At the first Rennsport Reunion, I was given the assignment to “judge” the 917 class in the concours alongside Vic Elford. I use the quotes quite intentionally, as my qualifications were pretty thin compared to Vic’s, and we had no specific instructions as to what was expected of us, other than to not take it too seriously. With that in mind, we …
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Recent Posts from: The Last Turn
The Last Turn- Panamera’s Past
The new Panamera has been very much in the news lately, and the automotive media story line seems to typically be of the “ugly duckling to beautiful swan” sort. While I might not go that far, I will say that the original Panamera didn’t make it to my most beautiful Porsches list. Perhaps the worst angle for that car was the three-quarter rear, with …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – Toyota’s Travails
You know what happened at Le Mans this year. Although Porsche had locked up qualifying with their two cars and had led the race earlier in the day, the surprisingly fast and durable Toyota was running in first place toward the end of the race. Chances for a Porsche victory hovered between miniscule and nonexistent. Yet, hounded by the Porsche 919 …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – A Permanent Scar
Porsche’s screaming V8 wasn’t Labeled “Porsche Indy” without reason. A win at Indy was the real eventual goal of the effort. But this type of racing on this type of track was a huge leap for the company in the three years they contended the race there. Doing photographic coverage of the race those years, I too was well outside my comfort zone, …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – Porsche at Indy
The 1970s and 1980s were not completely kind to our friends from Weissach. In spite of their racing successes, deep in both number and variety of competitions, Porsche had reasons to be somewhat jaded about their American experiences. Having finally convincingly vanquished the seemingly unbeatable McLarens in Can-Am racing they had seen their 917 …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – Racing in the Rain
Perhaps you remember the 2007 ALMS season: the heavyweight contenders were the big Audi diesels, and with no factory-sponsored competition in their class, they dominated the top LMP 1 class all season long. Audi Sport North America won the class every time they went out. Sounds impressive, and it is, but the sheen on their shield was considerably …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – The Man
It has been a bit over 30-years since I made this image, at Ferry Porsche’s 75th birthday party at his home in Stuttgart. The man himself is flanked by his four sons (L to R: Peter, Gerd, Butzi, and Wolfgang), and is standing behind a rather unusual 928. A four-seater, it was a gift from the company that he himself had molded into an …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – The Absence of Red
Red sports cars are almost cliché, but I’ve been told that, when on the cover, they sell more magazines on the newsstand. They do draw the eye in a way that more muted colors find difficult. Part of the craft of shooting for a publication was to be on good terms with the hosts at a new car introduction in aid of getting dibs on a red example to …
Continue to the full articleThe Last Turn – Sebring, A 50 Year Look Back
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 …
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