No future without a past - not even at Porsche
In the group photo for Le Mans, ex-Jo Sifferts race mechanic and ex-Porsche Museum Director Klaus Bischof can be seen on the far left. He was already present at Spa-Francorchamps at the beginning of May, at the second round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Porsche sent him to Spa to exhibit several historic Porsche parts in the Porsche hospitality area and to remind everyone that there is no future without a past.
"For example, I brought the helmet worn by Hans Herrmann at the 1954 Carrera Panamericana to Spa, ....
... and the handmade racing shoes that Ciccio - the star tailor of racing shoes from Cefalù in Sicily - sewed for Porsche works driver Vic Elford," Klaus Bischof told us.
"Since the 917 made its debut at the 1000-kilometer race at Spa in 1969, I also brought historic Porsche 917 parts to Porsche Hospitality," Klaus Bischof went on to explain to us.
"For example, I have an ex-Jo Sifferts Porsche 917 steering wheel on display. This steering wheel was made from aluminum at Porsche. It was then sent to the saddlery at Reutter. Back then, racing drivers not only had their own seats but also their own steering wheels. Jo Siffert was the star driver and got everything he asked for. There was no one in the world who could drive a Porsche 908 or 917 faster than Jo Siffert. I also brought a turbocharger and a camshaft drive from a 917/10 to Spa, as well as a Porsche 917 gearshift with a gear knob made of laminated mahogany. We developed and built it ourselves."
And then Klaus Bischoff also showed us a Porsche 917 fan wheel: "At 8400 rpm, this fan delivered 2400 liters of air per second and required 17 hp or about three percent of the engine power," he explained. As Porsche had only produced sports cars with air-cooled engines up to this point, a racing car with a similarly air-cooled engine was intended to demonstrate and improve the performance potential of these engines. All these parts are also on display this weekend at the Porsche Hospitality in Le Mans.
Sporting ambition has inspired Porsche engineers from the very beginning. The race track has been the merciless testing platform for sports car technology for seven decades. Typical examples of technology transfer are the mid-engine, aerodynamics, turbocharging, PDK, controlled all-wheel drive and, today, hybridization with the Porsche 919 Hybrid. The two innovative Porsche 919 Hybrids surprisingly finished the first qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Wednesday evening (June 12) in first and second place.
New Zealander Brendon Hartley set the fastest time with a time of 3:23.157 minutes. This puts the number 20 car on provisional pole position. Neel Jani (CH) secured second place for the number 14 sister car with a lap time of 3m 23.928s.
Neel Jani from Biel spoke at length with Klaus Bischof at this year's Geneva Motor Show: "Klaus is Porsche's living motorsport memory. Everyone from Jacky Ickx to Chopard CEO Karl Friedrich Scheufele really appreciate talking to him," said Neel Jani admiringly. There really is no future without a past.
And in a few hours' time, we will be able to experience at first hand what the future will look like in terms of Le Mans victories and Porsche ....
