as the starting point, Porsche had to make at … [Read more...]
Not very “Aerodynameek” and a few too many – Le Mans 1982
The Garretson Developments Sports Car team entered two cars at Le Mans 1982, a March-Chevrolet and a Porsche 935. The March was an 82G, the March IMSA GTP car. The March was a fast car, but fragile. Most of the problem was due to the use of the Hewland DG300 gearbox in the original design. Used no doubt to save weight, it proved unable to handle the torque of the 6.0 liter … [Read more...]
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