A Brief History
The Porsche story begins with the pioneering engineering work of founding father Ferdinand Porsche. His projects included the ubiquitous VW Beetle and astonishing Auto Union race cars. Porsche as a company was founded in 1948, with Ferdinand's son 'Ferry' at the helm of their Zuffenhausen HQ.
Porsche's celebrated racing success goes all the way back to 1948 with it's first road car the 356. In racing trim, it achieved a class win at Le Mans in 1951. An unparalleled string of successes have followed from the 1970's, with 12 outright wins from their classic 917, 936, 956 and 962 race cars.
However, even Porsche's racing success is eclipsed by the longevity of the legendary 911. This motoring masterpiece has evolved for over 40 years into perhaps the ultimate road going supercar. There have been six generations since 1964, with the first Turbo (aka 930) arriving 10 years later.
Highlights along the way include the classic 1973 RS, 993 GT2 and current 997 Turbo. Porsche even tried to replace it with the 1978 European Car of the Year, the 928, but thanks to enthusiasts the 911 lived on. The 911 also inspired the world's first 'hypercar' the 959, a 200mph technological masterpiece from Group B rallying which influences 911 design to this day.
Today Porsche have branched out into SUVs but their sports car heritage lives on in their class leading 997, Boxster and Cayman models. We are also privileged at this time to have the fastest (and greatest?) Porsche of them all, the awesome Carrera GT.
No comments:
Post a Comment