PORSCHE HISTORY:

Dr Ferdinand Porsche, (1875~1951) developed a reputation very early in life as an Automotive Designer. Amazingly the first car designed by Dr Porsche was a Lohner-Porsche Hybrid Car which incorporated a petrol engine/dynamo charging batteries which in turn powered an electric motor in each wheel hub. Cars were developed with 2WD and 4WD configurations.

Dr Porsche's son Ferry, (1909~1998) went on to develop the world famous 356 cars.

PORSCHE 356:

The first true Porsche Coupe, the 356 developed by Ferry Porsche in 1948 was powered by the readily available four cylinder Volkswagen Beetle engine but the body was very different, a tubular space frame chassis with an aluminium body. Ferry had visions of a car that would handle, brake and hold the road well and the 356 due to it's light weight offered many of these features.

PORSCHE 911:

The Porsche 911, clearly the most famous of all Porsches was actually designed by Ferry's son Butzi Porsche and the first prototype 911 was actually coded as a 901, the first public viewing of the 901 was in 1963. The most significant performance change compared to the 356 was the inclusion of a flat six engine.

An enormous array of variations to the 911 have included increased displacement, turbo charging and four wheel drive derivatives.

PORSCHE 908:

Introduced in 1968, the 908 was powered by a flat eight cylinder engine and incredibly the car kept winning and placing for some twelve years of competition. Porsche entered the 908 in the 1968 Nurburgring 1000km race, the car in the hands of Jo Siffert and Vic Elford took the chequered and second place was taken by another 908 in the capable hands of Hans Hermann and Rolf Stommelen.

PORSCHE 917:

The Porsche 917, developed by Porsche for the Le Mans 24 Hour race dominated the event in 1970~71, the cars had 4.5 litre flat twelve engines. After that success similar cars were entered in the American CanAm Series, sans roof, but gaining twin turbo chargers, allowing the engines to produce some 1,115PS, giving the cars a top speed over 400kph, with this performance Porsche 917's dominated the CanAm Series throughout 1972~73.

PORSCHE 935:

The Porsche 935, was production based and was most suited to endurance racing. In 1976 at Mugello, drivers Jacki Ickx and Jochen Mass took the overall victory and the Porsche 935 took the 1976 Manufacturer's World Championship. Subsequent to the 935 Porsche developed the 935/78 which was the first Porsche to race with water cooled cylinder heads, the car was nicknamed 'Moby Dick'.

PORSCHE 956:

The Porsche 956 was developed by Porsche for the Group C Sports Prototype regulations of 1982. The 956 met with immediate success, Jackie Ickx and Derek Bell won the 1982 Le Mans 24 Hour race, and the minor placing's were also taken by 956's.

The 956 went on to win the Le Mans 24 Hour races of 1983, 1984 and 1985. Ultimately the car was replaced by the 962C.

PORSCHE 959:

The Porsche 959, developed by Porsche in 1983 for Group B Motorsport and the Paris Dakar Rally, the 959 included four wheel drive, water cooled cylinder heads and turbo chargers. Porsche claim it was the first production car to reach 322kmh, (200mph).

PORSCHE 962C:

The Porsche 962C was based on the 956 with the wheelbase extended by 120mm. Numerous versions of the 962C were raced including a bi-turbo car in Europe and a single turbo charger version in the United States IMSA series. Porsche 962C's won Le Mans in 1986 and 1987, driven on both occasions by Derek Bell, Hans Joachim Stuck and Al Holbert.

PORSCHE SPYDERS:

Porsche produced many variants of 'Spyders', examples included the 1953 '550 Spyder', the 1969 '917 PA Spyder', the 1977 '936 Spyder', the 2005 '9R6 RS Spyder' and in 2010 Porsche announced the '918 Spyder Hybrid' incorporating a 3.4 litre engine from the 9R6 RS Spyder, three electric motors powered by a lithium ion battery stack and a KERS kinetic energy recovery system. Porsche claim the 918 Spyder Hybrid achieves fuel consumption of 3.0 litres/100km and a maximum speed of 320kmh.

PORSCHE - RALLYING:

Porsche and rallying, certainly the compact low slung '911' does not appear ideally suited to rallying, however in 1982 a '911 SC RS' with the underpinnings of a '959', which included four wheel drive, won the 1984 Paris Dakar Rally.

Two years later the final incarnation of the '959 Paris Dakar' won the 1986 Paris Dakar Rally, taking the first two places.

PORSCHE - THE MUSEUM:

In July 2004 Porsche decided to build a museum to house some of their magnificent motoring achievements and on Saturday 31st January 2009, the Porsche Museum was opened to the public, a unique structure angled skyward.

The Museum is located at Zuffenhausen's Porscheplatz 1, Stuttgart, immediately adjacent the Porsche Showroom and expansive Factory facilities. It is definitely worth a visit requiring a minimum of two days to really appreciate the full exhibition.