The legend grew; the guiding hand behind Porsche’s burgeoning race success, Huschke von Hanstein, would ensure that the marque’s presence in motorsport would spread ever wider. But while it has been said that von Hanstein was to Porsche what Alfred Neubauer was to Mercedes, that falls far short of the mark. Where Neubauer restricted Mercedes’ relatively infrequent forays into motorsport to Grand Prix and sportscar racing, von Hanstein was keen that Porsche be as feared on the rally stages as on the rumble strips.
That meant endless development and innovation. As always, lightness, efficiency and the relentless pursuit of reliability would figure in all Porsche did. When the 904 GTS was conceived, it was the first foray Porsche had made into glass fibre bodies. The result was an ultra-light body shell – held aloft by two young women in the publicity stills – mounted on a fabricated chassis frame. The hard points were 2-litres, 180bhp and 165mph.
But even Zuffenhausen was fallible; the prettiest Porsche to date made its race debut at the Sebring 12-hours. In one of its most important market debuts, the new Porsche finished a dire 20th, the result of clutch trouble.
Time then, for Porsche to display another trait that helps explain its domination of sports racing throughout the ’60s and 70s. They just try harder the next time around.
The 904 GTS had its first European outing on the Targa Florio in 1963. With Bonnier and Abate at the wheel, a 904 took overall victory, with second, sixth and seventh place also occupied by the Dino-esque Porsche.
Rallying, too, was always going to be a Porsche speciality, embraced as an integral part of its motorsport program, Indeed, the 356 had established early on its fitness for duty, with that rear-engined weight bias and those indestructible mechanicals. Porsche’s storming of rallying’s jewel, the Monte Carlo, is good evidence of the company’s single-minded approach; Porsche enjoyed four class wins between 1962 and ’67, with three overall victories going to the 911.