SeattlePorsche

At least I don't think they race anymore. I was watching some of the Formula 1 racing in Japan on TV and heard the names "Ferrari", "BMW", "Renault" but when I saw "Toyota" it got me thinking. Why aren't we out there. Toyota doesn't even produce a sports car anymore. The Supra was their last one.

From what I have read, Porsche learned many things about performance and reliability from racing and applied this to the air-cooled cars. I did a search earlier and saw that Porsche doesn't warrantee a 996 engine that blows up if it happened on race track.

What's up with that?

I know some will say they are still advancing their products and product lines. e.g. Cayman S. To me I would guess that their lack of participation in racing has led to interiors that look "too busy", with all of their buttons and lap counters and such. I like the spartan look of my SC, as well as the similarly spartan look of my 993.

JackOlsen

A full-fledged Formula 1 effort would cost Porsche more than it gained.

Porsche won Le Mans in 1998, and then took some time off to build an SUV. Last year they came back with a prototype, which is being updated for 2007:



The 2005 model:

SeattlePorsche

Jack,

Thanks for your response. Those are interesting looking cars, but they don't look formula 1. The ones on TV today had open wheels at the front. So what class are these prototypes designed for. I know that much about these things. Don't they need to enter these prototypes somewhere to be valid.

I longed for a 911 since I was a kid and now I am lucky enough to have one. But I look at my nephew who is 16 and he just longs for my cars. He doesn't even look at the 996's. He only looks at the 997 because it looks like my 993, sort of. Is Porsche missing out on the next generation? Or they banking the future on the Cayman and Boxters?

JackOlsen

They race in the American Le Mans series (ALMS) here in the USA.





The new prototype might be the first step in the company's intent to return to Le Mans.

Porsche may no longer inspire the young the way it did with previous generations. I hope the 997 redesign and a bigger presence in motorsports will start to capture kids' imaginations like the company did for us decades ago.

Jay Laifman

Even in its racing "heyday" Porsche didn't race Formula 1. I'm not an expert on it. I think there was one attempt, but perhaps more focus on Formula 2 at one point, but even that was minor. I remember reading specifically why Ferry and the rest of Porsche did not do Formula 1. But, I don't remember what it was. I'm sure with some searching it's out there. It's probably what Jack said - money. Formula 1 is an entirely different world that is not suited to a small shop like Porsche.

pl

no, i don't want them to race in F1.
otherwise they will seel 911 as expensive as ferrari.

ked

In the late '50s & early '60s, Porsche raced in F2 (won the man. championship in '60) & F1. Dan Gurney won 2 F1 GPs (FR '62 & at Solitude, iirc) for them. They were originally based on the sports cars. As competition improved (the beginning of the monocoque era; Cooper, Lotus, Ferrari, BRM), the Porsches had to become more purpose-designed, thus not much tech-transfer for improving the road cars. So, Ferry decided that sports car racing was more meaningful, thus the open wheel program was halted and the 904 & 906, ultimately leading to the 917 effort, became paramount.
{incidently, the FVee SCCA class leveraged Porsche's concept taking a production platform & applying the drivetrain & susp to an open wheel pure racing car - the early Zink's even look like the Porsche F2s}

In the early '80s, Porsche re-entered F1 "the smart way" - getting paid to by TAG to design, build & support the McLaren F1 engine program from '84-'87, yielding both constructor's & driver's championships. Of course, there was also the Indy program.

Maybe now that Porsche has a strong ownership position in VW-Audi, they will consider re-entering F1 (ala Fiat / Ferrari), but I think it is a difficult financial proposition. We shall see if the new rules stabilize costs & VW bites. Frankly, I'm glad Porsche has focused their internal racing program on sports & prototypes.

Edgy01

Formula 1 is what you seem to be only thinking of. Porsche did get involved briefly with a two 911 engined car,--one was a pusher, the other a puller. They couldn't get it to synch up properly so they got out. There are many other racing fomats that Porsche does stay involved in.

earlyapex

Porsche is a much smaller company than its potential competetors in F1 and Le Mans. Audi has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the all conquering R8/10. The top tear F1 teams spend over 400 million dollars per year. This was topped by Toyota who reportedly spent 700 million dollars in its first year in F1. IMO Porsche would go broke with such rediculous expenditures and gain very little for its money.

I like its current strategy. Provide teams with winnng equipment, engineering, and drivers. The 996 GT3 variants have been dominant in their class in multiple racing series. The 997 GT3 RSR has already won its first race. Porsche's Spyder became the first LMP-2 car to win an overall victory in ALMS and will be raced in Le Mans in 2007. All of their ventures make money for the factory and promote the brand.

Racing has simply become very expensive and I doubt that Porsche wants to jeapordize its financail viability by going head to head with much larger automobile companies. Of course I could be wrong and they announce a LMP-1 race car.

ron mcatee

I might mention that when Porsche tried to get involved in some aspects of racing, the rules were change quite frequently and Porsche decided it wasn't worth the headaches to keep being screwed with.

Edgy01

Ron is absolutely right here. Once Porsches starting winning EVERYTHING (does anyone remember the Can Am series and the 917??) the guys that run the programs go back and change the rules. Why ANYONE would bother to compete against a moving baseline is beyond me.