Celebrating the Porsche Carrera Heritage
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www.porscheroadandrace.com Celebrating the Porsche Carrera heritage Published: 28th April 2017 By: Glen Smale Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/celebrating-the-porsche-carrera-heritage/ Celebrations for the #55 Porsche 550 Spyder after finishing third in the 1954 La Carrera Panamericana. Sitting on the #55 car is Herbert Linge (left and Hans Herrmann (right). Sitting on the #56 car is driver Jaroslav Juhan with Porsche PR supremo Baron Huschke von Hanstein standing between the drivers with white cap and tie The origin of the model name, Porsche Carrera, is not only interesting but also somewhat www.porscheroadandrace.com hazy. It all started in a dusty town called Tuxtla Gutiérrez near the southern border of Mexico. The year was 1950, and an epic road race was about to get underway, La Carrera Panamericana, in celebration of the completion of the Mexican section of the Panamerican highway which stretched from Alaska to Chile. Little could the engineers at Porsche have foreseen that four years later, Hans Herrmann would steer the diminutive 550 sports car, then fitted with their latest high performance engine, to an overall third place in this gruelling event. In brief, the Spanish word carrera means ‘race’ which has an obvious application in this instance, but for a full explanation and background to the tortuous world in which Porsche came to use the name Carrera, you need to read this book – Porsche: The Carrera Dynasty, by Glen Smale. Work had begun on a new high performance engine in 1952, but it wasn’t until the following year that it would be ready for testing, and still another year later before it would be raced in competition. The Type 547 engine was of course the factory design name for the Professor Fuhrmann-designed four-cam 1498cc four-cylinder boxer engine, but it was only following their third place finish in Mexico in 1954, that the engine was given the name of ‘Carrera’. 356 Carrera Coupe/Cabriolet At the Frankfurt Motor Show, September 1955, the public were presented with the first four-cam engined 356 model, the 356 A 1500 GS Carrera Coupe. Those early achievements by the Porsche drivers in that inhospitable and unforgiving environment in Mexico, were to be offered to the buying public in the form of the new high performance 356 road car, fitted with a slightly detuned version of that same engine. www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche 356 Carrera Speedster Cabriolet Although the 356 Carrera was not a raging sales success, due to its complex engine and demand for a high revving driving style, the name Porsche Carrera created a platform for the Stuttgart company on which to build a high performance reputation in the future. The 356 enjoyed success as a model with over 77,000 cars of all derivatives being built between 1955-1965, but the 356 Carrera through the A-B-C evolutions, would account for just over 1200 units. 911 Carrera RS 2.7 However, the Porsche Carrera name had now been established in the market, and within the company the intention was to reserve this hallowed name for the top performing model of any series. The Frankfurt Motor Show, September 1963, saw the introduction of the www.porscheroadandrace.com successor to the 356 model, the new 911, but to the public’s surprise there was no Carrera model to carry the performance crown in the model range. It would be another nine years before that honour would be bestowed on a production 911 model. This time, at the Paris Salon in October 1972, the iconic 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was launched amid much trepidation within the walls of the Porsche sales department. The concern for the sales department was that they might not sell all of the initial batch of five hundred cars. This number was deemed necessary in order to break even. And so the price was set at just DM1500 more than the standard 911 S Coupe, which cost DM32,500. Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 (1973) History has shown us that these concerns were ill-founded, as almost the whole run of five hundred cars was sold at the Paris Show and in the few weeks that followed. Such was the demand for the model that eventually over fifteen hundred Porsche Carrera RS 2.7s were www.porscheroadandrace.com produced. The success of this model lay in the perfect combination of performance and practicality, as the Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 possessed none of the difficulties associated with 356 Carrera ownership. The flawless and smooth six-cylinder engine delivered seemingly endless power and at DM34,000 it presented a very real opportunity to go racing. The classic 1973 RS 2.7 was finished in white with red, green or blue Carrera lettering below the doors and was the first Porsche model to be fitted with the now famous ducktail spoiler. The spoiler was a new feature on production cars although within the factory, some thought it upset the car’s lines, while others felt it gave the car a more menacing look – either way, it certainly improved traction at speed. Powered by a 2687cc 6-cylinder engine, the RS 2.7 now developed 210bhp and could propel the car to 149mph (240km/h). Conscious of the fact that not all customers would race their RS 2.7, Porsche offered a more comfortable ‘Touring’ version of the car which carried the same interior options found in the 911 S. But for those who wanted an all-out race car, there was the 300bhp RSR with a 2806cc engine. It was the Porsche Carrera RSR that stunned even the factory staff with a victory on its debut outing at the Daytona 24 Hour in February 1973 in the hands of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood. 911 Carrera RS 3.0 www.porscheroadandrace.com 1974 Porsche Carrera RS 3.0 For 1974, the engineers stretched the engine capacity still further to 2994cc, or 3.0-litre in marketing speak. Although power was up to 230bhp, there wasn’t a significant improvement in performance, but there was a big jump in price – the 911 Carrera RS 3.0 cost DM64,980. Featuring a revised rear spoiler more akin to a whale’s tail than a duck’s tail. The RS 3.0 was further developed until 1977 when the 911 lost its Carrera name, being replaced by the ‘SC’ range. 911 Carrera 3.2 Following the departure of Ernst Fuhrmann, Peter W. Schutz took over at the helm of Porsche in 1981. There can be no doubt that Schutz’s reign at Porsche included one of the most turbulent sales periods the company had experienced for many years, and something www.porscheroadandrace.com drastic had to be done to calm the volatile sales position. However, it wasn’t until 1983 that the Carrera name was revived, now adorning the engine cover of the new Porsche Carrera 3.2. There are many enthusiasts who feel that the 3.2 is one of the finest Carreras, as it offered greater comfort with similar performance and power characteristics. Porsche Carrera 3.2 SSE (1986) with wide turbo body But this was also a very significant period in the history of Porsche and for that matter the name of Carrera, in that all models within the 911 range were from here on called Carrera, with the exception of the Turbo. There were those within the company and many customers as well, who felt that to give the whole 911 range the name Carrera, was to dilute the heritage of this hard-earned title. However, this step was taken by Porsche management to save what was a rather dire situation, and so the company had to ‘borrow’ on one of its most respected names to help lift sales. Sales had suffered severely due to a strong Deutsche www.porscheroadandrace.com Mark which had the effect of significantly pushing up prices in America. And the oil crisis had not helped either. In a further attempt to revive some of that old Porsche magic, the Porsche Carrera Speedster was introduced in 1989 in the hope of recapturing those magical memories of the 1950s when the 356 Speedster was launched back in 1955. 911 Carrera Type 964 Borrowing from the technology and lessons learned with the awesome 959, an altogether new series, the Type 964 with permanent all-wheel-drive, was announced in 1989. Called the 911 Carrera 4, this model came with a new and larger 3.6-litre engine, while its two- wheel-drive sibling was introduced a year later. Despite a very close resemblance with previous models, this newcomer was almost totally new but with softer styling. www.porscheroadandrace.com Type 964 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 3.6-litre Coupe (1990MY) With the onset of the 1990s, Porsche realised that the typical customer profile that they had come to know over the preceding decades had changed, rather significantly. Where previously Porsche customers had purchased their cars for the sporting prowess, www.porscheroadandrace.com increasingly, younger buyers now wanted a performance car with the trappings of comfort and luxury. No longer did they hanker after the hard and brutish power of an all-out sports car, the modern buyer had become more sophisticated and increasing female independence and earnings capabilities, had lifted this new market segment too. Porsche would have to adapt, or fall behind. 911 Carrera Type 993 1995 Type 993 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Coupe with 3.6-litre Enter the 993-series, or 911 Carrera 3.6 Coupe to give it its full name. Launched in October 1993, the new 911 Carrera was wider and more spacious than its predecessor and an altogether more mature looking vehicle.