Showing posts with label Historic Racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Historic Racing. Show all posts

Friday, 25 January 2019

Historics: A few good reasons to visit the Porsche Museum in 2019

The Porsche Museum looks ahead to its 2019 activities “50 Years of the 917”, “50 Years of the 914” and “10 Years of the Panamera” 

© Porsche


Three jubilees, one big birthday and a dynamic “Heritage Experience” – 2019 promises several high points for the Porsche Museum in 2019. With a commitment to making company history tangible, there will be four-wheeled brand ambassadors not only exhibited at Porscheplatz in Stuttgart Zuffenhausen, but also being deployed at numerous events worldwide again this year. 

50 Years of the 917 

© Porsche

It’s a jubilee celebration for one of Zuffenhausen’s most powerful model series: the Porsche 917, one of the best-known race cars of all time, was presented to the public for the first time in 1969 at the Geneva Motor Show. Just one year later, Porsche brought home the first of a total of 19 gold medals at the Le Mans 24-hour race. The Porsche Museum will have ten 917 models on display from 14 May to 15 September, in one of its biggest-ever special exhibitions: “Colours of Speed – 50 Years of the 917”. The exhibition will give visitors the chance to see up-close a decisive milestone in Porsche’s proud racing history, as the first Porsche 917 ever built – with chassis number 001 – will be on show. The museum workshop team has been working for years to restore it to its original condition as at its 1969 world premiere. 

50 Years of the 914 

© Porsche
In the autumn of 1969, the 914 was presented at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt as Germany’s first mid-engined series sports car. There were two variants: the 914 model with four-cylinder engine, as VW Porsche, and the 914/6 with six-cylinder boxer, as Porsche. Fifty years later, the Porsche Museum is dedicating a special exhibition to this series. You can visit “50 Years of the 914 – typically Porsche” from 2 June to 7 July. What’s more, on Sunday 2 June, 914 owners’ clubs have been invited by the museum to a get-together on the courtyard, with over 120 privately owned 914 models. 

10 Years of the Panamera

© Porsche


Ten years ago, the sports car manufacturer entered an entirely new market sector with the Panamera, the first four-door Porsche saloon. Presented to the public for the first time in 2009 in Shanghai, the Panamera made use of numerous technical innovations that had never before been available in a luxury series model. The Porsche Museum is working together with the Porsche factory in Leipzig, which is responsible for the entire production process including body production and paint shop, to commemorate the “10 Years of Panamera” jubilee, with a special exhibition amongst other things. Eight exhibits will be on show at the Customer Centre this spring, from the first prototypes to the current model. 

The Porsche Museum at Goodwood 

© Porsche


Another date in the Porsche Museum diary is the “Festival of Speed” at Goodwood in England, which takes place this year from 4 to 7 July. At the world’s biggest motor sports meeting, Zuffenhausen’s lightest race car will take on the famous “Hillclimb” after a 51-year break: With its thin plastic skin, aluminium frame, beryllium brake discs and spherical tank, the 1968-built 909 Bergspyder weighs in at just 384 kilogrammes. Porsche entered the race car category of the European Hillclimb Championship with the 909 Bergspyder in 1968. Competing in just two races, it came in second and third. 

Among other things, extensive reading material relating to the two 50-year jubilees, of the Porsche 917 and 914, will be available for purchase in the bookshop and museum shop throughout the year. All further information and all the dates can be found online at www.porsche.de/museum. 

Thursday, 25 May 2017

Group C Racing at Spa Classic


Last weekend at the Spa Classic meeting organised by Peter Auto, the Group C racing class was one of the main attractions, reviving the golden years of sportscar racing in the 80's and early 90's. 



From 1982 to 1994, the Group C racing class led to the production of legendary cars that wrote some of the most glorious pages in the history of endurance racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ford and Porsche were the first constructors to enter the new series, and were later on followed by other manufacturers like Jaguar, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota, Aston Martin, Peugeot ... Not only the big manufacturers raced in the Group C class, as the likes of Cougar, Spice, Rondeau and other also competed and even were able to fight with the big guns due to the regulations.



By the end of the 1990's Group C was at its peak, challenging Formula 1 to be the greatest and most popular racing class. At Le Mans top speeds like a staggering 400 km/h were reached on the Mulsanne straight. A new formula and new regulations installed by the FIA made Group C racing a lot more expensive with F1 based engines. Manufacturers and privateer teams left the class due to the high cost. The 1992 championship was the last one, at Le Mans the Group C cars would race until 1994.



Over the years, the magic of the Group C racing cars stayed in the heart of sportscar fans, while more and more cars were being raced again in classic racing events. In 2016 the Group C Racing came under the Peter Auto banner, joining in several classic racing events by the French organiser.











































The full gallery can be viewed on the link below.



Kristof Vermeulen.