Porsche Prototype Era: 1964-1973 in Photographs [Hardcover]

Bill Oursler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

Porsche Prototype Era: 1964-1973 in Photographs recounts an epic period in the history of Porsche motorsports. During this time the German manufacturer transformed itself from being a small-bore GT class leader into becoming the dominant player on the world stage of prototype and sports car competition. Beginning with the first of the modern midengine Porsches, the 904, and carrying on through the awesome 917 endurance coupes and the thrilling 1,500-horsepower turbocharged 917 Can-Am spyders, this beautiful photographic history brings back these trendsetting sports prototypes in all their glory, as well as highlighting the drivers who raced them and the classic circuits that were host to their legendary competitions. During this period Porsche waged fierce battles against archrival Ferrari, which dominated nearly all aspects of the sports car and prototype scene during the majority of the 1960s and into the early ’70s until dethroned by Zuffenhausen’s 908s and 917s. Porsche’s success was bolstered by the efforts of liaisons with such key semiprivate teams as Martini and Porsche Salzburg, as well as its official representatives, John Wyer and Roger Penske. Equally, the drivers who raced Porsches for either the factory or its anointed clients read like a who’s who of motorsports. Among these elite were the likes of Jo Siffert, Pedro Rodriguez, Vic Elford, Brian Redman, Mark Donohue, George Follmer, Jackie Oliver, Peter Gregg, Hurley Haywood, Helmut Marko, Gijs van Lennep, Gerhard Mitter, Herbert Muller, David Piper, Rolf Stommelen, Leo Kinnunen, Gerard Larrousse, Dick Attwood, Hans Herrmann, Derek Bell, Tony Dean, Joe Buzzetta, Udo Shutz, and Willy Kauhsen. The races themselves were fought! over the challenging ultra-high-speed circuits of Le Mans, Daytona, Monza, and Spa as well as on the punishing Sebring and Targa Florio courses, where survival, much less winning, was a triumph. This phenomenal display of driving talent coincided with an exciting revolution in technology, as ever-increasing tire widths and improved aerodynamics brought about huge increases in speed, performance, and handling, the likes of which had not been seen before in the history of racing. At this time sports car racing was hugely popular and on par with Formula 1. From the sheer size of the crowds shown here, it is easy to see how important winning the World Championship was to manufacturers. Replete with fascinating detail, Porsche Prototype Era captures the most compelling images of the men and machines of this ten-year period in one volume, including insights on drivers, technical developments, and race details.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: David Bull Publishing (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893618536
• ISBN-13: 978-1893618534
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 11.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,565,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A beutiful collection of pictures with small descriptions, June 5, 2009

By 

Jorge de Azcoitia Moreno (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Porsche Prototype Era: 1964-1973 in Photographs (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a book with lots of text to learn about these cars, this is not for you. This book is probably best savoured as a complement once you already know the history behind the cars (904, 906, 910, 907, 908, 917, etc) and the races (Le Mans, Targa Florio, Nürburgring, etc).
After you learn about these, you will see the point in this book is mainly to delight yourself with the images shown.
This is a beautifully put together and carefully researched work, containing mostly never before seen pictures, and most of them taking almost a full page or two to really amuse yourself with the photographs.
Since it's not very easy to find, I'd recommend you to buy it the moment you find it, since it seems it will soon be a classic and will be both expensive and quite hard to obtain.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good reference book, January 22, 2007

By 

J. SANCHEZ-CARRALERO (Barcelona, Espagne) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Porsche Prototype Era: 1964-1973 in Photographs (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book about the role of Porsche in the very best years of car racing.

May be more color pictures should be an improvement, but in any case I think this book it's a "must" for every body who loves car racing, mainly endurance races.