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HISTORY & TECH Necessity is the mother of invention. The Targa idea came about when, as 356 production ran out in 1965, Porsche discovered that the 911 shell lost critical [...]

HISTORY & TECH The 993's predecessor, the 964, was the first significant departure from the 1963 original. In replacing the torsion bar suspension with conventional struts and dampers, the 911 [...]

In one of his classic throwaway remarks, in March 1988 Tony Lapine was quoted in Panorama, a popular political magazine that was similar to the Radio Times, saying that it [...]

Combustion engine vehicles were originally steered by tiller, although in maritime practice the principle of using a wheel to adjust direction went back centuries. Alfred Vacheron is usually credited with [...]

HISTORY & TECH It would be difficult to overstate Porsche's achievement with the 996. As beloved as the 993 was, for environmental reasons in addition to the cost of production, [...]

Ferry Porsche famously said he couldn't find the sports car he wanted, so decided to build his own. Cautious yet astute businessman that he was, Ferry could probably see that [...]

Total 911: Alexander, we'll start by asking you what is Sonderwunsch at Porsche? Alexander Fabig: Sondwerwunsch is where we realise a customer's specific wishes when it comes to colours, materials [...]

The 911 was already an automotive icon decades before 'iconic' became one of the most overused adjectives in the English language. For most people the 911's high-ranking status was the [...]

HISTORY & TECH The SC was introduced in 1978 as Porsche simplified its 911 offering from two to one model. The range now comprised the 911 SC, 930 Turbo and [...]

HISTORY & TECH With the advent of the 996, Porsche decided to make the new GT3 category its competition arena. Previously, it had campaigned in GT2 and although the 993 [...]

HISTORY & TECH The renown of the Porsche Turbo extended well beyond the realm of 911 fans, long before the end of the air-cooled cars. This synonym for wild performance, [...]

An engineering consultancy turned sports car manufacturer, Porsche was always concerned that the driving environment of its cars reflected what Ferry expected owners would want from his cars. The buyers [...]

The RS moniker on Porsche dates from the 1950s, but the first Porsche RS that most think of is the celebrated Carrera 2.7 RS of 1972/3, built to qualify Porsche [...]

It was one of Formula 1's most successful partnerships. Between 1984 and 1987 a Weissach-designed 1.5 V6 turbo powered McLarens to two manufacturers' titles and 25 Grand Prix victories in [...]

BMW's 2002 Turbo was the first turbo-charged European production car, made to homologate the championship-winning car of a couple of seasons earlier. It was witnessing the 270bhp 2002T pulling away [...]

Herbert Linge's amazingly varied Porsche career would be unimaginable today. From wartime apprentice to manager of Weissach, via the workshop, development testing, racing and managing Porsche in the US and [...]

HISTORY AND TECH In spring 2003, production of the second-generation GT3 began. Normally, this would serve as homologation of the 996 GT3 R competition version, but there were some detail [...]

HISTORY & TECH With the advent of the 996, Porsche decided to abandon GT2 racing and focus on GT3. The cars would be less expensive to build and expand the [...]

HISTORY & TECH The same model with three states of tune wasn't new at Porsche. Excluding the twin-cam Carrera, the 356 B was available with 60, 75 or 90PS, the [...]

From its introduction in 1964, the 911 has featured a flat six engine cooled by air. This design, which started at 1,991cc, proved unimaginably adaptable and with Porsche's ingenuity it [...]

This was the decade when Porsche became predominantly a premium brand manufacturer rather than a sports car builder. In fact the shift had begun 10 years earlier with the launch [...]

Although the decision to cross the Rubicon and abandon air-cooling for water-cooling, or more exactly fluid-cooling, was finally taken in 1991, it had been in the minds of Porsche engineers [...]

The roots of the original 911 S/T can be traced right the way back to near the start of 911 production. The advent of the 'B series' 911 (1968) opened [...]

HISTORY & TECH The curvaceous styling of the 996, particularly its interior, was in vogue in the late 1990s. Yet although it suited Ford's ground-breaking Focus, Porsche buyers were more [...]

Emblematic of the increasing difficulties confronting Porsche in the second half of the 1980s, the launch of the new 911, the 964, in October 1988 was several months later than [...]

The 911 entered its second decade as an admired and familiar sports car. Dealers' sales data showed that having purchased a 911, the buyer was very likely to replace it [...]

HISTORY & TECH The 964 Turbo is famously almost the 911 Turbo that never was. Development of the new 911, the Typ 964 and its Turbo sister, the 965, were [...]

1963 marked an important milestone in Germany. The success of the Wirtschaftswunder reconstruction project, which had seen devastated West Germany recover far quicker than any other postwar European economy was [...]

Written by Kieron Fennelly In the beginning, the Gmund Coupes used unmodified suspension and running gear directly from the VW Beetle. By 1951 the Porsche-developed VW flat four was beginning [...]

Written by Kieron Fennelly HISTORY & TECH The advent of the 991 was a major event in Porsche history. An entirely redesigned platform that would underpin the whole sports car [...]

Written by Kieron Fennelly Photography courtesy Porsche Archive He flies under the radar of even the most ardent of fans, but Gerhard Kiichle brought decades-long success to countless Porsche race [...]

A 200mph top speed made all the motoring headlines, but the 997 GT2 was also a properly developed, eminently driveable sports car. Here's your complete dossier on buying one HISTORY [...]

Its brakes are the unsung heroes of the 911's dynamics yet, surprisingly Porsche was a reluctant convert to disc brakes, persisting with drums on the 356 as late as 1964. [...]

HISTORY & TECH On the water-cooled cars, where the GT3 had taken over the RS role, the RS was reintroduced as the homologation version. Porsche's first foray was the 996 [...]

Throughout the 15-year career of the 356, Porsche had managed to adapt the swing axle rear suspension sprung with torsion bars that Dr Porsche had originally designed for the Beetle. [...]

In the 2000s, to improve its image F1 turned to KERS. The kinetic energy recovery system harvested heat, otherwise wasted, from braking and transformed it to power, the driving wheels. [...]

When Porsche started making cars, Ferry himself had to carry out much of the development mileage of the Pre-A. As the company grew this became the task of Herbert Linge [...]

HISTORY & TECH Most of the fundamentals of the 993, the last air-cooled 911, are to be found in its immediate predecessor, the 964. This was a determined attempt to [...]

In the 1980s one of Porsche's wilder motorsport adventures was the Paris-Dakar rally. After several unsuccessful attempts to win the East African Safari rally, the 'Dakar'--formerly the Abidjan-Nice rally--appealed to [...]

When he was invited back to Porsche in 1971, Ernst Fuhrmann was able to survey a company at the pinnacle of its 20-year existence. Two Le Mans victories and comprehensive [...]

THE VALUES STORY In Britain, the SC retailed at [pounds sterling]16,732 for both Coupe and Targa versions in December 1980, the mid-point of its career--perhaps [pounds sterling]65,000 at 2022 prices. [...]

HISTORY AND TECH The 993 moved the 911 Turbo game on considerably, and not before time. Essentially, the 1974 formula of large single turbocharger and rear drive had continued practically [...]

Newly appointed Porsche CEO Ernst Fuhrmann was watching the racing at Hockenheim in the spring of 1972. A keen motorsport fan, Ernst needed no professional excuse to spend a Sunday [...]

Klaus Ziegler began his career in 1956 as an apprentice at Karosseriebau Erhard Wendler in Reutlingen. Founded in 1840, Wendler was by the 1920s an established coach builder and car [...]

The 997.2 made history by being the first Turbo since the 930 in 1974 not to use a Mezger-derived engine. The water-cooled 3.6-litre flat six that Herbert Ampferer had conceived [...]

At the end of the 1960s when California's new anti-smog legislation became operative, it was apparent that highly tuned cars such as the Porsche 911 would be affected. Breathing through [...]

HISTORY AND TECH Porsche Turbos have an illustrious record in motorsport. The 934 and 935 dominated sports car racing in the 1970s and when Group C took over from Groups [...]

HISTORY AND TECH In the modern era (as opposed to the early years when it appeared on the 904, and later as a version of the 924) Porsche brought back [...]

Schadenfreude--pleasure at the misfortune of others. Strangely, this human if rather reprehensible trait has no word to describe it in English and the language has to resort to a foreign [...]

HISTORY AND TECH In a magazine interview in late 1987, Tony Lapine suggested that it was really Ernst Fuhrmann, not Butzi, who 'made' the 911. The ruling Porsche and Piech [...]