Porsche Carrera: And the Early Years of Porsche Motorsports

Carrera - today, this word is part of the Porsche vocabulary like "Turbo" or "911". Its roots can be found in the race victory of a Porsche 550 Spyder in the legendary Carrera Panamericana in Mexico 1954. The racing engine used was unique and went down in automotive history as the "Carrera engine". Designed by Dr. Ernst Fuhrmann, it was extremely powerful thanks to its four crankshafts. It was implemented very successfully in a host of famous Porsche race cars, starting with the 356 Carrera and continuing with the 550 and 718 Spyder through to the 904. The Porsche archive has taken a closer look at the history of this racing engine and its vehicles together with two exceptional authors: Rolf Sprenger was a Porsche employee for 40 years and describes in great detail the technical development of the "Fuhrmann engine" used from 1953 to 1965 so that both non-technical people and experts alike can understand the technical sophistication of this engine. For this purpose, many previously unpublished documents and photos from the works archive are shown - a unique look behind the scenes of the then still young Porsche brand which is completed by interviews with persons who were directly involved at the time. The American Porsche specialist Steve Heinrichs also researched all races - there were around 14 000 - in which Porsche racing cars with Carrera engine competed so that the complete history is available for the first time in this book. All chassis and engine numbers are therefore now documented together with delivery condition and motor sports history.