Manfred Jantke

Manfred Jantke attended 23 Le Mans races and saw 11 Porsche victories. It’s a hell of a stat that underlines not only his longevity at Porsche, but the golden age at which he was present at the company: “Porsche was consistently the top race car and the top race team,” Jantke tells us from a quiet corner of Porscheplatz. “What I learned was that it is not the best driver or the fastest car that wins, it’s the driver and the team that make no mistakes. If the mechanics in Weissach overtighten bearings, for example, the engine will fail. Zero mistakes – that was the key to Porsche’s successes.”

Although he left the firm more than a quarter of a century ago, Jantke still exudes that sense of commitment, the fundamental belief in what they were doing which exemplifies so many Porsche men from the time. “Preparation is also a German strength – witness Audi’s string of victories, and it’s especially so among the Swabians who made up Porsche. Ferrari by contrast was always creative, capable of fantastic cars, but never had the zero-mistake element.

“And the Japanese,” he asks rhetorically, “why have they always struggled