Author: LUWerner

Porsche Design

When you speak of Ferdinand Porsche, two things come to mind. First, and undoubtedly, is the 911. It came from the 356 and the relationship is there to see. And if you’re a petrolhead, the second thing that comes to mind is obviously the Beetle. Who actually first designed the Käfer is debatable, yet Porsche’s importance to the genesis of the car is unquestionable.

So why is there a tank in the picture above? That tank was officially called Panzerjäger Tiger (P) 8.8 cm PaK 43/2 L/71. It was an assault gun/self-propelled anti-tank gun (a “tank destroyer”) that came out in 1943. Yet, it was more popularly known by it’s nickname, the Ferdinand (later on called the Elefant). It was called that because it was designed by Ferdinand Porsche. Oh yes, at the time, Porsche had ties with the Nazi government. I for one like to know history, good or bad, so I thought it would be interesting to share this little detail.

W-143 Beetlemania

In seven days, the whole world celebrates the International VW Beetle Day. On June 22nd, 1934, Ferdinand Porsche signed the contract to start the development of the “people’s car”. In 1995, spearheaded by the Brazilian Beetle Owners Group, the date was suggested as the international date to commemorate the iconic car. With support from other Volkswagen clubs, the idea caught on. Consequently, everywhere in the world enthusiasts celebrate the date as a “drive your Beetle to work day”. 

Therefore, starting this Friday, we will have the W-143 Beetlemania. From June 17 to the 24th, W-143 will be all about VW’s iconic bug. So prepare your air-cooled engines because we will have a beetle infestation around here 😁😁😁.

Yep, Toyota did it again.

Well, a 1-2 win – not unexpected, was it? Even so, we had a Glickenhaus on the podium, which was quite nice to see. Some say that Toyota, Glickenhaus and Alpine were only “place holders” until things get really serious next year, when the “big boys” will be back. In LMP2 Jota did a great race, and this year was the last race for GTE-Pro, which was kind of sad to see. At least Ferrari didn’t win. Anything 🤣. Shame to see that no Corvette finished on the podium, though (and they started REALLY well).

In the end a nice race. The great part is that there’s just one year to go for Le Mans 2023 🏆.

Daytona 1970: the 917’s finest hour?

As most have surmised by now, I’m a Le Mans nut (duh). Yes, the 24 Heures du Mans is THE greatest car race of this mud ball we call Earth. No questions asked. PERIOD. However, some times, very rarely in fact, some races come very close to that title. And one such race was the 1970 24 Hours of Daytona. John Ficarra of VINwiki tells the story of how the Porsche 917 came to fame at Daytona in 1970. The video is about 16 minutes of pure joy. Watch. Now.

PS: I absolutely need to get that 917 #2 winner 🧐.