Norbert Singer: chassis engineer and aerodynamicist

In the late 1960s, space exploration was making all the headlines, and such was the rate of progress that by the end of the decade a man had walked on the Moon. As he studied engineering at Munich University, Norbert Singer was so impressed by such developments that he contemplated a future in what we now call aerospace. But after graduation and as he looked more closely at opportunities in Germany, he realised that such research projects were limited. By contrast the car industry was expanding as never before. He saw an advertisement for a race engineer at Porsche: as a keen motorsport photographer, Singer knew the maker of the 911 was punching well above its weight. His application was accepted, and in spring 1970 he began at Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.

“I went straight into the racing department and the sort of jobs I was given involved detailed work on fuel pick-up and gearbox cooling.” Today Singer is known above all for his aerodynamic work, but then aerodynamic tasks were not specificially on the agenda: “I used to carry out my aero investigations in the lunch break,” he says. At Porsche though, responsibility came fast. By August 1970 he was the team race engineer at Zeltweg, where Marko and Larrousse were running a 917 with ABS. “I never considered working for another company. At Porsche,