Carrera FROM THE START

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, and especially for smaller motor manufacturers, far-reaching decisions were sometimes made on the hoof. Choosing a name for a model in the product line-up back then was often quite a simple task, as car engineer turned racing driver Jürgen Barth explains.

“It was not as complicated as you might think. In later years when we created the 964 3.8, we just thought, okay we will use the name Carrera and RSR, because the RSR was a good car in the past and so we should use it again. This was also a little bit of a psychological decision.” Today, of course, the process is quite different and might involve an international PR agency, focus groups, test groups, feedback, numerous committee meetings… the list goes on.

With heritage and tradition running deep within the workshops of Porsche’s racing department, the origins of that all-important Carrera name merits an in-depth search. There’s no mistaking that Porsche’s participation in the legendary Carrera Panamericana, a 2,000-mile race across the Mexican outback in the early 1950s, had a lot to do with it. But this was no committee decision, and there were no focus groups involved because Ferry Porsche