With the factory-supported Porsche 356 SL, the sports car manufacturer secured the brand’s first class victory on the international stage at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It marked the beginning of a success story that continued on road courses, in rallies, hill climbs, and endurance classics. This success spans both factory racing and customer racing, which remains an essential part of Porsche motorsports to this day. The Porsche Museum is dedicating the special exhibition “Raceborn – 75 Years of Porsche Motorsports” to this journey. “Porsche is motorsports. And motorsports have made Porsche what we are today. We are dedicating a special exhibition to this legacy and our mission for the future, showcasing the full spectrum of this special part of our DNA,” announces Achim Stejskal, Head of Porsche Heritage and Museum.
The special exhibition opened with renowned racing legends Hans-Joachim Stuck, Marc Lieb, rally legend Walter Röhrl, and Timo Bernhard. The Porsche Museum is breaking new ground with its design: a red ribbon winds its way through the museum’s architecture like a racetrack, allowing visitors to experience speed and dynamism within the space. It follows the building’s lines and angles, guiding visitors through six thematic sections of the special exhibition: racing classes, diversity, innovations, milestones, people, and regulations. These facets examine motorsports from different angles. They explain why regulations spur development rather than merely limiting it.
“The exhibition ‘75 Years of Porsche Motorsport’ presents itself to visitors from ever-changing perspectives,” says Tanja Schleicher, curator at the Porsche Museum. “We are deliberately moving away from a chronological sequence of narratives and instead presenting motorsport as an identity-forming mindset—something that moves and connects people. The exhibits themselves become part of a larger context: technical and historical, yet also experiential in a sensory and narrative way.”
A total of 31 vehicles form the basis of the special exhibition, though they are not viewed as individual objects. Each vehicle represents a specific context: a racing series, a technical challenge, an era, a set of regulations, or a team. “Each vehicle showcases a different facet of motorsports—from lightweight construction and aerodynamics to the durability that is crucial in racing,” explains Schleicher. Historic and modern race cars engage in a constant dialogue throughout the exhibition.
The tour begins with a prologue and then moves on to current racing classes such as Formula E, prototype and endurance racing, GT racing, one-make cup racing, and grassroots racing. For example, the 356 SL highlights early international success, while the Formula E car, the 99X Electric, demonstrates how motorsports are evolving under changing technical conditions. The Porsche 963 represents today’s world of prototype and endurance racing. Concept cars such as the Cayman GT4 e-Performance give visitors an idea of how future challenges in motorsports can be explored. “These vehicles do not represent a contrast between the past and the future. Each provides its own answers to the demands of its time,” says Schleicher.
Five evenings a year, the Porsche Museum invites interested guests to attend motorsports talks. During these talks, guests discuss topics such as historic race cars, Formula E, and work in motorsports. More information about the guests and tickets is available on the Porsche Museum’s website.
