Sebring 1966, 50 years ago: Porsche’s newest, in what was to be a long string of prototype racers, is being pushed to the grid in front of a huge crowd with a band playing in the background. Herbert Dramm, a well-known Porsche engineer assigned to the US and a great friend to many Porsche owners here, follows with a look of concern, perhaps …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – When Porsches Flew – Part 2
We started this out by talking last time about Porsche powered light aircraft; the mention of a Porsche powered helicopter brought forth some interest, so here’s the follow-on story. I made the image below perhaps 20-years ago at the Pensacola Naval Aviation Museum. It was identified as a Y RON Rotorcycle, and was obviously powered by a 356 …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – When Porsches Flew
Mention Porsche to any of your friends, and their minds will immediately travel to land-going vehicles, most likely high end sports cars. But there have been a lot of other products. Ever the venturesome company, Porsche early on produced a number of industrial and aircraft versions of their flat four engines and, in 1959, successfully powered a …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – An Abarth From A Different Angle
Even beautifully lit and photographed Porsches can get a bit mundane if they are always viewed from the same angle, and some cars look very much better from some points of view than others. While the three-quarter frontal is the standard go-to shot, one of my favorite alternative angles was the “down shot” from above. During my years at Panorama, …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – Painting With Light At Daytona
It seems appropriate to offer a racing shot this time of year, as the sports car racing scene is about to undergo its annual rebirth at Daytona. Over the years, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend many days (and nights) there, sometimes hot and sweaty but more often cold beyond belief. It is northern Florida, after all, and this time …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – Should Old Porsche Race Cars Be Restored?
I got this shot walking through the paddock at a Rennsport Reunion a number of years ago. There it was, a 917/30, all opened up and ready to be admired, the absolute monarch among the merely incredible peers of the automotive realm that surrounded it. The preparation of the engine had been meticulous; washes of anodized blue were complimented by …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – 200+ MPH In A Carrera GT
I’ve always been more of a photographer than a driver, and 200 mph seemed pretty fast to me. Sure, the 917 had punched out some 240 mph at Le Mans many years before on that supremely long and then un-chicaned back straight, but numbers above 200 were well beyond my experience or expectation, even with someone else doing the driving. Still, that …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – The Le Mans Start
Once one of the more exciting part of some races came at the very beginning: the drivers would line up across the track from the cars; then, at the drop of the starter’s flag, run across the track and jump into their racers, (presumably) fasten their belts, and peel out, hoping to be the first to Turn One. You could count on it to be dramatic, …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – In The Tracks Of Giants
Porsche has enjoyed dominant success on many tracks around the world, but few top the Targa Florio for the sheer glamor and mystique of the place. Stuttgart victories were plentiful during the years the event was held, with wins by the 550, RSK, RS60, 904, 906, 907, 910, 911 RSR, and two 908s, driven by the likes of Mitter, Elford, Redman, …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – A Spyder of a Different Color
Quick, picture the LMP2 RS Spyder that gave Porsche a long row of wins. Likely you just saw one of the vivid yellow Penske cars. But the racing successes did not all come in a yellow wrapper; deprived of the chance for an overall win at Le Mans in 2008 by the addition of 50 kg of weight and a reduction in fuel capacity by a sanctioning body not …
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