Helmut Zwickl - Weltmeister durch technischen K.O. - 2013

People still talk about the era of the Mercedes silver arrows, about their kam-sah-siegte aura, that a high-quality technical apparatus made possible and which memory glorifies, one extols German thoroughness, thinks of Fangio, Moss, and the portly Neubauer, who directed things with signal boards. Without a doubt, Mercedes in the years 1954 and 1955 did the maximum that was technically and driver-wise possible in motor racing.

Meanwhile we have landed on the moon and are racing around the Nürburgring in 7:45. The maximum in auto racing, however, was achieved in 1969 by Porsche. “Uff,” said the mechanic of an American racing stable when the five-car Porsche Armada was pushed into the Daytona arena; “if it’s true that Porsche is just a small factory, Ford would have had to show up with 30 factory cars back then.” Porsche’s aim was high.

It was called the ‘Brand World Championship’. The prize apparently didn’t matter. Computers calculated for each race track the optimal time for the nine contracted pilots (at one point as many as twelve) — to bring the character, the driving style and the ambition of these people to one sum, even the electronic brain couldn’t manage that.

The aim was to encircle the opponent, to hammer him, and to defeat him with the help of the in-house technology. Of the ten rounds in the Brands World Championship, Porsche won seven, six of them by ‘technical KO’. Three times they knocked themselves out, and before the time glorified these victories and wiped the defeats from memory, I would like to roll the film of the 1969 endurance races once more — unretouched and in the original sound, just as I experienced it.

You will receive an original packaged book, pictures are from my private copy.