www.porscheroadandrace.com Dr Ulrich Bez – father of the 993 Published: 21st September 2017 By: Kieron Fennelly Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/dr-ulrich-bez-father-of-the-993/ Hailing from the Bad Cannstatt district of Stuttgart, Ulrich Bez, who as Porsche Technical supremo hatched the 993, had two significant stints at Porsche. During the 1970s he worked in research and was responsible for establishing Porsche’s crash test programme; in the 1980s, he followed Porsche’s head of research to BMW and set up BMW Technik, the department which designed the Z-series of sports cars. Tempted back to Porsche in 1988, Bez campaigned to save the company by rapidly updating the 911 with the interim 993 and introducing the premium 4-door 989. Disagreements with the board over this model caused him to leave Porsche; he later resurfaced at Ford where he took charge of Aston Dr. Ulrich Bez (1988) Martin, leading the company to independence in 2007. He retired at the end of 2013, but remained chairman of Aston Martin. www.porscheroadandrace.com Ulrich Bez has been working for the British for too long: he arrived for our 10:00am rendezvous at Aston Martin’s London office fully 15 minutes late, normally unthinkable for a German. He excuses himself affably explaining that his dog was so excited by their early morning walk in Hyde Park’s unexpected spring sunshine, that it ran off and took some catching. But now Dr Bez has officially retired, maybe a less than Teutonic attitude to punctuality is forgivable. After all, we are here to talk about his 15 or so years with Porsche, a period which received barely 20 pages in his Dr. Ulrich Bez, CEO at Aston Martin, here at recent autobiography so perhaps not the IAA Frankfurt, Germany in 2007 uppermost in his thoughts. www.porscheroadandrace.com Dan Gurney in the Porsche Type 804 during the Formula 1 race at the Solitude in 1962 Yet as our conversation develops, it becomes clear that Ulrich Bez’s grounding in Porsche informed much of his subsequent thinking. He recalls he was at Porsche for four separate periods: “After the Abitur, I went to Porsche as an apprentice for six months, grinding valve seats on the production line. The highlight was helping to restore the 1962 F1 car, the 804, where I was working with another apprentice, Jürgen Barth. At university, my thesis was on aeronautical engineering. I was then very fortunate that Helmuth Bott took an interest in my research on downforce so I was able to do the practical side of the thesis in Porsche’s R&D. On the strength of that trial, I was hired as an employee by the research department.” He is quick to acknowledge the scope and variety provided by life at Porsche during the www.porscheroadandrace.com next decade. He learned about bodywork and driving dynamics, managed projects on accident research and published papers which enabled him to complete his PhD. He particularly appreciated the tutelage of Hans Hermann Braess, Porsche’s then head of research: “Braess was more scientist than manager and he had an absolutely unmatched knowledge of automotive technology,” recalled Bez. In the best Porsche tradition, there was plenty of practical motorsport involvement too, and as the latest Weissach recruit he had the task of operating the valve on the fuel tank in the pits for the Nürburgring 1000km. Flow was achieved by gravity, which meant Bez was billeted on the pit roof with the tanks. “But I could see the entire race!” Pit signals at Le Mans also fell to him and this gave him the chance to admire the organisation of team manager and senior car tester, Peter Falk. “Falk taught me a huge amount, particularly about feel for driving a car, how it should brake, how it should shift and corner.” Porsche Type 804 during a test run on the Südschleife at the Nürburgring in 1962 (above), and at the races at the Nürburgring in 1962 (right) www.porscheroadandrace.com Braess then moved on to BMW and was replaced by Helmut Flegl. Though Bez’s contemporary, Flegl had joined Porsche some years earlier and had managed Porsche’s immensely successful Can-Am campaign. Not surprisingly he was well thought of at Weissach and Bez realised this blocked his own advancement. Being a young man in a hurry, he decided to follow his mentor Braess, to BMW. www.porscheroadandrace.com BMW Z1 (1989-1991) If the Munich company welcomed Bez with open arms, Flegl was less supportive of this ‘defection’. “We’d worked together for several years,” says Bez, “and I thought I had been unfailingly loyal to him, but my departure seemed to embarrass him.” More old-school, Helmut Flegl believed, as his subsequent Porsche career would show, in staying till the job was done. After a couple of years at BMW, the company gave Ulrich Bez the break he sought, “A DM-10m budget to run a blue-sky research operation which we named BMW Technik.” Amongst the talented recruitees Bez brought to Technik was a Dutch stylist who was working at Ford in Cologne called Harm Lagaaij, and who had also begun his career at Weissach. The new operation developed a V8 engine to replace BMW’s traditional six to compete with the Mercedes S class, and it also came up with the innovative Z1, precursor of BMW’s Z series, which generated much publicity. www.porscheroadandrace.com Porsche 944 Turbo Cup at the Norisring in 1988 Meanwhile the collapse of the dollar which started in 1985 was hitting Porsche hard. The combination of a high cost base and an increasingly obsolete model range meant the company was fast losing ground. Feelers were put out to Bez as early as May 1988 to see whether he was interested in returning to Stuttgart as Technical Director, a board level appointment. In September, when long serving Helmuth Bott who had directed Porsche development for almost two decades resigned, Bez took up his new position within a month. He knew it would be a challenge and it was. He defines the problem as two-fold: “The board consisted of people who just didn’t have the right kind of car background. Branitzki (CEO) had been the finance manager, Harbach who was head of sales was ex-Opel and a mass-market man; I had particular problems with Rudi Noppen, the production chief. I was from BMW and I knew what parts cost, but he had no feeling for the cars. You never www.porscheroadandrace.com saw him at test sessions. The board was uncertain about what to do with the 911 and some were inclined to develop a different kind of sports car. I pointed out that the 911 was Porsche and there was not enough money or time to start an entirely new car. The 924 had kept Porsche going in the 1970s – that was virtually paid for by VW, and the 944 had sustained it in the 1980s – but it wasn’t a 911 and it too would need replacing.” (Left) Porsche 911 Carrera Cup 1990 – this car is one of the first Cup cars that had not yet participated in a race. According to www.porscheroadandrace.com Herbert Linge, the BBS wheels on this car were sourced from the stores for the photo shoot, but the car would be fitted with Speedline wheels for racing. (Above) Carrera Cup 1990, driven here by Olaf Manthey (Team Autohaus Walter Seitz) Bez is highly critical of the 964, “People love them today, but in 1988 the 964 was the worst 911. It was too unrefined, too tiring on the Autobahn. The 930 Turbo was a much nicer car; the 964 C4 was not like a 911 to drive and slower in snow than Mercedes’ 4wd manumatic. I broke the gearbox of the 964 C4 I tried in Sweden!” Ferry Porsche tries out the 911 Panamericana at the 1989 IAA in Frankfurt. To the right www.porscheroadandrace.com with the microphone is Heinz Branitzki with Ulrich Bez (far right) He pressed the board hard to allow him the funds to redevelop the 964. He had an understanding with BMW that he could take one senior employee from Munich to Porsche and he brought Harm Lagaaij, the design chief who would have such an influence on Porsche styling in the next two decades. The result, conceived in the space of only three years, was the 993. Of course, it was an interim model – still air cooled and still on the original chassis, yet its styling advances, although crimped by budget restraints, moved the 911 on as no previous model had, the fared headlamps in particular preparing enthusiasts for the next iteration. Bez had to fight hard though as the multi-link rear axle, so crucial to the 993’s better ride and handling, was granted at the expense of a new interior, rain-gutter free roof and wipers which parked below the hood line. www.porscheroadandrace.com 1989 Porsche Type 964 Carrera 4 3.6-litre “I developed the 993 in the light of what I knew was wrong with the 964,” claims Bez, who is especially pleased with the 993 C4. “The 964 C4 transmission was absurdly expensive. We got the cost down to 30%, saved 50kg and the car was like the C2 to drive! But the biggest achievement was to be able to sell the 993 at a lower price yet still make a far better margin on it!” (Left) is the 1994 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.6- www.porscheroadandrace.com litre (Type 993), while (above) is the 1997 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.6-litre (Type 993) As head of Weissach, Bez inherited Porsche’s racing programme.