It is a fact that most of us with an interest in roadgoing or race cars, will have a favourite model that holds a special place in our memory for some reason. That reason might be something significant that happened in your life where a certain car left an indelible mark in your memory, or might just be slow warming to a certain model that has built up over the years. In the … [Read more...]
RM Sotheby’s Porsche 70th Anniversary Auction
RM Sotheby's, in collaboration with the Porsche Experience Centre Atlanta, will host the Porsche 70th Anniversary Auction, an exclusive, single-marque auction to be held on the weekend of 27 October at the home of Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) in Atlanta. The auction will feature approximately 70 of the world's most important and most sought-after collectible Porsche … [Read more...]
Porsche’s 70th anniversary – we look back 40 years to 1978
The Porsche company, now 30 years old in 1978, had moved from being the small-scale manufacturing company to being a significant player, albeit in a niche market. The front-engined transaxle 924 model, introduced in 1976, was now selling twice the number of units that the 911 was selling. This had eased the financial situation for the company and given them some money to go … [Read more...]
Porsche at Le Mans Part IV: 1972 to 1981
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 for 1972 a 3-litre engine limit had been applied. This capacity limitation was also introduced in an effort to slow the cars down but this ruling played neatly … [Read more...]
Dr Ulrich Bez – father of the 993
Hailing from the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart, Ulrich Bez, who as Porsche Technical supremo hatched the 993, had two significant stints at Porsche. During the 1970s he worked in research and was responsible for establishing Porsche’s crash test programme; in the 1980s, he followed Porsche’s head of research to BMW and set up BMW Technik, the department which designed the … [Read more...]
1991 Carrera Cup contender
A bit of history It had long been Porsche’s goal to participate in motorsport at varying levels, and in an effort to nurture new talent from amongst its customer racing base, a new customer racing series was being planned. 1990 marked the birth of the one-make motor racing series which has today become the envy of the motoring industry, the Porsche Carrera Cup. This year marks … [Read more...]
Jürgen Barth – A Profile
More books have been written about Porsche than any other car company so the publication in English of another tome is hardly headline news until you realise that the author, exceptionally, is a Porsche insider, but not just any insider. Jürgen Barth was at the epicentre of Porsche’s racing activity from the time he joined the Zuffenhausen payroll in 1966 until he retired four … [Read more...]