WHALE TALE

MOBY DICK SEPARATED the men from the boys, a brutal and evil racing car named after the malevolent whale from the novel of the same name by Herman Melville. And why? In 1978, Porsche made a laughing stock of technical regulations and put an extraordinary aero dress over the 911. Because of its large dimensions, the elongated rear and the front with the headlamps below, it really did resemble a whale. Its way-out looks, combined with a 630kW turbo engine, legendarily propelled the purpose-built beast to the world sports car title.

Now I’m here at Germany’s Lausitzring circuit, and in front of me is that very car, still in its Martini livery, the car in which Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass won the six-hour race at