Porsche at Le Mans – 1971

Unfortunately only in German, but if you’re a 917 nut like me, and manage 13 minutes of spare time, watch it. It’s totally worth it! I was blown away by the amount of fabrication that they did in the pits. At one moment you can see the JWA team fitting a nose to the car by adding fiberglass – so it was not just a bolt-on job.

After watching the 2019 race, it’s really bizarre to see how things were done back then.

The first Porsche?

Most people think that the first Porsche model was the 356. If the person is a bit more knowledged, he or she would say it was in fact the 356 Gmünd. But no, they would be both technically wrong. Or kind of wrong.

Ferdinand Porsche created the Typ 64 in 1939, while he was still working on the KdF-Wagen (aka Volkswagen Beetle). The Typ 64 was a lighter sportscar version of the KdF-Wagen, built specifically for the Berlin-Rome race of 1939 and with VW parts.

Three cars were built, but because of World War II the race never happened and the car was almost never seen again. This is the only surviving example, and will be auctioned at Monterey in August. The price? It’s expected to fetch a cool $20 million. However, Porsche does NOT recognize it as the first Porsche, since the company was founded a decade later.

Sir Stirling Moss’ greatest victory

The 1955 Milli Miglia, of course.

His record of 10h7’48” still stands to this day, and will never be beaten. Why? Because the Mille Miglia was absolutely insane. Imagine around 500 cars on public roads going over 200 km/h through cities and villages. Oh, and those roads were NOT closed to the public.

And some say that the Avusrennen was bonkers…

Captain Nice’s speed record

In August 9, 1975, Mark Donohue drove a 917/30 at an average speed of 353.84 km/h (221.160 mph) at the Talladega Superspeedway, in Alabama, USA.

Nowadays the record belongs to Gil de Ferran. In 2000, aboard a Penske Reynard-Honda, he reached an average of 386.285 km/h (241.428 mph) at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

But Donohue’s car was MUCH cooler.

Modeler Michael Paul Smith passes away

Anyone remotely interested in scale cars and dioramas has seen Michael Paul Smith’s photos. He’s basically synonymous to scale car dioramas, and his models, dioramas and photography were absolutely gorgeous.

He passed away on November 19th, and many say he has finally moved to Elgin Park.

He will be missed.