yes, we have been here before, almost precisely ten years ago. could that have been the event that set nat on her trajectory to become an engineer? i would say it at least played a role. hopefully this year’s visit will help strengthen her resolve …
when we visited audi and bmw i noted a distinct lack of electric vehicles (both showcased some examples). porsche on the other hand, one could argue, started there. this lohner-porsche from 1901 was the first hybrid car, with electric hub motors in the front wheels and an internal combustion engine providing the energy (overcoming the lack of feasible batteries).
above one of the hub motors. now imagine the same technology being used in formula student cars, only about a tenth of the size and about ten times the performance. then again, it’s been 120 years …
between the lohner-porsche and the end of the war porsche worked for nearly every major austrian and german car manufacturer and established a name as an extremely capable engineer. in the early 1930s he founded his own design company in stuttgart and offered his services to others. among those others was an austrian politician and failed painter who later rose to infamy, and who asked porsche to design a ‘volkswagen’ for him. at the time it was more a political stunt; the purpose-built factory was soon after retooled to support the war effort and production of the beetle only started after large parts of europe had been reduced to ruins. porsche himself was briefly interned for his collaboration with the regime and passed away in 1951, before the company he founded started making the iconic sports cars that eventually bore his name.
two iterations of the type 356, originally produced in gmund in austria before the porsche facilities in stuttgart were returned to the family and production resumed there. the 356 were powered by a volkswagen (beetle) engine and if one looks carefully many other vw parts can be identified. using the vw parts department made a lot of sense for a small manufacturer, but it is also true that the four cylinder boxer engines porsche used were subsequently tuned to provide a bit more of a sporty performance.
the car and several variants were produced from 1948 until the 911 superseded it in 1963. the type 550 shown in the picture above could be considered a distant cousin; it was a purpose-built race car and only 90 were produced. the type is also linked to the unfortunate and premature death of james dean.
famously that is a porsche, too. the tractor has, for a long time, been the only evidence that porsche could build diesel engines and importantly, something more accessible to those who are not rich and famous.
in 1963 the company introduced the logical (with hindsight) successor to the 356: the car carrying the internal number 901, which became famous as the 911, when peugeot claimed ownership of the ’01’. the car was designed as a four seater and the powerplant now had 6 instead of 4 cylinders. the engine remained in the back and was still air cooled with horizontally opposed cylinders, and the broad lines of the 365 remained, but porsche had designed a car that has achieved a cult status few others managed to.
the 911 is now in its 7th generation: the long hood was succeeded by the short hood with the bumper bellows, then the 964 introduced smoother curves. the type 993 featured an even more rounded shape, but the bigger evolution was to come with the 996, introduced in 1997.
aside from the (again) updated looks the 996 introduced water cooling; the 2-valve engine was not longer capable to fulfil expectations re power delivery as well as environmental standards and the new 4-valve head required better cooling. i am not generally a fan of the 996 shape, but this car decorated by an australian aborigial artist is just stunning.
the 997 followed, here in the gt3 rs guides, then the 991 and finally the 992. each iteration, as with all cars, got slightly bigger, and seeing the original 911 next to the latest incarnation is certainly a revelation.
another gt3 rs, the latest version. the model with the designation 992 has been introduces in 2021 and is powered by a 4l engine (still a flat six) producing more than 500 bhp and has more carbon fibre aero than one could poke a stick at.
racing has been in porsche’s dna from the very beginning; ferdinand porsche himself was involved with racing from his early days as a designer at the very start of the 20th century. this 904 is probably one of the most beautiful race cars ever made.
the 917 shown here with the long tail specifically designed for the high speeds at least mans (before the mulsanne straight was slowed up with two chicanes) dominated long distance races for a few years. the thought that this car with its 12 cylinder boxer was capable of reaching speeds of up to 400 kmh is scary, especially considering that engineers’ grasp of aerodynamics was a little sketchy back then. drivers complained about the front becoming really light due to the downforce at the back and the lack of a splitter preventing the air from getting underneath the car – not what one wold like to experience at three times highway speeds.
the ‘pig’ was porsche’s attempt to fix some of these issues. it was a 917 with a revised aero package that ran at least mans with an engineer at the wheel (as one of the drivers). apparently it was the fastest car on track until it was stopped by a minor defect.
this car may not look very different from a normal first generation 911, but it is actually the rare and therefore expensive 911 2.7 rs. it has long been revered as a capable, light weight race car, with what today would count as a rather moderate 210 bhp from the 2.7l engine. porsche continued to up the displacement and to everyone’s surprise the original block allowed for rather large cylinders. talk about over engineered.
another classic iconic porsche: the 3.0 rsr. it came with a wide body similar to the 930 turbo, the whale tail replace the duck tail of the 2.7 rs and the 3.0 turbo engine with 330 bhp. like the rs this car is very rare and sought after and quite a few ‘tribute’ cars have been built by porsche enthusiasts based on available 911s of the period.
this sounds repetitive and it is not a surprise to find all those rare cars at the porsche museum, but here is another super rare and special car, the 959. sometimes referred to as the first true supercar it combined many features that were innovative at the time at a performance level very few cars could match. all wheel drive, abs, sequential twin turbo, 4 valve water-cooled heads and use of composite materials are just of few of the highlights of this car. fewer than 35ö were ever made and one would hope most of them are still in someone’s garage.
this 935 sat in the workshop, which is why it’s behind glass. the 911 body shape is as visible as the various aerodynamic add-ons. the real magic was not visible from this angle: the twin turbo charged engine (based on the 930 turbo) that delivered around 850 bhp; no surprise the car dominated the various race series it was homologated for, but i think it also deserves a price simply for looking gorgeous.
finally some of the cars racing long distance, like the 919 and the 911 gt3. porsche did not enter the latest 24 hours of le mans but i’m sure the factory will return in the future.
we will also likely return to the porsche museum in the future to admire the classics we already know alongside the future classics the engineers are currently working on. maybe in 10 years?