Between the 1950s and 1971, the halcyon days of long-distance endurance motor racing, Porsche embodied the up-and-coming manufacturer, progressing inexorably from reliable class-winner to outright victor – a platform they consolidated and never rescinded. This book focuses on the six distinct Porsche models that raced from 1963 to 1971. Porsche created a series of racing cars – the 904, 906, 910, 907, 908 and 917 – to run in the FIA-regulated International Sports Car Championship Group 6 Prototype class, the Group 4 World Sportscar Championship, and European Hillclimb Championship events held during that period. These races lasted either 24 hours, 12 hours or 6 hours, or were categorised by distance: 1, 000km, 500km or 500 miles. Events took place annually at European tracks including Le Mans, Nürburgring, Monza, Spa-Francorchamps and Brands Hatch, and in the USA at Daytona and Sebring. Chronicling each season, this visually stunning volume records Porsche’s multitude of successes.
With over 300 outstanding images, many previously unseen, including professional photos and factory archive pictures, and featuring interviews with heroic Porsche racing drivers – with the Foreword written by two-times Le Mans winner Gijs van Lennep – this book tells the thrilling story of Porsche’s rise from consistent class-winner to incontrovertible outright victor.
Circa l’autore
Johnny Tipler is a motoring writer and historian, based in north Norfolk. To date, he has written 45 books on a variety of automotive topics, ranging from marque and model histories to Formula 1 racing cars, motorcycles, trucks and heavy equipment, plus driver biographies and legendary race sagas. He writes regularly for a number of specialist car magazines, reviewing products old and new, interviewing famous drivers and industry figures, and reporting on international historic race meetings and long-distance classic rallies.