Porsche Carrera: The Air-Cooled Era, 1953-1998

635 Pages·2014·65.78 MB·English

by  Johnny Tipler

PORSCHE CARRERA
T A -C E , 1953–1998
HE IR OOLED RA
JOHNNY TIPLER
PHOTOS BY ANTONY FRASER
THE CROWOOD PRESS
First published in 2014 by
The Crowood Press Ltd
Ramsbury, Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2014
© Johnny Tipler 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 84797 700 7
Frontispiece: Ducktail is an original artwork by Caroline Llong, a Parisian artist based in
Marseilles, who specializes in depicting cars, and Porsche and Ferrari in particular. All her
paintings are resolutely modern, and characterized by brilliance of colour, depth of light, dazzling
reflections and an amazing energy (see www.e-motion-art.fr). CAROLINE LONG
Previous page: Yuppies’ delight: a non-Sport, Guards Red 3.2 Carrera Targa, living the dream
with Munich’s Passo Tourismo beside the Kochelsee in the Bavarian Alps. ANTONY FRASER
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Jürgen Barth
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 DEBUT OF THE CARRERA: LA CARRERA
PANAMERICANA (FEATURING HERBERT LINGE AND
HANS HERRMANN)
CHAPTER 2 THE CARRERA ENGINE, THE PORSCHE 356 AND
ABARTH CARRERAS (FEATURING JOHN SURTEES)
CHAPTER 3 THE 550 SPYDER, 718 RSK AND RS 60 (FEATURING
STIRLING MOSS)
CHAPTER 4 THE 904 CARRERA GTS (FEATURING JÜRGEN
BARTH)
CHAPTER 5 THE 906 ‘CARRERA SIX’ AND 910 (FEATURING WILLI
KAUHSEN, KLAUS BISCHOF AND BRIAN REDMAN)
CHAPTER 6 THE 911 2.7 CARRERA RS AND 2.8 RSR (FEATURING
BJÖRN WALDEGÅRD AND GIJS VAN LENNEP)
CHAPTER 7 THE 911 3.0 CARRERA RS AND RSR (FEATURING
JOHN FITZPATRICK, HURLEY HAYWOOD AND MURRAY
SMITH)
CHAPTER 8 THE 911 2.7, CARRERA 3, SC AND SC RS (FEATURING
THE ALMÉRAS BROTHERS)
CHAPTER 9 THE 924 CARRERA GT, GTR AND GTS (FEATURING
DEREK BELL)
CHAPTER 10 THE 911 3.2 CARRERA AND CLUB SPORT
(FEATURING 959 DESIGNER RICHARD SODERBERG
AND GEORGE FOLLMER)
CHAPTER 11 THE 964 CARRERA 2 AND 4, RS, RS AMERICA, C4
LEICHTBAU AND CARRERA CUP (FEATURING WALTER
RÖHRL)
CHAPTER 12 THE 993 CARRERA 2 AND 4, S, RS AND GT2
(FEATURING GÉRARD LARROUSSE)
CHAPTER 13 EPILOGUE: THE WATER-COOLED 996, 997 AND 991
CARRERAS (FEATURING JAN LAMMERS)
Bibliography
Contacts
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My father Don went through a hedge backwards in a 356, and I’ve been a
Porsche fan since. I even managed to emulate him four decades later,
aquaplaning off at ‘the ton’ in my 964. Happily, in neither case was the
car badly damaged.
I have also managed to scrape a living as a freelance writer
specializing in the marque, having written regularly for the independent
911 & Porsche World magazine since 2000. Other titles dedicated to the
marque followed, including Classic Porsche, Excellence, Total 911,
Porsche Lifestyle Megascene, and the PCGB publication Porsche Post;
and then a couple of years ago The Crowood Press, for whom I have
written half-a-dozen books, invited me to write this one.
I would especially like to thank 911 & Porsche World’s editors, firstly
Chris Horton and, since 2005, Steve Bennett (aka ‘The Dear Leader’), for
commissioning me to write the relevant features, in the course of which
I’ve attended and reported on many big-time events, driven lots of
fabulous Porsches, and interviewed legendary Porsche racing drivers, as
well as specialist tuners, builders and garagistes. You will read about and
hear from many of them here, with relevance to the Carrera saga, and
I’m most grateful to Steve for permission to quote from, and to refer to,
related features and interviews.
The Peppermint Pig pauses at Reims pits, en route to Monte Carlo, covering the Historic
Rally with Fran Newman, January 2012. JOHNNY TIPLER
Referring to the contemporary report in Motor Sport magazine, Sir Stirling Moss recounts
racing the 718 RS60 in the 1961 Targa Florio to Johnny Tipler. The Porsche’s transmission
failed on the last lap when Moss had a comfortable lead. ANTONY FRASER
As for the photographs, over the years I have mainly worked with two
professional photographers on my Porsche features: Peter Robain in the
early days and, since 2005, Antony Fraser. I learned a lot from watching
these maestros at work and can produce a decent picture myself when
covering historic races and rallies for the specialist press (though a good
camera certainly helps!). Antony has extremely kindly and unstintingly
provided the bulk of the modern photographs for the book, and is credited
accordingly on the cover. My friend Andreas Beyer also came up with
some exciting shots from covering La Carrera Panamericana. Another
PanAm friend – as well as 930 owner and Ronnie Peterson confederate
– Kenneth Olausson, supplied Porsche Carrera shots from his own
considerable library.
The archivist at Porsche’s Zuffenhausen HQ, Jens Torner, was
extremely diligent in picking out an amazing variety of Carrera photos,
most of which are new to me, going back to 1953. As far as the text is
concerned, my sidekick sub-editor at the comet-like Car Week
newspaper, mid-1990s, John Dalton, diligently subbed the whole thing,
with no threat of the punishment that we endured in the bad old days.
Pete Robain delved back in time to produce some lovely shots which
feature here and there in the text, and my daughter Zoë helped locate the
images throughout the script.
I would also like to mention some of my contacts and friends who have
been involved in some context or another, in no particular order, and
however fleetingly: Laurie Caddell, Johan Dirickx, Mike van Dingenen,
Laura Drysdale, Peter (PeeJay) Jonkers, Andrea Kerr, Ian Heward, Ed
Poland, Jude Haig, Alois Ruf, Paul Stephens, Fran Newman, Sarah -
Bennett-Baggs, John Hawkins, Pedro Diogo, Kenneth Olausson, Roman
Caresani, Adrian Crawford, Caroline Llong, Willy Brombacher, Sarah
Rope, Jon Kent, Andy Prill, Adam Lichtig, Angelica Fuentes, Jules Tipler,
Ruth Wright, Kobus Cantraine, Stephen Mummery, Lars Eise, Mauritz
Lange, Natalie Cook, Wayne Parker, Keith Seume, Mick Pacey, Dirk
Sadlowski, Thomas Schnarr, Lee Sibley, Bill Hemmer, Jared Sindt,
James Puttock, Matthew and Martin at Au-towerke, Nick Perry at
Porsche GB, Gina Purcell, Lasse Hansen, Emma Stuart and Théadoa
Lecrinier.