贝恩德·鲁兹认领

The Le Mans start in its traditional form had become history. The cars were stilled lined up along the pit wall, but the drivers no longer had to run across the track. Instead, they were already sitting harnessed in their vehicles.The Porsche Type 917 racing car set new standards in 1970, fielding an air-cooled 12-cylinder mid-engine with a displacement of 4.5 litres which generated 580 horsepower.Following the near defeat in the 1969 race, Hans Herrmann and his team mate Richard Attwood gained the first overall victory this time for Porsche, followed by two other Porsche 917 vehicles. Due to the severe weather conditions, speed alone did not prove decisive, but rather, and primarily, the skill of the drivers.The then 42 year old retired from active participation in racing following this success.

To start the 1931 racing year, Rudolf Caracciola and his co-driver Wilhelm Sebastian triumph in the Mille Miglia in an SSKL (the L stands for light), a vehicle which is perforated with holes to reduce its weight. The 7.1 litre engine now produces 300 horsepower and achieves a top speed of 235 km/h.The race is characterised by uncertainty. Communication with the drivers is practically impossible. On the last lap, Caracciola and Sebastian themselves are unaware that Tazio Nuvolari has already been eliminated and that Giuseppe Campari in the Alfa has overtaken the Scuderia Ferrari. And then the unbelievable happens: Caracciola crosses the finish line in the lead position on the 13 April 1931. The average speed of 101.1 km/h is a new track record.The exuberant Mercedes-Benz race director, Alfred Neubauer, is there to jubilantly greet him at the finish. “Neubauer is totally carried away as he executes a completely crazy Indian dance. What the hell's going on here ...? I don't get it ... not yet anyway ... then it dawns on me: I've won the Thousand Miles…” With that, overall victory at the prestigious Mille Miglia, which has been held since 1927, goes for the first time to a foreign driver.In the same year, Caracciola and the SSKL also win the Eifelrennen motor race, the Großer Preis von Deutschland (German Grand Prix) and the AVUS race. In the 1932 season, the Stuttgart plant withdraws completely from motorsport due to continually increasing economic problems.

After Jacky Ickx won the Paris-Dakar in 1983 in a Mercedes 280 GE, he convinced Porsche to test the new Carrera 4x4 in the Paris-Dakar Rally. Rothmans financed the Jacky Ickx Racing Team project. An atmosphere very much akin to a family prevailed at Porsche at this time. Porsche won the race in 1984 at the drop of a hat, with René Metge taking first place and Ickx coming in sixth.1985 was an unsuccessful year for Porsche. The 600 horsepower twinturbocharged engines of the new 959 were not yet ready, and it proved necessary to compete with the weaker 911 engines. All three Porsche vehicles were eliminated, with Ickx and his co-driver Claude Brasseur wrecking their car completely on a rock concealed with sand.The highly sophisticated Porsche 959 was completed in time to participate in the Dakar in 1986. Porsche won the race for the second time with a one-two victory in this year, with Jacky Ickx coming in second behind René Metge.When it was introduced in 1986, the 959 was considered the world's fastest street-legal production car and a technological forerunner due to its numerous innovations.