1952 2022
The first issue of Christophorus appeared 70 years ago. An innovative idea creatively implemented. A look back at an icon in the making. Our magazine has been accompanying the brand since 1952.
For us, continuity is not about holding on to the past, but moving forward. Unwavering dynamism has made Porsche the company it is today. It’s in our DNA to never stop moving, which is why we optimized Christophorus at the start of its anniversary year. As is the Porsche way, we took the greatest care, creating and integrating innovations, while preserving identity and orientation.
The dossier is one of the new elements of the Christophorus magazine and takes an in-depth look at an area of focus. This time it’s Leipzig, where the plant is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Leipzig represents the company’s dynamic boom that has been going strong since the turn of the century. It’s also where we produce our four-door sports cars at one of the world’s most modern and sustainable automotive assembly
plants. We meet there with Walter Röhrl – special moments link the world champion with Leipzig.
Norbert Bisky, one of the most famous contemporary artists, is a son of this city and provides us with some valuable insights.
Speaking of art, art collector and psychiatrist
Dr. Ottomar Domnick authored an exciting Africa report in the first issue of Christophorus and was the first private person to buy a Porsche manufactured in Stuttgart. With his 356 featuring chassis number 5005 lost to history, we seamlessly continue this story with number 5006. We report on the adventurous rescue of the oldest maintained 356 produced in Stuttgart.
Do you remember the purring, rattling, and hissing of early internal combustion engines? The unmistakable sound was the result of the mechanical processes. Our technology story culminates with the sound of the Taycan: its voice, too, is actually an authentic composition without artificial components.
Dear Readers, this issue will also take you on a journey to the Utah wilderness, Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer, Californian tennis courts, and Majorca. Wherever you happen to be, I hope you enjoy reading the magazine.
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Dr. Sebastian RUDOLPH Editor Always reinventing: Norbert Bisky deconstructs and reassembles. This powerful work is called Arsonist
When the music takes a dramatic turn, the camera shots change in increasingly quick succession, and the story line escalates to a seemingly hopeless situation at a breathtaking pace, everything points to a last-minute rescue. We are all familiar with this from action movies. But in real life?
This is a true story. And it was so dramatic in parts that it could have been made for the big screen. The 71-year-old lead goes by the name of Porsche 356 and is a 20th century automotive treasure. It was almost lost for good – but then came that last-minute rescue.
It is fall 2021. Thomas König and Oliver Schmidt, founders of the Automuseum Prototyp in Hamburg, are traveling the first few miles in the newly restored latest addition to their collection. It is an almost solemn occasion. The two Porsche enthusiasts had to wait almost eight years for this moment. “I never expected any of this in my wildest dreams,” says König, who gingerly drives the historic car with a 40 hp engine down a country road. Schmidt, who is sitting in the passenger seat, adds: “We thought we already owned the oldest Porsche 356 made in Stuttgart, but then number 5006 fell into our
The car was considered lost without a trace for almost 60 years until a mysterious call was received. Two collectors had come across the oldest Porsche 356 produced in Germany to still exist. And how they salvaged it is a story fit for the big screen.
hands practically on our doorstep.”
Number 5006 is truly a unique model, not only due to its bright-red metallic paintwork, which was unusual back then. The four-digit chassis number suggests it is one of the earliest Porsche models to be produced in Stuttgart in 1950. Its whereabouts remained a mystery for decades.
Its rescue story begins in January 2013 when König and Schmidt receive a phone call. The caller begins by inquiring whether it is true that the oldest Porsche 356 produced in Germany and still in existence, number 5047, is on display in Hamburg. Upon this being confirmed, the man cuts to the chase –he claims to have an older model bearing chassis number 5006. And he is willing to sell.
The Automuseum Prototyp in Hamburg has had partnership ties with the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen for some time. Its two founders have spent decades collecting, focusing in particular on early Porsche constructions.
Highflier: Number 5006 suspended in the sky while being salvaged in 2013.
cubic centimeters of displacement in the first four-cylinder boxer engines of the Porsche 356.
hp delivered a sporty driving performance, which was further boosted by the relatively low weight.
pounds of total weight were the result of systematic lightweight construction already back then.
“We were instantly electrified – but also skeptical,” Schmidt reminisces. “Many calls like that lead only to disappointment.”
Their skepticism evaporates when the first photos arrive. One of them shows the four digits 5006 hammered into the sheet metal, while another features a weathered data plate – likewise bearing the number 5006 – alongside red paint residues. It would appear that the car is outdoors, more or less covered by a tarpaulin. It hasn’t had it easy.
Research conducted with the assistance of the Porsche company archives and external specialists determines that this really is one of the first seven Porsche sports cars to roll off the production line in Stuttgart up to the end of May 1950.
König and Schmidt arrange an initial meeting with the caller, whose identity they still do not know, at a rest stop on the A1 freeway between Hamburg and Bremen. “The drive there was a little surreal,” says König, looking back.
“We felt like we were in an episode of Candid Camera Was somebody taking us for a ride?”
But the offer appears to be genuine. Before they can even view the mysterious object, a handwritten purchase agreement is drawn up at the freeway rest stop. And then the journey continues to a property just outside Bremen.
hours were spent alone on thoroughly reconditioning the decayed body. The major objective – to preserve as much of the original materials as possible. Irrevocably destroyed components were painstakingly handcrafted. The bottom-right picture shows the original data plate bearing the number 5006.
7Porsche 356 cars were built in Stuttgart up to the end of May 1950.
The brand name made up of individual letters and the “banjo” steering wheel manufactured by VDM and featuring a horn button were characteristic. The sheet metal tubs under the rear seats bear witness to the handcraftsmanship, as does the border around the ivory-colored dummy insert in place of a radio (picture on right).
The site is right by a country road. Buildings, trees, bushes, and fences protect it from prying eyes. The owner, a friendly elderly gentleman, leads the two enthusiasts through a maze of sheds and into the labyrinthine garden, where there are roughly 20 historic cars scattered around, some under tarpaulins, others taken over by nature. A court order says this private car cemetery has to go. A household clearance company has already been contracted. In the midst of this jungle, the group is now standing in reverence in front of the treasure that has brought them together. “It was pure magic,” König enthuses. “It was as if 5006 had survived from a bygone age.”
In 1950, Porsche and the bodywork company Stuttgarter Karosseriewerk Reutter & Co. were under immense time pressure. The premiere of the first Porsche 356 from Stuttgart was highly anticipated. Financially, the two companies could not afford any delays. Materials and parts were in short supply and the production process was almost entirely manual.
The first Porsche manufactured in Germany was completed on April 6. This 356 Coupé with chassis number 5002 and lovingly named Greyhound for its light-grey color remained under the company’s ownership. It was used for test-drives and promotional shots and was subsequently destroyed in an accident. Number 5001 had actually been earmarked for a Cabriolet, which was however only built after chassis number 5002. Even today, chassis numbers do not necessarily tell us the order of production.
The first 356 Coupé from Stuttgart to be delivered to a customer went to the 43-year-old Stuttgart psychiatrist Ottomar Domnick, who was also a wellknown screenplay writer and art collector. It bore chassis number 5005. Domnick traveled as far as North Africa in it and reported on his travels in the first issue of Christophorus in 1952.
The new Porsche 356 from Stuttgart was first presented to the general public at the auto show held in Reutlingen in May 1950. The company Reutter showcased the car at the stand of the Max Moritz car dealership. In addition, the company Lechler highlighted its special Durapon paintwork that gave the Coupé a glossy metallic red look, as shown in a photo of the trade show stand. It is believed to be the oldest color photo featuring a Porsche 356 – precisely the car that was rediscovered under a tarpaulin outside of Bremen 63 years later and whose story is told here.
Number 5006 remained in Porsche’s possession until September 1950, when it was sold to a private customer in the Black Forest. There is just a single reference to the car’s life from this point in the factory’s old records – in 1956, the word “engine” is noted in the warranties column alongside the name of a Porsche dealer in Bremen. The trail then goes cold.
Until 2013. König and Schmidt’s first inspection reveals that the car is in surprisingly good condition considering it was parked in the garden for decades. The owner had fortunately stored most of the add-ons in a dry shed and had conserved the body with a thick layer of oil.
The two men from Hamburg first check the chassis number. It is clearly legible. And in concealed places, there are more sizable remnants of the original metallic red paintwork. Another sensation – upon closer examination of the parts, it comes to light that fragments of the original
engine have even survived. “Our doubts were definitively put to rest,” says Oliver Schmidt, “but we could still barely believe our luck.”
Salvaging the car proved to be the trickiest part of this journey back in time. The original approach road to the site was blocked by various buildings which had been put up over the years.
There was no other means of approach – just a deep ditch right alongside the site. Using a historic mobile crane, the Prototyp team succeeded in airlifting the fragile body, which they had reinforced with a substructure.
The rebirth of the 5006 proves to be extremely complex. The aim is to preserve as much of the original materials as possible. The entire body is therefore carefully reconditioned. Where rust
Thomas König (left) and Oliver Schmidt opened the Automuseum Prototyp –a major attraction in Hamburg’s HafenCity district. In a historic factory building, the founders wish to share their fascination with the aesthetics, form, and stories of historic automobiles. The exhibited vehicles, almost all relevant to Porsche, are unique in their own way; some are even genuine prototypes.
For more information: prototyp-hamburg.de/en/
2008has been particularly merciless, the metal sheets have to be reproduced by hand – true to the original design of the historic model. “With these very early models in particular,” explains Thomas König, “virtually all of the sheet metal parts were shaped by hand.”
The oldest Porsche from Stuttgart that we know of now has a permanent place in the Hamburg museum. “For us, the 5006 is the high point of our work to date,” says König. The car also represents an important milestone in early sports car production under the Porsche name. A story fit for the big screen, with a happy end. ● 9:11 Magazine
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The new Wellendorff bracelet made of flexible gold hugs and embraces you. With every touch and every movement, it reminds you of your happiness, your gratitude and your love.
“I never expected this in my wildest dreams. It was pure magic.”
Thomas KÖNIG
Born: 1987
Residence: Los Angeles
Born in Italy with Egyptian and French roots, Elisa Sednaoui poses for the camera for the first time at just 14 years of age, promptly making a name for herself in the world of fashion. She models for brands such as Armani, Chanel, and Roberto Cavalli and graces the covers of popular magazines such as Vogue She is also an actor and director. These days, the 33-year-old is a social entrepreneur, dedicated to Funtasia Enterprise – a charity undertaking, which she founded to support creative learning programs for children and teens. She lives with her husband and two sons in Los Angeles.
What is love?
How are you?
The Porsche 911 in three words?
Which simple things can make you happy?
An unexplainable connection and the only thing in life that makes sense.
Doing good; adapting to a new season and trying to make my daily routine as healthy as possible.
The sun in a clear blue sky when I start my day, the sound of sea waves, my children laughing.
What would you never do in a 911? What’s your favorite road? What can distract you? Three things you would take to a desert island?
Drink coffee.
The Litoranea Road between Santa Maria di Leuca and Otranto in Puglia, Italy.
Thought patterns that don’t serve me.
A device that allows me to access every book in the world and a notepad feature to write things down. Indestructible speakers for music. Survival equipment.
Is there a historical figure you admire?
Everyone – especially women – who gave their lives for the freedom I enjoy today.
What on a 911 could you do without?
The only thing that comes to mind is the price.
Profession: Social entrepreneur, model, and actor
Porsche: 911 Carrera 2 (964), built in 1993
What music did you wake up to this morning?
And what couldn’t you? Your favorite film?
Your favorite book?
Where do you long to be?
Your most treasured possession?
Your secret?
The 911 moment of your life?
Your best advice?
The shape and comfort of the seats.
Forest Nativity by Francis Bebey.
Natural Born Killers by Oliver Stone.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok changed me forever.
Present, right here and now.
The meaningful presents I’ve received from those I love.
“Secret” is my private sacred time and space.
When my husband drove us off in it for the first time.
Only you can make the improvements needed in your life happen. Try to look at things from a different perspective. Life happens for you, not to you.
What would no one expect of you?
That I’m more introverted than extroverted.
Photo by Papo WAISMANA natural wonder: Over a period of millions of years, water, wind, and sun created sandstone formations in the US state of Utah that now serve as inspiration for extraordinary sculptures.
Salt Lake City Airport: Made from 500 panels, the installation entitled The Canyon provides visitors with a foretaste of Utah’s national parks.
Gordon Huether focuses his gaze to the east, the first rays of the sun illuminating his face and revealing his euphoria: “When I see nature’s power and majesty,” the artist says of the epic sunrise, “it makes me want to just throw all my pencils away. It’s so beyond, it’s surreal.”
The sandstone mountains of Zion National Park in the United States are resplendent with shades of pink and salmon. Carved out by forces of nature over a period of 150 million years, the formations serve as the 62-year-old’s key source of inspiration. But he’s not the only one who’s fascinated by the landscape. The rush of visitors to the park is at an alltime high, with real-world experiences becoming more and more important in the digital age. And people are rediscovering the joy of travel, revealing that transportation is what truly brings the world together. Transportation is an enduring theme in Huether’s opulent
artworks, sculptures, and installations. His most recent large-scale project brings the grandeur of the great outdoors to Salt Lake City International Airport and forms the gateway to Utah’s so-called Mighty 5 national parks: Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and Zion. The number of travelers who passed through the airport increased from just over nine million in 2002, the year of the Winter Olympics, to 26 million in 2019. Another increase is expected once intercontinental travel is no longer restricted. Just as interest in the national parks is growing, Salt Lake City Airport is getting an update, with 4.5 billion US dollars invested in the new comprehensive design. Large-scale art produced by Gordon Huether is a key component of the project.
With his ambitious works of art in the public sphere, Huether seeks to bridge the gap between man and nature, whether in city squares, at libraries, clinics, or community centers. His aim is to elevate Salt Lake City International Airport, which he refers to as a “Cathedral of Transportation,” with his organic elements, creating a direct link to the national parks, where most of the travelers are headed.
“Traveling is stressful, even for the most seasoned traveler,” says Huether. “So what if I could take the temperature down for you a little bit?” His art therapy begins in the main terminal with The Falls a 65-foot cascade of dichroic glass that hints at the rainbow diffraction
patterns of a waterfall in sunlight. Weighing in at 5,000 pounds, the sculpture incorporates 300 glass panels and 220 glass rods, visible as travelers glide by on the escalator.
The Canyon counters with a monochromatic interpretation of smooth and undulating canyon walls, expressed in 500 individual tensile fins that lend the 362-foot-long structure a topographical feel. The striations echo Utah’s rock formations, formed by water and wind erosion, while a computer-controlled LED program recreates spring, summer, and winter on the face of the synthetic rock formation. River Tunnel is an ongoing project featuring a thousandfoot-long underground pedestrian tunnel between the main terminal and the north concourse. Illuminated in blue light, the undulating waves transform the space into a waterway. Another major installation in design development is the first thing visitors see when they arrive, and the last thing they see in their rearview mirror as they leave the airport: the Mighty 5, a hulking 75-ton sculpture consisting of five pyramidal structures made of durable COR-TEN steel, which provides the desired weathered steel look. The imposing structures tower as high as 90 feet and are as tall as a nine-story building.
Huether’s inspiration for this sculpture was the expansive Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains that frame the eastern and western edges of Utah’s enormous valley.
It’s also Huether’s technical skills and his architectural experience that allow
HUETHER
An art project incorporates the Wild West: enormous sculptures have touched down at Salt Lake City Airport, paying homage to the beauty of Utah’s national parks.Excursion at Zion National Park: Californian artist Gordon Huether loves landscapes and appreciates the aesthetics of the Porsche Macan GTS.
“ The majestic beauty is so beyond, it’s surreal.”Gordon
Important fixtures: At his studio in Napa, the artist always keeps his sources of inspiration in sight. The VW Beetle radiates air-cooled childhood memories.
him to fulfill his creative dreams. And that’s what makes him the perfect man for the airport project in Salt Lake City, for this homage to one of North America’s most breathtaking landscapes.
Back in the wilds of Zion National Park, the sun is now high above the horizon. An extraordinary green – python green, to be specific – in the stony landscape has captivated Huether, who’s wearing his signature backwards hat. It’s the same eye-catching color of the Porsche Macan GTS that Huether is driving today. The GTS is the perfect companion for the artist on this excursion. His own Macan S in Volcano Grey Metallic is parked in front of his studio in Napa Valley, California. It’s around 620 miles as the crow flies from the massive beauties in Utah to Huether’s home, where he lives with his wife, Darcy.
A passion for German vehicles and culture is in Huether’s blood. Both of his parents moved to the US as German immigrants, living first in Rochester, New York, and
then moving on to California. Gordon Huether tells us that his grandfather had to walk to work for five years before he could afford to buy his brand-new, blue 1962 VW Beetle. Huether recalls going to German movies and driving from Napa to San Francisco in the family’s beloved Beetle. When he turned 16, he was given the car as a birthday present. However, the fun only lasted a few months, as the wild teenager ended up rolling the car. His grandfather bought him another 1962 Beetle. And years later, Huether rekindled his air-cooled memories himself by purchasing another Beetle that had been built in 1959, the year of his birth. He restored the car and couldn’t resist lowering it, but at least he avoided doing stunts.
“My Macan is essentially a generational descendant of the Beetle ,” says Huether, delighted. He views the Porsche as a reward, something he wasn’t able to afford until later in his career as an artist. “I love the way it sounds. I love the way it feels. It just permeates quality,” he says. “Being an artist, I’m obviously visually
sensitive. But the Macan is also practical. With the back seat down, even my larger scale models fit inside.” The vehicle embodies Gordon Huether’s professional priorities, creating what is, for him, the ideal combination of fine aesthetics and function.
His personalized license plate reads “LICHT” (German for “light”), an element that plays prominently into his life’s work in more than just artistic illuminations. “Also in a spiritual sense,” he emphasizes. “With every turn of my head, I discover beauty!”
He appears to be deep in thought, standing in a fissure that’s just several yards wide, but endlessly deep. Not much light, but plenty of shade. Here, in this so-called slot canyon, he becomes philosophical: “My mission for almost 40 years has been to inspire the spirit of humanity by bringing beauty and meaning into this world through art. If there was ever a time that art could unite us in inspiration, it is now. Never before has art served a better and higher purpose.” ●
Hot tire: The first issue of Christophorus in 1952 documents a temperature measurement under a masterful backlight.
The tires are the only connection between the surface of the road and the vehicle, whether series model or race car. Their grip properties play a key role in roadholding in everyday use and consistently fast laps on the racecourse. The Porsche racing engineers take this to heart in the early 1950s. Even back then, the key parameters for exploiting the full potential of the tires are air pressure and, more importantly, the temperature of the road surface – a topic also reported on in the first issue of Christophorus 70 years ago.
To this day, racing tires still receive a small jab whenever the driver makes a pit stop. The tire experts insert a fine needle probe just a few millimeters deep into the rubber. While this approach has changed very little over the decades, the method has been enhanced: once the key area of focus, the temperature at the center of the tread is now accompanied by that of the inside and outside.
The measurement results at these three points provide important insight: Is tire capacity being used efficiently? Are the tires overtaxed or could they withstand even more? Ideally, tire potential is used evenly across the full width of the contact surface.
Slick tires like it hot, with a temperature range of 195 to 230 degrees Fahrenheit offering the best grip. In professional racing, the tires are preheated to around 175 degrees using electric blankets or heat chambers, which allows them to reach their optimal temperature range on the course faster.
While the measuring instruments were little more than antiquated fever thermometers in the 1950s, modern digital devices are now faster and more precise. What hasn’t changed is the analogue way in which the measurement values are recorded: they’re written down by hand on sheets of paper and passed on to the racing engineers.
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By Achim PEITZMEIER Photo by Christoph BAUER 1952 2022 ChristophorusComputer art: How do you visualize sound? Using an audio program, the image shows a generated snapshot of the Porsche Electric Sport Sound at its loudest. The amplitudes of the audio waves form an aesthetic network.
By Peter WEIDENHAMMER Illustration by Design Hoch Drei, PORSCHE
For drivers of a classic Porsche 356, the rattling, purring, and hissing of the early air-cooled boxer engine are music to their ears. Generated from a mechanical orchestra of pistons and valves, timing chains and rocker arms, intake and compression, combustion and exhaust. A sound that has become a benchmark of the brand over generations.
Electric mobility has made the instruments of this orchestra a thing of the past, replacing them with the soft hum of electric motors. But emotion and information remain, as Porsche has composed a tapestry of sound for the Taycan over the years that is both new and yet characteristic of the brand. “No other manufacturer has spent as much time working on the sound both inside and out as Porsche,” says Tobias Hillers. He and his colleagues in the Sound and Concepts team have been developing the Taycan’s acoustics since 2015. “We have known for a long time that you need to be able to hear electric cars. For safety reasons,” he adds.
The EU approved a regulation regarding the use of an acoustic alert system for electric cars in 2014 and revised it in 2019. The so-called acoustic vehicle alerting system (AVAS) is designed to protect other road users and must remain active up to a speed of 12 mph. There’s something similar in China and Japan, and the comparable regulation in the US goes even as far as requiring a warning sound when the stationary vehicle is about to move and an increase in the sound level up to a speed of 20 mph.
The acousticians in Weissach transformed the requirement into a special feature. While certain sound components and volume are legally stipulated, they created a special Porsche sound that is characteristic, sporty, and powerful.
It’s also worth mentioning that, like the 356 and 911, the Taycan provides the driver with clear feedback. Experiences with the Porsche 919 Hybrid confirmed how important the vehicle’s audible responses are. The works drivers trained in a simulator behind the wheel of the three-time Le Mans champion and were faster when the race car provided them with acoustic feedback on the driving situation.
S is for sound:
The Porsche Taycan’s voice is an authentic composition of real vehicle sounds.
While all-electric vehicles are quieter, they’re not silent. The sound of the tires on the road and the humming of the transmission and motors are no less informative than the sound of an internal combustion engine. Inspired by this backdrop of sounds, the sound designers developed the voice of the Taycan. Nothing is generated artificially: “The sound has to fit the vehicle and be authentic,” emphasizes Hillers. “We incorporate the components that sound really good. Then we filter out less attractive sounds. Anything that sounds like a dentist’s drill or streetcar has to go.”
What sounds so simple was actually a complicated development process.
“We once spent three weeks hunkered down at our Nardò Technical Center in Italy creating sounds and trying them out on the test tracks there,” explains the engineer. The acousticians also spent countless hours creating the foundation
Worlds of sound: A large selection of example sounds from the 356 to the Taycan can be found at christophorus.porsche.com
of Porsche Electric Sport Sound at the soundproof laboratory of the Porsche development center in Weissach. In addition to their own sense of hearing, they also relied on a special artificial head for binaural listening, which is spatial listening with two ears. The ear turned toward the source of the sound perceives the sound earlier and more clearly than the other. The human sense of hearing is so sensitive that it can detect delays of up to 0.00001 seconds and, beginning at a certain pitch, differences in sound pressure of one decibel. With the artificial head, the acousticians can simulate any position inside and outside of the vehicle.
The results are promising: Porsche Electric Sport Sound is an entirely innovative sound experience. Emotional rather than obtrusive, but present and unmistakable. “Just the right kick requires the right sound,” explains Tobias Hillers. ●
Abstract audio: The sound of the Porsche 356 was composed at full speed.
Master of the keyboard: Frédéric Arnault is CEO of TAG Heuer and a concert pianist. The company’s own museum has been showcasing history since 1860.
Opportunities to pause his inner clock have become rare for Frédéric Arnault. In July 2020, he took over the management of the exclusive watch manufacturer TAG Heuer. Now that the Swiss Jura mountains have long disappeared into the darkness, a chance arises. The CEO considers whether in his industry there is a milestone that can be compared to the construction of cars. When the bodywork and motor are combined there is a wedding-like celebration. Arnault defines the equivalent moment in his workshops: it is when the watch movement is set into motion for the first time: “For me it’s as if a heart starts to beat.”
To engage with time may be his daily task. But it is never humdrum. Frédéric Arnault belongs to a new generation of managers; for him, ambition and empathy are not mutually exclusive. He is familiar with all the studies that reveal how often people, on average, look at the dial of a watch. He can’t count how many times he does it. In his life, watches have been omnipresent since his father gave him his first watch on his eleventh birthday – a TAG Heuer.
Looking into the department responsible for development, known as Institute, Frédéric Arnault points fascinatedly at the nanomicroscope that is used there. It is not difficult to recognize his passion for precision and progress in the way he operates at the top of the company. Time cannot be reinvented, but watches can. However, if your business model is based on classics, you must tread carefully with regard to evolution in order to
gain new customers without losing existing relationships. Frédéric Arnault puts it like this: “We are concerned with ten-thousandths of a second but must at the same time think long term. I live in the present, think of the future, and make trips into the past.”
A blue suit, white sneakers, no tie. Present with every fiber of his body, in constant rhythm just like the balance of a watch movement. The graduate of the École polytechnique in Paris started his career in the strategy and digital department of TAG. His task was to resolve a Kulturkampf in a way that would benefit the brand. Can and may a company that stands for mechanical masterpieces increasingly offer digital timepieces? For Arnault it was not a question of being able to or being allowed to, but rather of wanting to and having to. He is persuasive in his own quiet way: “I had to bring the cultures together and prevent a split. Now there are two lines, which join to form a circle.” He has set something large in motion. Today, he is able to say that many customers own a chronograph and also a smart watch. Courage belongs to his business principle; presumption
Maximum precision: The watchmakers of the company that was founded by Edouard Heuer need a steady hand and the best optical tools.
The paths of Porsche and TAG Heuer have been crossing for over half a century. A shared culture connects the companies.
CEO Frédéric Arnault transfers values into the present and future.
is not in his nature. In the meantime, digital watches make up 15 percent of turnover; the direct online business has grown by 250 percent under his management. Connected Watches unite generations of watch connoisseurs. A transformation on the wrist.
Pioneering deeds lie in the history of the company that Edouard Heuer founded in 1860 in Saint-Imier. Heuer was a personality like Ferdinand Porsche –with an inventive spirit and full of business ideas. Over half a century ago, his great-grandson Jack Heuer discovered motorsport as a marketing stage. A connection to Porsche came about quickly; the watches initially played a role in Steve McQueen’s epic film Le Mans Similarly to Porsche at that time with the construction of a Formula 1 turbo motor, Heuer got together with the TAG concern.
The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E team is entering two Porsche 99X Electric models in the world championship. The premium manufacturers announced their long-term alliance in February 2021.
Today, TAG Heuer is a Porsche partner in Formula E. “Even sport must become more sustainable,” says Arnault.
“It is about more than pure speed.” Porsche was his logical ideal partner for the further engagement in the elite sport. “We are connected by the same technical sophistication,” he says and refers to a double anniversary that is coming up in 2023: “Porsche will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the 911, and our Carrera watch will be exactly the same age.”
Classic sports cars enthrall him with the strength of their movement and their elegant lines. But the racing sport didn’t really catch hold of Arnault’s competitive spirit until he visited the 24 Hours of Le Mans: “To see behind the scenes just how much effort, perfectionism, and preparation are necessary for this race, and how the team works together –all of this reminded me so much of the interior of a watch.” To merge passion and technology is just what he loves.
And it helps to be well-balanced yourself. Frédéric Arnault is a gifted concert pianist and has performed on stage with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sports like kitesurfing form an inspiring contrast. Such different activities act like meditation for him. He is the personification of the watches, which appeal, above all, to individualists: “If imagine our brand as a character, then it would be young at heart, elegant, and adventurous all at once.”
In the rather shy actor Ryan Gosling, he has found an ideal ambassador, alongside the race car driver Patrick Dempsey.
Arnault and Gosling have both had to deal extensively with the nature of time. Their dialogue led to an acknowledgement that serves both of them as a piece of philosophy for life: “I have learnt not to take time for granted. What drives me on is to know that the clock is ticking.” ●
It all begins with courage: just before the turn of the century, the name Porsche is almost synonymous with the three numbers 911 and has no associations with the three letters SUV. But then the sports car and four-door come together to create a match made in heaven, and production of the Cayenne at the new Leipzig location heralds a new era. And now the high-tech plant is celebrating its 20th anniversary –in a visionary city with many facets, such as the Disinfotainment exhibition of celebrity artist Norbert Bisky.
International
World
Diverse production: In one of the world’s most cutting-edge assembly halls, all of the models pass through the same production line: Porsche Macan and Panamera, vehicles with internal combustion engines and hybrid powertrains, and soon even all-electric cars.
That’s how many Macan and Panamera models are manufactured at the Leipzig plant every day.
High quality standards: Vehicles are randomly selected and put through their paces in daily audits. Special lighting reveals every detail.
The Porsche plant in Leipzig uses special state-of-the-art robots, which simplify work for the employees.
The components in the Panamera’s body are joined using mechanical and thermal processes. This picture shows an employee inspecting welds.
Extending 105 feet into the air, the structure resembles an air traffic control tower from afar.
But for most people, the conical shape is reminiscent of a cut diamond, which is how the Porsche plant’s iconic landmark got its nickname. And it’s a good fit, as the diamond embodies a remarkable success story. It only took two years to get from the initial construction work in 2000 to the production launch for the Porsche Cayenne. Built at full speed, the Leipzig plant was quite a risky move for the company, but the architecture is a testimony of courage rather than fear.
At the same time as the first SUV, production on the Carrera GT super sports car kicks off here in 2003, with 1,270 vehicles manufactured by hand. And the immediate success of the Cayenne as an especially sporty off-road vehicle makes it necessary to expand the plant for the first time in 2004, the first expansion of five. The Panamera and Macan models lead to subsequent expansions, and hybridization and the fully electric drive also enter the scene. New models are continuously integrated into ongoing processes. “We have always included Leipzig in our strategic thinking and development plans,” says Albrecht Reimold, member of the Porsche Executive Board for Production and Chairman of the Super visory Board at Porsche Leipzig GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Porsche AG. “More electric models are planned here in the future.”
One team, one line, three drives –this motto is visible just about everywhere in the enormous assembly halls. On shirts, stickers, and information
boards. Solidarity soars, with minimal staff turnover. Today, more than 550 vehicles a day are produced in Leipzig by 4,300 people. “Our success is primarily down to our highly qualified and motivated team,” says Gerd Rupp who, as Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche Leipzig GmbH, manages the plant. A thousand state-of-the-art robots support the employees, taking over unpleasant manual work on their behalf.
One highlight is the 321 module, the fully automated “marriage,” which is when the body and the chassis with powertrain tie the knot. The fact that everything that belongs together always ends up together is all down to sophisticated logistics. Driverless transport vehicles glide along induction loops and deliver what’s needed. These little helpers are extremely robust and uncompromisingly punctual and boast famous Porsche racing designs developed with love.
Once it leaves the body shop, the paint shop, and assembly, each and every
car is driven on the company’s own test track. “Every customer who picks up their car in person is also given a demonstration on the track,” explains Rupp. “Not in their brand-new car, of course, but in the same model.”
Up to 2,800 customers take advantage of this experience every year.
The diamond forms a backdrop to the 2.3-mile racecourse, which was designed by Formula 1 circuit architect Hermann Tilke. The 39-foot-wide course with six straights that allow full-throttle bursts of acceleration and six braking points fulfills the requirements of professional motorsport activities and is certified by Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). It also features a 1.4-mile-long dynamic circuit with surfaces that can be watered for handling and braking exercises.
When construction began on the plant, there was no infrastructure, but there was plenty of space for Porsche to develop. Throughout history, different worlds have collided on the 326-acre off-road terrain. Now the site of constructive growth, this land was once used for destruction. From the German Empire to 1999, the space was used by alternating regimes for military purposes. Today’s 3.7-mile-long off-road track even incorporates former bunkers. The circuit offers 15 modules, including a 328-foot-long water stretch and an extreme ramp with a gradient of 80 percent. The unique terrain transforms vehicle pickup at the plant into an unforgettable event, while the Porsche Experience Center – once a mere customer center – offers ambitious
High-tech marriage: The body, engine, and chassis are joined in a fully automatic process.sporty drivers from around the world emotional experiences behind the wheel. Plant tours and first-class cuisine are now also available for visitors who just happen to stop by.
“Fred is entirely indifferent to all of that,” says Rupp smiling. Standing in a pasture in front of the plant, the boss is looking directly at an aurochs, one of 75 that Porsche settled there. Fred feels right at home on the land, which has been carefully restored to its natural state. There are also 25 Exmoor ponies free to roam, three million honeybees, and countless wild animals. “We’re taking responsibility for the environment –
inside the plant facilities and beyond,” emphasizes Rupp. While birds, deer, and badgers are enjoying a new home in the picturesque wetlands, production is practicing sustainability with efficient use of raw materials, products, and manufacturing resources as well as process optimization.
The plant has received a great many awards, including numerous prizes for its environmental protection, biodiversity, energy life cycle assessment, and use of resources. For example, it received the Lean & Green Management Award in 2021, selected from among the 250 plants from more than ten countries and 20 industrial sectors that had applied.
2021/2022 training year. Professional training on-site has grown too over the past two decades – from five trainees at the grand opening to the 120 beginners today. They come to stay, due in part to the philosophy that lifelong learning is key to success. Trained specialists regularly return to the training center for additional training.
Gerd RUPPThe Leipzig production facility is powered entirely with electricity from renewable sources. Its own photovoltaic systems alone deliver up to 5,000 megawatt hours each year. A carbon-neutral biomass plant installed directly on-site covers 80 percent of the paint shop’s heat requirements. The entire plant is already carbon-neutral on balance and should soon be classified a Zero Impact Factory , which is a production facility without a carbon footprint.
“I’m especially proud of our training center,” says Rupp, changing the subject. “It’s wonderful to see young people preparing for the future here.” Measuring 17,222 square feet in size, the expansion opened its doors in time for the
Working for Porsche is viewed as prestigious in Leipzig. The company provides jobs and attracts tourists from all over the world to the exhibition city with its selection of experiences. The sports car manufacturer supports the famous Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig as well as benefit concerts and creates cultural events for everyone to enjoy. This year’s cultural program included Wagner 22 an opera festival honoring composer Richard Wagner, who was born in Leipzig. In terms of sports, Porsche is continuing its yearslong Turbo für Talente youth initiative with RB Leipzig, the 1. Bundesliga soccer club. “When it comes to education, we tend to support socially disadvantaged children, youth, and students with training programs at the plant and with university scholarships,” explains Gerd Rupp. The company has also maintained its own management endowment chair at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management since 2013. “We’ve established ourselves here,” says the plant manager. “We receive a lot, but also give a lot back to the location.” ●
“Our success is primarily down to our team.”
18 years later, the work of art is now on display in Leipzig. Bisky is showing his first solo exhibition in the city of his childhood, at the G2 gallery located in the former East German publicly owned data processing center.
Looking much like an oversized server, the bulky concrete behemoth of a building is located in the heart of the city, just opposite St. Thomas Church and the former headquarters of the Ministry for State Security, East Germany’s infamous secret service, which is where the data from the data center would have been used. But before they could power up the server racks delivered in 1989, East Germany collapsed.
Once home to the servers, the building now houses Bisky’s paintings in bright colors. The painter stands smiling in the gallery, wearing a blue quilted jacket with fur collar and sneakers that boast red laces and are as colorful as his paintings. He actually had one of his pictures printed on the shoes, an idea developed by the painter in collaboration with a shoemaker and his curator. 250 pairs of them will soon be available for purchase. Artist merchandising and commerce – Bisky waves his hand: “It’s just a nice idea and an unbelievably comfortable shoe.” Then he turns his attention to the white rooms of the gallery, taking us on a tour of his works.
By Dirk BÖTTCHER Photos by Anatol KOTTEAblond boy with tanned skin and a look of shock on his face. The landscape is barren, with individual trees in the background.
A scene in watercolors: light green with lots of pink, white, and light. Nothing that could be classified as scary, if it weren’t for the line of men in uniform. The boy is looking into the barrels of four revolvers, surrounded by an idyllic landscape. Ich war’s nicht is the title of the picture painted by Norbert Bisky in 2003.
The Disinfotainment exhibition is an autobiographical journey, his life story on canvas, highlighting his artistic development, from delicate, sensitive watercolors depicting attractive people to monumental, dramatic worlds of images inspired by the present day. Bisky says he sometimes views his paintings as a sort of message in a bottle that people will find in a few decades, deciphering the messages it contains.
The piece Ich war’s nicht comes from a time when Bisky was processing his experiences in East Germany. He later says that the government robbed him of his youth. Norbert grew up the son of Lothar Bisky, the well-known left-wing politician and former President of the Film University Babelsberg. His brother Jens is a book author and journalist.
Though he long resisted becoming one in the first place, Norbert Bisky is one of the most important artists of our time. We catch up with the painter at his first solo exhibition at a location in Leipzig without any memories.
For his most recent creations, Bisky cuts up painted canvases and reorganizes them on mirror surfaces, leaving space for a self-portrait of the observer.
Bisky says that artists were always treated with high esteem in his parents’ home.
At the beginning of his career, some critics accused him of glorifying a dictatorship with his bright colors and beautiful young men, while others suggested associations with Leni Riefenstahl, who was involved in the production of Nazi propaganda. Bisky felt misunderstood not only in terms of his life in East Germany, but also the way in which he processed it. With a lifelong spirit of defiance, he continued painting. He browsed through newspapers and old textbooks “that had been disposed of by the thousands at schools and other institutions, but had also shaped people’s minds for decades.” He turned his attention to the things that were no longer useful to anyone. Deprived of their significance, they revealed details that no one had given much thought to, let alone dared to question. “Why did the uniforms of the People’s Police in East Germany look so much like those of the armed forces?” asks Bisky. East Germany had simply adopted the fashions of the former dictatorship – the uniforms of the fascists, just with the seams adjusted. Bisky talks about a “distressing aesthetic continuity.”
Paint. Dry. Package.
For Bisky, his paintings are much like distant relatives. He rarely ever sees them once they leave his studio in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain. His artistic approach is: Paint. Dry. Package. “Then turn my attention to the next painting.” He needs time and lots of Spanish coffee to work. “I sit in front of my paintings, walk around, and have to wait until they reveal what they want from me.” He’s always working on multiple paintings at the same time. As one is drying, he mixes the paints for the next picture.
Everything that’s finished has already been sold long ago and is then picked up. Norbert Bisky is a successful artist, which he refers to as “a dream come true.” It doesn’t bother him that people are willing to spend a great deal of money on his art. It doesn’t have any sort of effect on his work. “Buying art is never a bad thing,” he says. He thinks much the same about projects dedicated to promoting
Bisky’s mother was diagnosed with cancer when he was painting this picture. According to the artist, the piece represents that feeling when life pushes you around. The people on the canvas are falling. There’s no stability, no solid ground, and no right angles.
Bisky initially examined his experiences in East Germany with watercolors. His subsequent oil paintings are monumental and full of vibrant colors.
culture such as the Porsche program.
“I don’t have any problems working with companies that are socially responsible and ensure that thousands of people have a good job and can live a good life. But there are also companies that keep my distance from.” What’s important to him and just might be the consequence of the social upheaval he experienced: “I never want to be on the wrong side.”
In a spacious studio, Bisky stands ankledeep in colorful shreds of canvas. Trying his hand at collages, he creates scenes by gluing strips of canvas onto mirrors. A response to narcissism in society and to people who always want to see themselves, even in the work of another. Taking this idea to a whole new level, his mirror pictures provide space for observers to see a self-portrait in the work – a painting with selfie function. These works are also an attempt to rediscover the art of painting time and time again. The mirror pictures, titled Mirror Society , can be seen in the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, until August 1.
He shows us some of these works in Leipzig, including Medienzeit , which represent a departure from his monumental paintings. Bisky is curating the exhibition himself. According to Anka Ziefer, curator of the G2 gallery, there are two types of artists: “Those who have many questions and look for help. And the others, like Norbert Bisky, whom you can entrust with the walls and who present themselves and their works as a monologue.”
The building offers plenty of space for friction and creates references and links – a location without any memories, filled with purpose and now void of purpose. Art on the ground floor, a large dance club in the basement, and an upper floor with antique plaster casts. Bisky: “I quickly realized that I needed to do something here.”
With its unfinished story, this building is the best-possible backdrop for an issue that has concerned Bisky since the pandemic: communication in a world that, for many, is restricted to the computer.
The painting in the lower left-hand corner is the earliest piece in the exhibition. Bisky allows viewers to decide for themselves whether the boy is the target or simply a witness to the scene. As an echo of the fallen political system, the imagery calls to mind associations with the canon of socialist realism. Ich war’s nicht 200 × 300 cm · Oil on canvas, 2003In Bisky’s opinion, talent is overrated. It’s the determination to use it that’s decisive.
The faces of the people in pictures like the Follower painting are bathed in a special light, as if illuminated by a computer screen. “When they’re stuck at home, people reveal some of the most personal details,” says the artist. Information that not even State Security would have been able to access is now up for grabs.
At the same time, the Internet exposes us to events all over the world. “Technology creates digital nonspaces. We’re able to witness everything everywhere and in real time. When else in history has that been possible?” Bisky can remember following the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan on the screen as he was painting by the Mediterranean Sea in summer 2021.
His exhibition in Leipzig has been extended several times. Born in 1970, Bisky is a son of this city, having spent the first ten years of his life there. Leipzig had already left its mark on him by the time he learned to speak. He saw paintings for the first time at the Museum of Fine Arts, which is as much a part of his childhood as parks, gardens, and architecture. According to Bisky, the building he lived in in Waldstrassenviertel, the largest Gründerzeit district in Europe, was dripping with art nouveau. Bisky is well versed in the city’s unique vocabulary. “Where else does the waiter ask you if the meal was ‘to your satisfaction’?” For him, Leipzig has always been “the civilized, bourgeois urban alternative” to Berlin excess.
His journey into the world of art began in 1994 with his studies under Georg Baselitz at the Berlin University of the Arts. Born in 1938, Baselitz achieved fame with his figurative, expressive paintings particularly in the 1970s. It was also Baselitz who encouraged Bisky to examine his origins through his art, focusing on key questions: Who are you? Where do you come from? But that’s exactly what Bisky had been avoiding: “I wanted to forget my experiences in East Germany.” Ultimately giving in, he painted a picture inspired by his childhood – and hasn’t been able to let go of the topic ever since. Bisky
first found his answers in watercolors, a technique that Bisky unfairly associates with amateurs. “On closer inspection, it looks so simple and banal. But everything that’s supposed to look simple is difficult. I like those kinds of contradictions.”
The watercolors he used to examine his East German past are almost playful; a fact he attributes to a deep longing for lightness, leisure, fun, and joy. “I didn’t have any of that when I was little. My time at school was nothing but propaganda, shaped by fear and pressure,” says Bisky, remembering back. Then suddenly in 1990 – during his basic military service in the National People’s Army – the wall came down, and East Germany simply ceased to exist. “The whole thing was so absurd,” says Bisky. Like many other young people in East Germany, he had to think about what he wanted to do with his life.
Becoming an artist was out of the question. Even as a child, Bisky had always been interested in art, but how would he even go about becoming an artist? The teachers in East Germany had always dismissed thoughts like these, telling students to do what society needed them to. But what was that?
In 1993, he submitted his application portfolio to the University of the Arts and
completed the, in his words, laughable tests that were supposed to assess his talent. “The course is designed for people with extraordinary talent,” a quote that Bisky still makes fun of to this day. “If there’s something an artist doesn’t need, it’s talent,” he claims. “They need determination.”
But for Bisky, there’s something even more important: “Emotions are my work materials.” He takes them to a whole new level, especially in the Dies Irae piece completed in 2016. Measuring more than 23 feet in length, the painting depicts apocalyptic scenes “in beautiful colors,” emphasizes Bisky, “like those you’d find at an Italian ice cream parlor.” People are tumbling through the air, a never-ending plummet. He was driven by a sense of instability: “Everyone was talking about the catastrophe, the climate, the environment – the balance was gone.”
Embracing this instability, he painted individuals who are hurling through time. There’s no solid ground, and everything’s in motion.
This also describes Norbert Bisky’s existence to this day: “I feel like I still have so much ahead of me – like I’m still just getting started with so many things. I will be an artist until my last breath.” ●
G2 Kunsthalle: Since it was founded in 2015, the private nonprofit institution in the heart of the city has supported young artists and organized special exhibition projects. The building was intended to be used for data processing in the days of East Germany.Mr. Röhrl, do you like birthdays?
A look back: what has been more and less important over the past 75 years?
Not in the least. I’ve never really liked recognition of any kind. I felt uncomfortable accepting every trophy, and I haven’t done a thing to earn my birthday.
The most important step was probably when I left my career as an administrative employee to pursue motorsport. I wanted to find out if it was merely a dream. Earning money that way was less important to me and has never interested me throughout my career.
Do you remember how you earned money the first time and what you spent it on?
How did your first professional collaboration with Porsche come about?
I do. I earned 365 deutsche mark a month during my training and saved 360 of that for my first car. I didn’t really need the five marks for spending money because I never went to restaurants or anything like that. My life was work and, in my free time, sports. I saved up until was able to buy a used Porsche 356. I was 21 years old. It had to be a Porsche because, as my brother taught me, they never broke down. wouldn’t have been able to afford the repairs.
It was 1981 and Mercedes had just cancelled a planned program for the World Rally Championship at the last minute. But was still paid. The Porsche Chief Development Officer at that time, Helmuth Bott, called me and said, “Mr. Röhrl, we can afford you under these circumstances.” I accepted and hoped that Porsche would compete in the World Championship. I then drove a 924 Carrera GTS in the German Championship and ultimately competed in a single World Championship race, Rallye Sanremo. Who knows? If I’d won in the 911 SC, it might have led to the World Championship. But the driveshaft broke, and we lost. I had to find a different team for 1982. Ten years later, I did race for Porsche and became a test driver.
Because he’s turned off by all of the attention, he once even avoided the third World Rally Championship. Nonetheless, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish him happy birthday – he turns 75 on March 7. In Leipzig, a city that’s special to him.
Jumping from 1981 to 2000, what does the Carrera GT mean to you?
What’s your connection to Leipzig, where the Carrera GT was built between 2003 and 2006?
Working on this super sports car was one of the best jobs in my life. I was fortunate enough to be able to observe the entire development process from the very first moment. We had to overcome a lot of challenges at the beginning.
I was there when the plant opened its doors and was fascinated by the fact that visionary people like former President and CEO Wendelin Wiedeking had the courage to build a new plant there in a green space. For true Porsche enthusiasts like me, the Cayenne was something foreign at first. I was involved in development in a supervisory capacity. Even the Panamera and Macan models had to accompany me on the Nordschleife.
I was impressed by how Porsche managed to apply the sports car genes to the two SUVs and the large sedan. All three of them are benchmarks in their segment.
If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Is there anything that people say about you that isn’t true? Who or what inspires you?
I would wish to be more patient because it would make every aspect of my life easier. When I’m driving and see a truck in the distance, I get annoyed because I know it’ll slow me down.
Anyone who watches the rally videos from the 1980s, with us racing by at 95 mph in close proximity to spectators, will probably think I’m cold and unfeeling. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m extremely sensitive. Just about anything can keep me up at night, which is hard to imagine for many. Even I find the old videos shocking today. But that’s how rallies were back then. Fortunately, I never injured anyone.
Anyone who’s especially talented. Whenever I see an amazing skier or another great athlete, I immediately think to myself: I need to get out there and train and get in better shape.
What was the biggest moment in your career?
What do you wish for for the future?
When we drove the six miles from the last service point in La Turbie to Monaco at 8 o’clock in the morning in 1980. The sun was reflecting off the sea, and I had achieved my goal in life, which was to win Rallye Monte-Carlo. I’d never dreamed about the European or World Championship titles.
Health and peace, which for me go hand in hand. The pandemic has also shown me how important it is to be healthy. And I’ve had the fortune to live 75 years without war in my environment, which is a huge privilege. ●
FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS OF STEEL.
ONE THOUSAND DEGREES OF INTENSE HEAT.
THE REST OF THE WORLD DISAPPEARS.
In his hometown of San Francisco, the movie star and martial artist talks about his Asian roots and the search for the right balance – both in life and on the racecourse.
Yin: As a schoolboy, Daniel Wu was able to select the color of his father’s Porsche 911 G series – Cassis Red – a choice he’s still proud of to this day.
By Bastian FUHRMANN
Arrival at the Great Star Theater in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
Daniel Wu parks the Porsche 911 Carrera – a G series built in 1988 –in front of the theater he once went to with his grandfather. The building’s Chinese temple–inspired roof blends harmoniously with the surrounding architecture. At the age of seven, Wu saw his first-ever martial arts movie here in 1982. The classic film Shaolin Temple featuring action star Jet Li opened up a whole new world for Wu. “The actor’s first motion picture was absolutely unbelievable. The action scenes are still legendary to this day.” Growing up as a Chinese American, the Hollywood star remembers not having any role models that looked like him on the silver screen.
“Seeing someone that looked like me on-screen was a real turning point for me.” He and his grandfather left the theater feeling exhilarated, but Daniel would have to wait another five years to finally be able to learn kung fu himself.
“My Mom was worried I’d get into fights at school. So she wouldn’t let me start until I was twelve years old and had found the right master.”
Yang: The Porsche 911 GT3 Touring forms the harmonizing contrast to the nostalgic G series. Wu also uses it for track days.“ The car immediately brings back good memories for my father.”
Wu did eventually find him – and is still inspired by him to this day: “Master Chiang was a fascinating man who not only had mastered kung fu, tai chi, and qigong, but was also accomplished in Chinese brush painting and traditional Chinese medicine and was even a lawyer. In addition to martial arts, he also taught me how to rediscover my Asian roots as an American by understanding ancient concepts like yin and yang,” says Wu, who’s well acquainted with the Asian philosophy of dualism. “Yin and yang represent the elemental forces of all being and are actually older than Chinese characters. If you accept the
two contrary characters – the feminine yin and masculine yang – they form a balance of harmony. That’s an area of focus in my life,” says Wu. He learned this lesson early on as he studied different martial arts. He later taught kung fu himself as head trainer at the University of Oregon. “The art of tai chi is all about achieving a kind of balance. According to a proverb, too much of a good thing can be bad. So I try to maintain a good balance in everything I do,” explains the 47-year-old.
The Great Star Theater he’s standing in front of now not only represents an important memory for the actor, but also recently hosted a podium talk about Daniel Wu’s roots in the Bay Area, how he ended up in the Hong Kong film industry, and about his new movie Reminiscence Wu plays the role of villain Saint Joe next to Hugh Jackman in the blockbuster. There are, of course, some fight scenes, but Wu refuses to be reduced to martial arts. “I went to Hong Kong in 1997 and got involved in the film industry there. Out of the nearly 70 films did there over a period of twenty years, only three involved martial arts. And in the US, did the TV show Into the Badlands .” The martial arts series employs artistic exaggeration. “It’s hard to leave this stereotype behind. Kung fu has given me a lot, but I think that reducing my entire acting career to just that is too one-dimensional.”
In addition to acting and martial arts, motorsport is another component of Daniel Wu’s three-dimensionality. He has a racing license issued by the IMSA and Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), which has allowed him to compete in various races. It’s a passion that Wu shares with movie legend Jackie Chan, whom he calls a friend and mentor. “We just happened to meet at a party in Hong Kong and immediately exchanged phone numbers. A week later he became my manager, which lasted for eleven years.” The two have since filmed several movies together and have gotten very close over the years.
“He has always treated me like a son,” says Wu fondly. Due to his unbelievable work ethic and passion, Jackie Chan has also had a huge impact on Wu’s outlook on life. “Jackie’s love, care, and
generosity for the people around him are truly extraordinary. I try to live my life just like him,” says Wu. “And he’s just as crazy about cars as I am!”
Wu’s favorite racecourse is the Laguna Seca raceway near San Francisco Bay, just two hours from Oakland, where he lives with his wife and daughter. He has suitable sports equipment in his garage at home, including two Porsche 911 models. He drove his Cassis Red Carrera G series into Chinatown today, with the 2018 Carmine Red 911 GT3 (991) Touring waiting patiently at home. “The two of them are my yin and yang, old and new, on four wheels – for the road and the racecourse.”
His father acquired the Carrera when he retired. “Dad had never owned a sports car and wasn’t all that interested in cars,” says Wu. “I can remember the evening he showed up in my room all excited and told me that he was going to buy a Porsche and that I could choose the color.” Even though it was more than 30 years ago, he can vividly remember seeing it for the first time. “I was at school and couldn’t sit still because I knew that my dad would be picking me up in the Porsche for
the first time. I told all of my classmates. When they saw the car, they all made fun of me, saying ‘Your dad bought a pink Porsche!’” Wu remembers being really upset. But he was still proud of the fact that he had chosen such a rare color.
“And Cassis Red is now more in style than ever before.”
Whenever Daniel Wu drives the car, he always thinks about his father, who has Alzheimer’s. “A terrible disease. I visit him as often as possible. Unfortunately, his dementia is pretty far advanced, but he always remembers his 3.2-liter Carrera. The car immediately brings back good memories for him whenever he sees it.” His son took over the car ten years ago. “My dad was almost 80 years old. It was noticeably harder for him to work the steering wheel and sporty clutch.
The Coupé had more than 60,000 miles on it – and still had that new-car smell.”
Wu uses the GT3 Touring, his yang, on more spacious highways and for track days on racecourses. “Without yin, it wouldn’t be as important for me as it is.”
The GT3 is a real eye-catcher on the streets of San Francisco. Unfortunately, exclusive sports cars tend to stay
hidden in garages here, says Wu. “When people wave at me enthusiastically, it’s not because they recognize me. It’s because of the Porsche!”
According to Wu, people in Los Angeles tend to flaunt what they have. He and fellow actor Sung Kang, who’s known for his role in the Fast and Furious series and is his partner in Student Driver , an automotive lifestyle and fashion brand, recently organized a special car event there in response to the increasing hostility against Asians in the US.
“We weren’t expecting all that many people, but more than a thousand showed up,” explains Wu enthusiastically. “When we combine a good cause with our passion for cars, that’s a good thing.” The proceeds went to victims of violence.
You have to wonder how Daniel Wu finds the time for all of his commitments. The answer requires an understanding of spiritual energy: “Everything that makes me who I am originates in martial arts. My drive and my ambition to overcome challenges of all kinds are rooted in the lessons I learned from Master Chiang. I use these abilities professionally, socially, and on every inch of the racecourse.” ●
Wu became world-famous as Sunny in Into the Badlands. The martial arts of the Far East conquered Western movie theaters in the 1970s. Bruce Lee movies were popular the world over, and Jackie Chan has kept the genre alive with fearless stunts and slapstick.
Shipshape: For Wu, old and new create a harmonious balance, just like the balance between traditional wisdom and a modern lifestyle.
Memories: When the movie star takes the 33-year-old car out for a spin, he can’t help but think of his father.
By the end, they weren’t in any hurry. The three Porsche 956 cars up front had such a comfortable lead that they were able to line up for the perfect finish line photo a number of laps before the end of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That’s not to say the classic endurance race was a walk in the park for the Porsche factory team in 1982 – the number 2 car’s speed limiter had to be replaced, while the number 3 car, which was in the lead for a long time, suffered wheel bearing and shaft seal failures and the driver’s door flew off. Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell in the number 1 car made it through the day and night without any notable mishaps and led the trio.
Overall, the reliability and performance of the 956 were more than impressive for a race car which saw the Motorsport department entering completely unknown territory. Team Coordinator Jürgen Barth had performed the first laps in it at the proving ground in Weissach less than three months before the season highlight. Project Manager Norbert Singer took the tried-and-true type 935/76 six-cylinder, four-stroke boxer engine with two KKK turbochargers from the 1981 Porsche 936, but everything else had been changed. It was the first time the chassis of a Porsche race car was based not on a space frame, but on an aluminum monocoque. For the first time, Porsche had constructed what’s known as a wing car with a curved underbody that works like an inverted wing. On corners, the 956 applies itself to the asphalt with up to 3 g – without any increase in drag.
The turbo era marked the beginning of a new age. The performance figures increased sharply. Ickx and Bell had already achieved average speeds of above 124 mph in Le Mans with the Porsche 936 in 1981. The officials then responded for safety reasons, and tank size, fueling processes, and fuel volumes were strictly limited in the Group C category that applied from 1982. For the first time in 1982, the Porsche pit in Le Mans featured a computer used to monitor consumption and optimize the fueling strategy. Engine performance, which was reduced in favor of range, was around 620 hp with a compression ratio of 7.2:1. Even so, Ickx and Bell beat their previous year’s speed record!
As the neatly aligned Porsche trio edged toward victory, things began to happen very fast. Thousands of fans stormed onto the finishing straight and couldn’t be contained. The organizer then abruptly declared the race over on the Mulsanne hairpin and the cars were guided to the parc fermé after the Ford chicane.
The team was nevertheless delighted. A beaming Jacky Ickx was crowned Le Mans winner for the sixth time, while Derek Bell scored his third win. The one-two-three win was the first milestone in the history of the most successful sport prototype ever. Only one person was not so happy that Sunday in June – the Porsche photographer, who never got his finish line photo.
The most recent project of the largest Porsche Club in the world was the result of intercontinental exchange: it is a one-off composition of choice ingredients from different generations of the Porsche 911.
It is the lamentable condition of this Porsche 911 Carrera that made it a non-seller for a dealer in Virginia. A wheel is sticking out, the locking system doesn’t work, and it won’t even start. But it is a type 996 built in 1998. And it is therefore precisely what the Porsche Club of America (PCA) is looking for. Because the club has a plan.
This plan – code name: Project Grey –was hatched in August 2019 in California. The club directors are sitting in a diner with Alexander Fabig, Vice President of Individualization and Classic at Porsche. Over burgers and fries, they come up with an idea that Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) plays a part in, too. “We wanted to create something unique together that would be received enthusiastically,” remembers PCA President Tom Gorsuch.
Founded in 1955, the club is one of the oldest of its kind and, with 145,000 members, is also the world’s biggest.
Porsche previously produced special series exclusively for PCA members to mark both the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the club. These 911 Club Coupe series were limited to 50 and 60 vehicles respectively. Under the motto Revive the Passion , Porsche Classic additionally restored a 911 T Coupé together with the PCA in 2011 and raffled it off among club members. Project Grey is designed to extend this tradition while simul taneously sweetening a bitter pill – in 2009, the 911 Sport Classic based on the type 997 and in a limited edition of 250 caused quite a stir, but could not be sold in the USA. The special model lacked US approval for its roof with the lowered center area – the so-called double-bubble roof. “That hurt,” admits Fabig. “We therefore came up with the idea of continuing the story of that model with its predecessor. And it was to be a one-off.” And so the 911 (996) Classic Club Coupe was born.
For the purposes of explanation, what was discussed in the diner three years previously was an extremely unconventional aficionados’ menu featuring various 911 generations – a composition of choice ingredients that don’t, technically speaking, go together. And it was the 996 of all things, which was built from 1997 to 2006, that was the most controversially discussed, with what was then a new water cooling system and an unconventional front headlamp design. “We could have made things easier for ourselves, for example had we done without the GT3 powertrain,” says Vu Nguyen, PCA Executive Director. “But we were striving for excellence.”
The Classic Factory Restoration facility in Stuttgart therefore reinforced the body in line with the GT3 (996). It was also given the GT3’s exhaust system, nose, rear, and sills. Talking of the rear, the chefs decided on a ducktail, too –as a homage to the rear wing of the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 of 1972. The body
part between the rear window and tail was handmade.
“We obviously didn’t want to do without the double bubble again,” says Fabig, commenting on the roof construction, which is likewise nothing like the original 996. “It was tricky. But we ultimately won the authorities round – that was a project milestone.” The 911 Classic Club Coupe also sports newly developed and hand-forged 18-inch Fuchsfelge® wheels. The PCA’s wishes and the ideas of Porsche Classic added up to some serious challenges. “This incredible car nevertheless looks seamless,” says a delighted Tom Gorsuch. The absolutely one-of-a-kind 911 was developed in collaboration with Porsche designer Grant Larson, who was also responsible for the look of the 997 Sport Classic. It is in Sport Grey Metallic with subtle, light-grey decorative strips bordered in the familiar Club Blue.
“This is such an outstanding project for many reasons, including the many
hurdles it had to overcome,” says Larson. “The passion of everyone involved endorses me in what do at Porsche: we want to make dreams come true.” Fabig states: “With the right team, huge motivation, and a great deal of ambition, we jointly achieved something that seemed impossible.” Vu Nguyen will soon be able to tell the car dealer in Virginia and the club members that Porsche can turn what others can only dream of into a reality. ●
Team USA: Vu Nguyen (left) and Tom Gorsuch discussing the project digitally.
Bathed in grey: The Porsche 911 (996) undergoing cathodic dip coating.
Retro: 18-inch wheels in the legendary Fuchsfelge® wheel design were created for the 911 (996) Classic Club Coupe
A challenging combination: The marriage of the 996 body and the GT3 engine.
“ We were striving for excellence.”
Project Grey: The finished one-off based on a 24-year-old Porsche 911 (996) Carrera.
Christina Hettich • Editorial office Delius Klasing Corporate Publishers (DKCP), Germany; Editors-in-chief: Thomas Ammann, Edwin Baaske; Head of content: Heike Hientzsch; Editor: Christina Rahmes; Project management: Stephanie Bremer, Marco Brinkmann, Laura Holstein; Image editing: Markus Bolsinger; Head of production: Dimitrios Kigmas • Graphics design hoch drei GmbH & Co. KG, Germany; Art direction: Wolfram Schäffer; Layout: Ioannis Karanasios, Mark Ch. Klein, Freya von Bülow • International editions Wieners+Wieners GmbH • Contact Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Christophorus, Porscheplatz 1, 70435 Stuttgart, Germany; Tel.: +49-711-911-25278; E-mail: christophorus@porsche.de • Advertisement marketing EV Media, Alsterufer 16, 20354 Hamburg, Germany; Advertising director: Armin Roth, Tel.: +49-40-6077193-11; E-mail: armin.roth@ev-media.com • Production and printing The Hennegan Company, An RRD Company, Florence, KY. All rights reserved. Reprint of articles or portions thereof only with permission of the publisher. We are not responsible for the return of any unsolicited photographs, slides, films, or manuscripts. • Subscriptions Christophorus can be obtained by calling 1-800-PORSCHE, Option 3. The subscription runs for at least a year and is also billed for this period. Please make payment only upon receipt of the bill.
Handcrafted by Mercury Racing for the high-performance disciple craving unrelenting power on the water, the Mercury Racing 450R outboard engine makes the paramount performance statement. Boosted by an exclusive Mercury Racing supercharger, the 4.6-liter V-8 FourStroke powerhead delivers 450 peak horsepower. Run wide open, without compromise.
Dare to dream and never give up.
Radka Leitmeritz: Born in the Czech Republic, Leitmeritz is revolutionizing tennis photography. This self-portrait in vintage look was shot in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Cathedral without walls: For the photographer, this tennis court in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona, is the most beautiful court in the world.
Barbora Strýcová: She celebrated her biggest successes in doubles. Leitmeritz presents her as Eve.
Radka Leitmeritz is impossible to miss at the quaint beach cafe on the Pacific coast. Of course, she came straight here from tennis practice, wearing an 80s jacket with a greenish-yellow pattern and the word “Tennis” embroidered on it a thousand times, a silver necklace with tennis racket pendant, and a white cap with mint-green tennis ball print. Sporting this outfit, she could easily appear in one of those unforgettable movies that romanticize tennis such as Woody Allen’s Match Point . Leitmeritz likes the visual style of the 2005 melodramatic thriller.
“I grew up in a concrete block not too far from Prague,” says the 47-year-old. “For me, tennis was an unattainable sport. I had a romantic idea of what it was: people go to the club, wear beautiful vintage clothing, and drink lemonade on the terrace.” This world was far removed from her actual life in the Czech Republic. Leitmeritz went to Munich and worked as a photo assistant before moving on to Paris. As a trained photographer, she made the bold decision to try her luck in Los Angeles, where she has worked with stars such as Nicole Kidman.
It was also there that she discovered her passion for tennis. She took her first lesson just four years ago: “I was immediately hooked and wanted to learn everything about the sport.” What happened next is proof that pursuing your passion is often rewarded with success. “The editorial team of the Czech edition of ELLE magazine noticed that I was always posting tennis photos on social media, which ultimately led to a request to photograph Petra Kvitová.” The famous photo showing the
The ongoing photo project of Porsche Central and Eastern Europe, Porsche AG, and Radka Leitmeritz (above) is an artistic homage to the powerful women of tennis. World-class female players such as Petra Kvitová and Martina Navratilova as well as Porsche brand ambassadors Julia Görges, Angelique Kerber, and Maria Sharapova have already posed for the camera. As winners of the Stuttgart Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, all five of them have also driven away from the competition in a Porsche 911 as a prize. The 2022 tournament will be held from April 16 to 24.
The sports car manufacturer has supported women’s tennis since 1978 and has continuously expanded its activities on an international basis.
two-time Wimbledon champion on the steps of a dilapidated stand was captured during this 2018 shoot. Her back is turned toward the camera, and her clothes and body are covered in red sand. The tennis world had never seen anything like it. Players usually only appear in two types of photos: in action on the court and styled to the nines for fashion magazines. “Eventually that just gets boring,” says Leitmeritz, who has a different vision: “I want to capture the moments that no one else photographs.” There’s always a photo of the winner – but at a Grand Slam tournament, 127 other female players leave with a loss: “I want to reveal the world of tennis behind the scenes – the loser’s tears, her loneliness in her hotel room, moments in the locker room.”
The photo of Kvitová opened the door to this often inaccessible world for her – and as it turns out, there are many female players who are eager to experiment. They wear the clothing of sponsors on the court and that of designers during fashion shoots. “They’ve noticed that I’m more interested in exploring their different personalities,” says Leitmeritz. And that’s why you’ll find Bianca Andreescu in the shower, Barbora Strýcová as Eve with a tennis ball representing an apple, and Angelique Kerber in black and white in a seemingly endless corridor. The photographer manages to capture the essence of these individualists, while remaining true to her retro aesthetic.
Her photos blur the line between life and art. She appreciates scenes like the pantomime tennis game in the park at the end of the 1966 movie Blow Up “I look for character –even at locations.” Abandoned venues, swimming pools, and tennis courts fascinate her. “You never know what happened there, so you can let your imagination run wild.”
Leitmeritz has actually given the sport that romantic quality she dreamed of as a child. And how does she view herself in this cosmos?
More images: You can find more of the extraordinary photographer’s photos with captions at christophorus.porsche.com
As a Porsche fan, she agrees to conduct an experiment and photograph herself exclusively for Christophorus which will be a challenge: “I don’t like to have my picture taken, but I wanted to see what it was like. Me in the tennis world.” ●
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The tennis world’s female idols are happy to model for celebrity photographer Radka Leitmeritz, who poses in front of the camera herself exclusively for Christophorus.
World first: Available as special equipment for all 2022 Taycan models, the panoramic roof boasts an impressive innovation: all nine segments can be controlled individually thanks to an electrically switchable liquid-crystal film, with two shading variants ensuring even greater comfort.
Plenty of room: The Taycan Sport Turismo shares the rearward-sloping roofline and the functional design of the Taycan Cross Turismo. The headroom in the rear is more than 45 millimeters greater than that in the Taycan sports saloon, and the load capacity under the large tailgate is over 42 cubic feet.
Happy medium: The performance data of the models with the legendary GTS abbreviation fall between those of the Taycan 4S and the Turbo derivatives. They can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and have a top track speed of 155 mph.
50 Years of Porsche Design – the anniversary is at the heart of the special exhibition of the same name at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Until July 10, 2022, visitors can explore the history of the company founded by Prof. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche. And Porsche is commemorating the special occasion with two exclusive vehicles: a special edition of the Porsche 911 limited to 750 cars worldwide and a restored 911 S 2.4 Targa from 1972. Available in the shop at porsche-design.com, the book titled Porsche Design: It’s about time documents the studio’s success story with spectacular images, and features commentary in both German and English.
All of the services at a glance: the new My Porsche app combines the features of multiple apps – My Porsche Essentials, Connect, and Car Connect as well as Charging – to create a central interface. Further features and content from other apps, such as the Porsche Good to Know app, are already in development. My Porsche is compatible with vehicle models from 2016 and later. In combination with a smartphone, the versatile tool displays key vehicle parameters, serves as a remote control for selected functions, helps with charging processes and contacting dealers, and answers many questions in 25 languages.
The first Porsche Studio in North America will soon be opening its doors in Portland, Oregon. With the urban sales format at prime locations, Porsche is improving its proximity to friends of the brand and reaching new target groups. In addition to tailored vehicle configuration, virtual reality applications, and Porsche Driver’s Selection, the program will also offer test-drives and in-person vehicle pickup. New brand touchpoints have been created with 17 Porsche Studios around the world and more than 20 temporary Porsche NOW sales pop-ups in 23 countries, including in Tainan, Taiwan; and in Hanoi, Vietnam (photo).
IT S ABOUT TIME. BORN IN 1972. REDEFINED IN 2022.
The first Porsche Design product. The world’s first all-black watch. The first chronograph with Porsche DNA that meets the expectations and quality requirements of Porsche. Designed in 1972 by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the designer of the legendary Porsche 911 and founder of Porsche Design, and reissued in 2022 in celebration of the 50-year brand anniversary: the Chronograph 1 – 1972 Limited Edition (500 pieces). Innovative technology. Iconic design. porsche-design.com/50y
CHRONOGRAPH 1 – 1972 LIMITED EDITION
© 2022 | Porsche Design of America, Inc.
Palma, Majorca
Heading for Tampa, Florida, Johans Lamic takes to the skies in August 2019. He flies often and is usually in the cockpit. But this time the commercial airline pilot has a private appointment with the air-cooled car of his dreams, the 1984 Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera Targa, which he has found online. It’s love at first sight. And then the sound. “Huge emotions!” says the 42-year-old Frenchman. “I could feel the car’s soul instantly and fell head over heels in love with the traditional driving experience.”
He laughs at himself, the cheerful sound filling the entire studio. Located in a twisting alley in Palma, the capital of Majorca, his work space almost feels too cramped for a man like him, who stands six and a half feet tall from his skateboard sneakers to his gaucho hat.
He sees to the freight documents in Tampa and has the car restored in Europe, taking it back to the 1960s. Longer hood, different bumper, and the rear wing has to go. The first owner, a dentist in Massachusetts, ordered the Targa with the imposing turbo wing of the 930 model built in 1974. Because the flowing lines are reminiscent of a whale’s tail fin,
its nickname is Whale Tail Lamic instantly realizes that it’s “much too beautiful and much too valuable to simply throw away.”
He has the decades-old object repainted and hangs it on the wall as a decoration. Beautiful. But something’s missing. After studying the piece at great length, Lamic has something akin to a revelation: “The rear wing is an aerodynamic component, and air is basically water in a different state, which is how came up with the idea of a drop design.” Over a period of weeks, he experiments with synthetic resin, fiddling about with the design and stability of the drops. “They followed me into my dreams and robbed me of any sleep,” he says, amused. But he actually discovers a technical solution for the perfect drop, and thus The Whale Tail Project is born. Lamic begins moonlighting as a whaler, spending countless hours surfing the net in search of more of the popular tail fins, talking on the phone, and corresponding with potential sellers.
In his hands, the hard-to-find rear wings are transformed into sculptures in a look reminiscent of Porsche racing teams of days gone by. The Martini Racing design serves as inspiration for the light-blue and orange combination of the Gulf paint job, ultimately an interpretation of the pink 917/20 that competed as Pink Pig in Le Mans in 1971. The colors of the successful Brumos team and Kremer Racing provide additional inspiration. The sixth edition is now here and boasts the colors of the vehicles sponsored by Rothmans, with the first
one secured by none other than racing legend Jacky Ickx. Many details of Lamic’s work pay homage to authentic racing technology. To stabilize the sculptures, he builds a structure inside much like a roll cage using pipes with a diameter of 1.26 inches, like those also used in Porsche race cars. Even the size, color, and typeface of the small signs that display the collection names of each piece correspond to those of the original stickers in Porsche engine compartments.
Before long, his sculptures are in demand both at home and abroad, with Lamic exhibiting his works of art at numerous locations in the US, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Dubai. His goal is to create a total of nine design editions, each limited to eleven pieces.
When he’s not flying or designing art, he enjoys his Stone Grey Targa. “I like the feeling of freedom when the top’s down, the smell of pine in Serra de Tramuntana, Majorca, and cruising the winding roads.” Mastering curves is his forte. Born in Paris, he grew up on the Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe, where he discovers his passion for basketball. After finishing school, he packs his bags and leaves for France to play professionally. At the same time, he studies law for a few semesters before changing direction again and assuming the role of marketing and sales director of an electronics company, with a focus on the region of Southeast France. With his new salary, he can afford to take his first flying lessons, devouring books about aviation and flying theory and training at home with a flight simulation program.
He starts his pilot training in his mid twenties, flying in Turkey, Rwanda, and the Congo, and becomes a captain based at London Heathrow. And then there’s his chosen home, Majorca, his flights of fancy to locations all over the world, and his curiosity about the next curve. ●
A captain falls in love with a wing, reinvents himself as an artist, and manages to fascinate Jacky Ickx.Inspiration: Johans Lamic designs his sculptures in the colors of the famous race cars. The pink 1971 Porsche 917/20 served as his muse here.
“I could actually feel its soul.”
Johans LAMIC
Way down at 1,762 feet below sea level is where this Porsche Taycan set off on a world record journey from a mine in Michigan up to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado – at 14,115 feet, one of the highest mountains in America. The altitude difference: 2.98 miles. It is the first car in the world to do this.
Place Time
Photo by
Eagle Mine in Michigan, USA September 27, 2021
Camden Thrasher
