WHEN PETER TOOK HELMUTH FLYING

Dr Porsche began in 1930 as an engineering consultant and over the next two decades his company did design work on a range of vehicles. After a hiatus of two years during which Dr Porsche was imprisoned by the French, his son Ferry resurrected the company, initially as a repairer of military vehicles and then as a builder of sports cars based on components from Volkswagen that Dr Porsche had established and managed until 1945.

Although Porsche was a manufacturer in its own right, it retained a strong consultancy emphasis. Central to Porsche was Ferry’s relationship with Heinz Nordhoff, the post-war chief of VW. The latter supplied running gear to Porsche and in return Porsche carried out engineering and body design for VW, an arrangement that lasted until the early 1970s.

Helmuth Bott, Porsche’s engineering director, re-established Porsche’s R&D, which was now based at a new site at Weissach, 25km from the company’s