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 a Motorola engineer in Manhattan, New York, and the world as we knew it, was changed forever. The … [Read more...]
Profiles
Porsche 935/19: The Carbon Fiber Orphan
The silhouette is familiar. With weaves of carbon fiber covering almost every external surface, the Porsche 935/19 cuts an unmistakable shape. Like a black hole, it absorbs light and emits it judiciously. No chrome bits compete for attention. The car has presence. It has a sense of occasion. It is unlike any other modern-day Porsche 911 variant, but wears its roots … [Read more...]
Quick Nick – a Nick Faure profile
Nick Faure was one of the first to race a 911 in Britain: he won the saloon car championship in 1968 and later graduated to a very successful season with an RS 2.7. He then had a year racing the Carrera RS 3.0 followed by a series of drives in RSRs, 934s and the Kremer K3 at Le Mans. Appointed official demonstration driver by Porsche Cars GB, he alone was allowed to drive … [Read more...]
Heinrich Klie and the 914
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...]
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...]
