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Hommage à la Porsche Spyder RSK - a look back

Name: Porsche 718 RS 60 1960
Brand: Porsche

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Created on May 1, 1975

Text:

Dr. Paul Simsa / Bruno von Rotz

Photos:

Patrick Emzen - Courtesy RM Auctions

Archiv Porsche AG

Bruno von Rotz

- Courtesy RM Auctions

Porsche AG

Bob Lytle, Buch "SportErfolge" von Tony Adriaensens (corsaresarch)

Josef Mayrhofer

Porsche AG (Archiv)

Samuel Szepetiuk

McKlein Publishing/Verlag Reinhard Klein

Archiv

Patrick Emzen - Courtesy RM Auctions

Archiv Porsche AG

Bruno von Rotz

- Courtesy RM Auctions

Porsche AG

Bob Lytle, Buch "SportErfolge" von Tony Adriaensens (corsaresarch)

Josef Mayrhofer

Porsche AG (Archiv)

Samuel Szepetiuk

McKlein Publishing/Verlag Reinhard Klein

Archiv

Porsche 718 RS 61 Spyder (1961) - offered as lot 51 at the RM auction on January 16/17, 2014 in Arizona

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Porsche Glöckler Spider (1953) - at the 1953 Geneva Motor Show

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Porsche 550 Coupe (1953) at Le Mans 1953 - Hans Herrmann drove at Le Mans for the first time in 1953 and secured second place in his class after the Porsche 550 of Richard von Frankenberg and Paul Frère

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Porsche 550 (1953) - at the Carrera Panamericana 1954

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Porsche 550 Spyder (1955) - Mille Miglia 1955 - Three class victories were claimed by Porsche sports cars on May 1, 1955.

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Porsche 550 1500 RS (1954) - no expense spared - Hans Herrmann's one-off car with Huschke von Hanstein and airplane at the Carrera Panamericana 1954

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Porsche 550 1500 RS (1954) - Hans Herrmann at the Carrera Panamericana 1954

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Porsche 550 (1954) - at the Carrera Panemericana

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Porsche 550 RS Spyder (1955) - at the Grossglockner Grand Prix 2012

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Porsche 550 Spyder 1500 RS (1955) at the Mille Miglia 2013

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Porsche 550 RS Spyder (1955) - popular with works and private drivers

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Porsche 550 A RS Spyder (1956) - with characteristic headrest

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Porsche 550 A RS Spyder (1956) - Wind-slipperiness was a top priority

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Porsche 550 A RS Spyder (1956) - View into the cockpit

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Porsche 550 A RS Spyder (1956) - Weight savings on the handbrake lever

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Porsche 550 A RS Spyder (1956) - more power and five gears

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Porsche 550 (1959) - the vertical shaft engine - engine cross-section drawing

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Porsche 550 (1959) - the four-cylinder engine with four overhead camshafts in the Porsche Museum

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Porsche 550 (1959) - four-cylinder engine with four overhead camshafts

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Porsche 550 (1956) - tubular frame of the mid-engined racing car

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Porsche RSK (1960) - a completed racing car is rolled out

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Porsche RSK (1960) - finished racing cars are ready to go

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Porsche 718 RSK (1957) - Test drives at the Nürburgring in 1957

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Porsche 718 RS 61 Spyder (1961) - offered at the RM Auction of Arizona on January 16/17, 2014

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Porsche RSK (1961) - H. Müller on a fast ascent

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Porsche RSK (1962) - Greger on the mountain

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Porsche 718 RS 61 (1962) - Heini Walter at a hill climb in 1962

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Porsche 718 RSK (1958) - Sebring version

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Porsche 718 RSK (1961) - Hans Hermann in a fast Porsche at Monza

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Porsche 718 RSK (1961) - Herbert Linge at the wheel of the mid-engined sports car

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Stirling Moss (#1) in DBR1, Dan Gurney (#5) in Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, Edgar Barth (#14) in Porsche 718 RSK, Tony Brooks (#3) in Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa at the 1000km race of the Nürburgring 1959 - Motorsport Classic 2014 Calendar by McKlein

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Porsche 718 RS 60 Spyder (1960) - 12 Hours of Sebring 1960 Porsche scored its first overall victory at Sebring:USA on March 26, 1960 with Olivier Gendebien and Hans Herrmann in a 718 RS 60 Spyder.

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Porsche 718 RSK Spyder (1958) - European Hill Climb Championship 1958 - Wolfgang Graf Berghe v. Trips achieved the first European Hill Climb Championship for Porsche.

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Porsche RSK 718 (1959) - in Race 4 for two-seater racing cars and GTs up to 1960/1961 - AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix 2013

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Porsche 718 RS 60 (1961) - at the Gaisbergrennen 2012 - racing car class

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Summary

The Porsche 718 RSK were important milestones on Porsche's path to the sports car Olympus. They were derived from the Porsche 550 RS Spyder, but developed steadily and were eventually able to outperform even much more powerful racing cars. They are still admired today and fetch stupendously high prices at auctions when they come onto the market. This report traces the history of the RS-K models and shows them in many photos.

This article contains the following chapters

The first factory Spyder in 1953
Successful factory use
From the RS to the RSK
Evolution to the RS 60 and RS 61
The right sports car for private drivers
Overview of the different models

Estimated reading time: 4min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Paul Frère once wrote in his Porsche motorsport history about his Spyder years: "The Spyder 550 and its direct successors were the cars that enabled Porsche to play the role of David against Goliath at a time when all the big racing cars still had the engine in front." And it was a Spyder, the 645 - better known as Mickey Mouse - in which Richard von Frankenberg became a flyer during training on the Avus in 1956. The tricky handling characteristics due to the 645's shortened wheelbase and narrower track were probably not the only reason; the case belongs to the prehistory of the spoiler era. In 1953, the first Spyder 550 appeared at the Paris Motor Show, followed by the "humpback car", named after the headrest with a rear hump the width of the cockpit; it then disappeared again.

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