Porsche engineering top brass was not as might be expected at Le Mans or any other major race, but a
This gathering of Porsche engineering top brass was not as might be expected at Le Mans or any other major race, but a purely internal get-together.
The venue is the Weissach test track on a summer morning in 1984 and the initiative came from Helmuth Bott who was keen to settle an argument about whether Porsche’s current Group C car, the 956, was as fast as the 917/30 Turbo of the previous decade. Senior engineer and 956 team manager Norbert Singer was quietly confident what the outcome would be, but he was not going to contradict Bott openly, content to see the board member for engineering find out for himself.
Total 911 recounts the story behind a famous picture from Porsche’s past…
Works driver Derek Bell was engaged to assess both cars and the photo shows him discoursing on the 917/30, which he has just driven. Besides Helmuth Bott, the audience comprises CEO Peter Schutz, who unlike his predecessor Fuhrmann was rarely to be seen at a test session, though he may well have had a hand in persuading Ferry, now 75 and semiretired, to join the proceedings. In the centre of the picture is Valentin Schaeffer, largely responsible for developing the racing turbos, no doubt on hand to see the cars were performing properly. Behind him is the tall figure of Peter Falk, Motorsport director and probably responsible for securing the services of Bell, one of the works team’s most reliable and easygoing of drivers that day. Behind Bott stands a thoughtful Singer, clipboard in hand. Porsche had invited two senior correspondents along as well: Paul Frère in snazzy white trousers, and to his left Jerry Sloniger, the editor of the English version of Christophorus.
Today Porsche’s professional tweeters would be disseminating a running commentary on proceedings and an internet video would follow within a couple of minutes, the event milked for its PR value. But in 1984 the only publicity would be a short write-up in Auto Motor & Sport and a two-page feature in Christophorus, coverage which satisfied all parties: Porsche was still an (extended) family company with its roots deep in motorsport and the presence of the company’s senior managers down at the track that morning reflected a genuine interest.
For Norbert Singer, the result of this time trial was never in doubt, as he had confided beforehand and once again that most scientific of Porsche engineers was right: “The 956 was not just faster than the 917, it was seconds quicker,” he observed wryly.