Three years ago, resourceful minds came up with an event to effectively launch the special book "Porsche Sounds". In the meantime, the "Sound Night" has almost become an institution, attracting fans from all over Germany.
Nothing against the sound samples on the CD that comes with the book, but it is the sound of the cars live that gives you goosebumps. And the little stories told by the invited contemporary witnesses add to the charm of the event and really bring the fascination for racing history to life.
"Friends, there's a lot to listen to today," Dieter Landenberger (Head of the Porsche Museum Archive) told the guests at the start of the event. The event was skillfully moderated by Eve Scheer, who is also infected by the 911 herself.
Hans Joachim Stuck on the reliability of Porsche sports cars
First, Strietzel Stuck took to the stage as Volkswagen's motorsport representative and, as usual, chatted casually from the sewing box.
How did his involvement in Group C with Porsche come about? Well, the first contact came about through the legendary Walter Brun, with whom he had already driven a wide variety of cars. At Le Mans in 1982, their Sauber SHS C6 racing car literally blew up in their faces, prompting Walter to decide "That's it, I'm going to buy a Porsche". Shortly afterwards, they were driving a customer sports 956.
With shining eyes, Strietzel said: "I was thrilled and knew how reliable these cars are". However, it wasn't an easy start, as the first joint outing with Harald Grohs at Spa was a full ten seconds faster on the seven-kilometer circuit. Thoughts such as "I might as well give it a rest" quickly disappeared, and his colleague Stefan Bellof went to great lengths to explain how to drive the car fast.
In short, the Porsche virus had infected Hans-Joachim, and Strietzel was now determined to drive this car for the factory.
Porsche works driver Bellow already had his sights set on Formula 1 for the following year, and Stuck called Professor Bott (Head of Development at Porsche) without hesitation, who was initially puzzled by Stuck's interest in Porsche in view of his BMW contract.
But back then, many things were easier than they are today, and the next day the contract was signed in Weissach within half an hour, and the step towards the second and, by Stuck's own account, best part of his career had been taken.
Le Mans at the center
As Porsche will return to the highest class with an LMP1 prototype at Le Mans in 2014 after a 16-year break, the legendary 24-hour race was the main topic of the event and Strietzel, who would like to do more for Porsche there, said goodbye with an enthusiastic "I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for these guys that they really drive the other guys' calves off, because that's what Porsche does and once you've had the chance to drive a Porsche works car, you'll know why it's the best car in the world, because they simply do it perfectly". Thunderous applause and pure emotion, the Porsche virus was literally in the air.
The triangular scraper
Then it started, the team around Kuno Werner (head of the museum workshop) pushed the first car onto the stage, a 356 B 2000 GS Carrera GT. This is better known as the "Dreikantschaber" and was built as the highest evolutionary stage of the 356 for the 1963 racing season. The 911 was not yet on the market at that time.
In order to keep up with the GT environment, the 356 was thoroughly revised and the body of the RS 61 was completely redesigned aerodynamically by F. A. Porsche. The front and, of course, the rear with its steeply sloping windshield were characteristic features.
The lightweight racing machine was powered by the legendary Fuhrmann engine with its 4 camshafts and an output of 160 hp from 2 liters of displacement.
The all-round talent of Porsche history, the now 85-year-old Herbert Linge, was on hand to answer questions. He looked at the three-edged scraper and said spontaneously with shining eyes: "When I see the car, it makes my heart beat faster".
Linge had already been involved in the construction of the first 356, had introduced Porsche customer service in the USA and had achieved 90 class victories and celebrated 6 international records behind the wheel of various Porsche racing cars.
But even for Linge, all beginnings were difficult, especially during the war. The rush to the apprentice workshop in 1943 was enormous. The gatekeeper's comment at the entrance to the site "Come on, we've already got 300" was not very encouraging, especially as it was known that only eight applicants would be accepted. For Herbert Linge, however, it worked out right away and this was the start of Linge's career in Zuffenhausen.
He ran and ran and ran
In the 1950s, the racing department and the testing department were not as separate as they are today, said Linge. Many of the test mechanics worked in the racing department on the side. It was a small team of four to five people.
The conditions in the old barracks at Reutter (Plant 1 was still occupied by the American army at the time) were cramped, and no more than three or four vehicles could be accommodated. Nevertheless, masterpieces such as the Fuhrmann engine were created there.
The 90 to 95 hp of the normal GT engine was not enough in view of the competition at the time, and it was the Fuhrmann engine that opened up new perspectives. Together with Eberhard Sturz, Linge stood all night at the test bench next to the running engine, Dr. Fuhrmann came in the middle of the night and asked "is it still running?" and received the answer "yes, it's still running". That's how development work went in the fifties ...
The successes at the Targa Florio and the Nürburgring were hard-earned, nothing fell into anyone's lap back then. Although the Carrera Abarth had also achieved considerable racing successes, it was only the triangular scraper that, according to Linge, took the lead as a genuine racing car over the production car. The car was great to drive, Linge noted.
In the pre-race for the German Grand Prix in 1963, Herbert Linge drove this car for the first time in a GT car on the Nordschleife in a time of less than ten minutes. And at the Targa Florio, Linge and Barth in their Porsche 356B 2000 GS Carrera left even larger-displacement competitors such as the Ferrari 250 GTO standing.
The special Porsche 904
The next rarity to take to the stage was a Porsche 904. Rarely had a sports car mastered the balancing act between aesthetics and efficiency so well. Presented at Solitude near Stuttgart in November 1963, the 904 took the hearts of racing fans by storm.
The flat Flund proved to be one of the most versatile GT sports cars of its time. With a fiberglass-reinforced plastic body - the design is attributed to F. A. Porsche - Porsche had broken new ground at the time.
While the car was usually powered by a four-cylinder engine, the works team had a six-cylinder engine at its disposal, and two works racing cars were even powered by the eight-cylinder Type 771 engine.
The engine designer Hans Mezger
When Hans Mezger completed his engineering studies at the University of Stuttgart in 1956, his professor presented him with 25 offers from the European automotive industry, but said that it was simply not possible to work in a truly versatile way in the large companies.
But Mezger didn't want to work on just one connecting rod or one crankshaft. So he wrote a letter to the Porsche company, which had not made an offer at the time, probably because they simply didn't need it, as there were hardly enough applications in Stuttgart.
However, Mezger was invited for an interview and finally received an offer for a position in the design department at Porsche Diesel, but Mezger turned it down because he was interested in the 356 sports car. Porsche gave him a jolt, a second interview followed and this time it worked out. In the course of his career at Porsche, Mezger was able to do everything he had dreamed of as a student.
The universal eight-cylinder engine
The eight-cylinder engine for Formula 1 with a displacement of 1.5 liters took the young engineer away from calculations and into design. There, eight people were busy developing the engine, gearbox and chassis of the new F1 monoposto.
The engine was then also the basis for the future long-distance vehicles with 2.0 and 2.2 liter displacement. Only one short F1 season was contested in 1962. One victory was achieved, but the development capacity was ultimately diverted to the construction of the 911 engine.
However, the eight-cylinder engine was a real long runner, as it was used as a 2.0-liter engine in hill climbs until 1968. And in its final year, a triple victory at Daytona was the engine's greatest triumph.
The young and dynamic Ferdinand Piëch
Ferdinand Piech joined his uncle's company in April 1963 as an engine test engineer. Porsche was in the middle of developing the 911. The young man had lots of ideas and ambitious goals, was ambitious and dynamic, but it all went hand in hand.
The goal of winning Le Mans was initially pursued with the 908, but then an even more extreme project was launched when new regulations meant that only 25 instead of 50 cars were needed to obtain homologation. The project included the development of the Porsche 917, which caused many sleepless nights working through the night.
The incomparably good working atmosphere in the small sports car company in Zuffenhausen was undoubtedly due to Ferry Porsche. The successes of the Piëch era from 1963 to 1971 would not have been possible without him and his team.
The Bergrennwagen, which was designed, built and raced in just 24 days with an existing engine, may serve as an example of the working methods of the time. This was only possible thanks to working in three shifts.
The development of the 917 and the construction of the 25 vehicles required by the regulations were carried out in the same way.
The engine test engineer Valentin Schäfer
Another important man started in the racing department in 1955. Valentin Schäfer was responsible for the test benches and, as a test engineer, was allowed to accompany almost all the racing engines that could be heard on the sound night.
The eight-cylinder engine of 1962 was the engine with the highest liter output that Porsche had ever achieved with an engine. The maximum output of the two-liter engine was an impressive 276 hp. As the engine fitted all Porsche vehicles in terms of the connections/flanges, it could be used universally and was therefore always used where high performance was required.
The engine was often only used in one or two examples of a sports car type. The engine was installed in the 904, 906, 907, 908, 909 and 910, once as a 2.0-liter, then again as a 2.2-liter version. The final 2.2-liter version for endurance racing was the triple winner at Daytona, and one of the cars even won the 24-hour race twice. That's how well these machines were built.
The world record-breaking 911-R
The next car was presented by Johan Dirickx, a Belgian Porsche collector and owner of the car, Peter Falk, the former racing manager of the Porsche works team, and Günter Steckkönig, the well-known Porsche test and racing driver.
The Porsche 911 R presented was one of 19 racing cars built with the Carrera 6 engine. Vic Elford drove it on the occasion of its presentation, and it later became the second car for the record runs at Monza.
Purchased in good condition, the car has never been restored, only preserved. This is not a museum vehicle, it is driven regularly, but on a private track for safety reasons, said the Belgian owner, adding: "There are too many pensioners driving on the open road who can't brake".
Peter Falk then explained how the world record runs with the 911 R came about (Zwischengas has published an extensive report on this topic).
At the time, the Porsche 911 R had to stand in for the Carrera 6, which was actually intended for the world record drive over 20,000 km, but was not up to the torture of Monza. So the 911 R was used as a replacement and the record drive was a success.
The drive was so fast that even the plastic hood was dented by the wind, but the car was unfazed and kept going, simply perfect. Günter Steckkönig, the test driver at the time, was proud to report that the car completed the entire route at an average speed of 209.5 km/h, significantly better than the previous record.
The final development stage of the Porsche 917
After the 911 R, Hans Hermann, Kurt Ahrens and Willi Kauhsen took to the stage to present the Porsche 917. These three gentlemen also had many anecdotes to tell from a time when racing accidents often ended in death.
Hans Hermann, whose 85 years are in no way visible, ended his racing career in 1970 after winning the Le Mans at its zenith.
However, his racing career began in 1952, when he competed in reliability races in a Porsche 356 that his mother had bought him. Today, these events are called rallies. If you finished in the top three in five events, you received the coveted racing license. In 1953, a Porsche works driver had an accident at the Nürburgring and so the fourth man for the Le Mans event was missing. Hans Hermann passed the test for the selected drivers, drove to Le Mans and achieved class victory in Le Mans with Helm Klöckler, Richard von Frankenberg and Polinski. So his career began where it ended 17 years later, at Le Mans.
Kurt Ahrens brought a completely bent steering wheel to the stage, the result of test drives with the long tail in 1970 at the test site in Ehra-Lessien.
It was never the case that victories just happened at Porsche. There was always a lot of work behind it and occasionally something went wrong. In 1970, the 917 with starting number 25 crashed, and 14 days later Willi Kaushen had exactly the same accident with the new cars.
At the time, Porsche had gone to quite a lot of trouble to be able to start at Le Mans at all with the car designed for 400 km/h.
How did the accident happen? At a speed of 200/250 km/h, it started to rain lightly, says Ahrens. The road went straight for 8-9 km, then there was a very slight left turn to drive the large radius of 4 km at full throttle.
"The car then broke out at the front in a puddle of water and went into the guardrail on the left at 20 degrees, unfortunately the guardrails were a bit too high, I then hit the first post of the guardrail with the front end, tearing off the oil cooler at the front, and I completely tore through the second post where the bolts were attached, At the third post, the entire front end got stuck under the crash barrier, the steering wheel was under the front axle and I then flew 150 meters further with the rear end with my legs in front and came to a stop with both shins sitting under the crash barrier. Peter Falk then took some time to see me, because he was on the other side of the 14 km long race track. I then peeled myself out of the bucket seat, but didn't dare to get up because I thought something was broken, but I managed. Then I looked at myself, I no longer had a shoe on, I was missing a glove. So I sat down on the crash barrier, bent over, and waited until Mr. Falk came to the scene of the accident about five to ten minutes later."
But this did not take away his passion for racing. Niki Lauda once said that when a racing accident like this happens, you should get back in the car as quickly as possible, and that's exactly what happened. Just 14 days later, he was on the grid with Vic Elford at the 1000 km Monza and then it worked out again. There was a lot of enthusiasm for Porsche. As long as no hand was missing or a foot was off, it couldn't be that bad. And being able to drive a Porsche again was simply fantastic.
Test kilometers and driving in the snow with the Porsche 917/30
Willi Kauhsen paid the highest tribute to the 917/30, the powerful car was probably the highest evolutionary stage that Porsche has ever built. What does it feel like to drive with over 1000 hp and only 750 kg? Willi Kauhsen himself had never driven this car in a race, he had "only" developed it with his engineer Helmut Flegel.
The predecessor was called the 917/10, and probably no one in the whole world had driven as many test kilometers in conjunction with Mr. Flegel as Kaushen did at the time. And it must have been a breathtaking experience to drive a car with a longitudinal and lateral acceleration as well as a braking deceleration that is hardly ever achieved in Formula 1 even today.
A confusing contemporary testimony shows a 917/10 in the snow, how did this come about? Kauhsen told us:
"The then Federal President Gustav Heinemann had wished for a round of the Nürburgring for his 75th birthday and, as it happens at the Nürburgring, it snowed on May 2nd. Snow, they said, we can't drive there. But yes, I said, come on, there's only snow in 3 or 4 places and we have good rain tires and then Mrs. Heineman asked me if we had studded tires. First the security drove ahead in an Opel Blitz, which already had 48 hp back then. It was occupied by two police officers in the front, three on the left on the running boards and three on the right. The head of security asked how much headway we should give the Opel. I replied that it would normally drive for a whole hour on one lap, but we didn't have that much time. So they let it start 20 minutes before the 917. We followed in the Porsche.
So I get to the Brünnchen and suddenly I'm driving on snow. I'm already spinning 360 degrees, but I can continue. But 100 meters later, the Opel Blitz is in the ditch. It probably flew out at 20 km/h and the police were looking for their submachine guns on the road ... and I had to drive around this story in a slalom."
Driving in its most beautiful form
In 1973, a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 won the last Targa Florio, which was classified as a world championship race. 55 vehicles were built, most of which went to customer teams. The Belgian Johann Dirickx, owner of the Group 4 racer, and Professor Helmut Flegel, with 37 years of experience at Porsche, are both closely associated with motorsport and set the context for the fast sports car.
The first owner was Ludwig Heimrath, a German living in Canada, and he drove the Wgen in the IMSA GT Championship. At the end of the season, he crashed the Porsche at Daytona and the car was not restored until the early 1990s. It was then also given back its original color.
Helmut Flegel joined Porsche in 1966 at the age of 24 from the Technical University and went straight into the racing department. It was the beginning of an unusual career and at first it was not at all easy to fight for his position as a newcomer among the experienced warhorses. Customer racing was very important at Porsche at the time and, given the cost of the 917, it was also very welcome to earn extra money by selling customer racing cars.
The RSR's recipe for success lay in the 911's genes, which were very important for racing, namely the good traction provided by the rear engine and the associated load on the rear axle, the reliability and the excellent power-to-weight ratio - 300 hp at 900 kg was certainly an interesting order of magnitude at the time.
The RSR won at Daytona, where Porsche had previously won with prototypes. However, the RSR was comparatively close to series production and the fact that it was able to win against the higher-displacement vehicles from Chevrolet and Ferrari was a huge achievement.
The RS/RSR was the car to beat between 1973 and 1976, if you include the 935, whether on the circuit, on the mountain or even at rallies, especially in Holland and France.
The 911 racing turbo
In addition to 50 years of the 911, there are also 40 years of the 911 Turbo to celebrate in 2013, as the first Turbo prototype was presented in 1973, a year later it went into series production and then it was clear that the 930 also had to go on the racetrack. At that time there was Group 4 in motor racing and the 934 was used there.
In 1962, the current owner Ottokar von Jakobs always had 356s driving around his ears in the MGA and even then he thought it wouldn't work, but it was another 10 years before he was able to buy his first 911. Today, all the vehicles in his collection are mainly used for demonstration drives.
In 1976, 27 examples of the 934 were built, which was still comparatively close to the production car, while the 935 was designed as a thoroughbred racing car.
Incidentally, the car on display once even adorned a Porsche poster, with the driver's name on the door, George Follmer, an American racing icon who drove and won pretty much everything possible up to the CanAM, even achieving a fifth place in Formula 1, but was also an impulsive driver. In Watkins Glen, the race director decided during practice that "they're all too fast, we'll put a Pilone on the track to slow them down". George Follmer was not impressed: "Well, I'll jump over the cone".
The result was a pretty battered Porsche 934, whereupon the owner Warschek came with a hammer and "race tape", dented the whole thing, patched everything up in a makeshift manner and said, "okay, drive tomorrow and win" and that's how it turned out.
With its large air intakes, the 934 was the first Porsche with intercoolers. These were located at the front to balance the weight and were partly responsible for the power boost to 485 hp, while the standard turbo only produced 300 hp. Incidentally, the 934 was also the only racing car to have electric windows. The car was too light from the ground up. And then the gentlemen at Porsche, presumably including Mr. Mezger, said, "Then we'll put steel plates under the front and the few kilos for the electric windows don't matter, we'll leave them in. And we came into the pits, bssss, the window went down and the Americans were shaking their heads: 'That's wrong, that's wrong' but no matter, the power windows stayed in."
In addition to the vehicles presented here, the spectators also had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the following vehicles:
- Porsche 936 (1977)
- Porsche 924 GTP (1981)
- Porsche 935 Moby Dick (1978)
- Porsche 961 (1986)
- Porsche 911 GT1 (1998)
- Porsche 991 RSR (2013)
There is an extensive audio sample for each of these older vehicles and, of course, for the racing cars presented in detail. Simply click on the small playback icons on the left under Multimedia. Worth listening to!
