Porsche’s 718 and 804 reveal a lesser-known racing history

Porsche made its Le Mans debut 75 years ago, in June 1951, and promptly won its class. The aerodynamic, Beetle-esque 356 SL of Auguste Veuillet and Edmond Mouche finished 19th overall and announced the marque’s arrival on the racing stage. Today it’s hard to imagine the sport without Porsche, which over the decades has turned its hand to almost everything: rallying and the Dakar, Can-Am and IndyCar, Formula 2 and Formula 1 and, of course, endurance racing.

In this issue we pay homage to the company Ferdinand Porsche, Anton Piëch and Adolf Rosenberger founded as a design and engineering consultancy in 1931. The problem was knowing where to start because there was simply too much to choose from. Rather than a straight run through the victories and milestones you’ll know, we settled on three stories that shed light on the less familiar corners of Porsche’s history.

First, with the help of Porsche UK, we headed to the wonderful Porsche Museum in Stuttgart to see the best of its single-seaters. Among them are the underrated 718 and the 804 that gave Porsche its first, and still only, F1 World Championship win as a constructor. Next, Andrew Frankel buckled up in the 917/30. To many it’s the ultimate 917, and with more than 1000bhp from its turbocharged flat-12 it’s certainly the most powerful.

And because, as any band knows, you always play the hits, Gary Watkins revisits Porsche’s near-perfect 1983. He tracked down Norbert Singer and persuaded him to dig out some of his old paperwork relating to the season where a 956 won every round of the World Endurance Championship and took nine of the top 10 places at that year’s Le Mans. Prost!

Joe Dunn, editor
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