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 very distinct minimalist styling, though part of the idiom of the 1960s, was very much an in-house design. Almost two decades after the first Gmünd coupés, the 914 was the company’s third new … [Read more...]
Profiles
Arno Bohn – The Porsche Outsider
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 weak, had a new 911, the 993, in the wings and had conceived the 986/996 platform, a strategy which would be the beginning of its … [Read more...]
Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss OBE 1929-2020
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 of 90 following a long illness, with his wife, Lady Susie Moss by his side. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, Moss won 212 major international races across several categories … [Read more...]
Richard Attwood – eight decades young and still going strong
On 4 April this year, Richard Attwood will celebrate his 80th birthday, but speaking to him just a few months back about his win at Kyalami in ’69, you would not have thought as much. Attwood still oozes with enthusiasm and he will tell you just what happened and when it happened. I have interviewed Richard Attwood on numerous occasions, and he is always quick with a smile and … [Read more...]
The Sonderwunsch Man – Rolf Sprenger
Rolf Sprenger was a versatile engineer whose Porsche career was founded almost entirely on customer service. “If I want a trailer (caravan) with a swimming pool, Herr Sprenger will build it for me,” so said Peter Schutz to a potential client, while Sprenger looking on, would groan inwardly: yet another customer whose expectations had been over-excited would have to be brought … [Read more...]
Never a dull moment – the career of Toine Hezemans
One of the Netherlands’ most successful racers, Toine Hezemans is part of a motorsport dynasty that began with his father who raced Porsches in the 1950s. This family tradition continued with Toine who began racing 911s in the late ‘60s, but after his own career ended, his first son Mike, then picked up the baton and raced 964s in the early years of the Porsche Cup. Speaking … [Read more...]
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...]
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...]
Anatole Lapine
Anatole Lapine who was in charge of styling at Porsche under two disparate CEOs, Fuhrmann and Schutz, looks back on quite a CV: Chevrolet Corvette, Opel GT, Porsche 928, Porsche 964. But there is a lot more to this designer whose career spans two continents and most of the second half of the twentieth century, and who for thirty years, was close to Ferry Porsche. Son of … [Read more...]
Roland Kussmaul
For many years, the éminence grise of Porsche’s competition department, but now in retirement, Roland Kussmaul seems busier than ever. He left Porsche officially at the end of 2008, but our attempts to meet him were thwarted for several years by his amazingly busy schedule. More recently, we were luckier: despite a programme still just as full, he found time to meet us at his … [Read more...]
