911 suspension evolution
Throughout the 15-year career of the 356, Porsche had managed to adapt the swing axle rear suspension sprung with torsion bars that Dr Porsche had originally designed for the Beetle. In the early 1950s, the swing rear axle was a conventional configuration used by many manufacturers, including Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz. Fine tuning and careful weight distribution ensured that in the case of the 356, the oversteer characteristic of swing axles was kept at bay until very high cornering speeds were reached.
Porsche realised, however, that with the 356’s successor a more sophisticated approach would be needed. Zuffenhausen considered a Watts linkage of the type used on its 718 racer, but ultimately decided against this on the grounds of cost and the limited space at the 901’s rear. The soon-to-be-renamed 911 dispensed with the 356’s solid rear axle in favour of two half-shafts (as on BMW’s Neue Klasse 1500) located by steel radius arms with the springing, as on). Zuffenhausen might otherwise have considered the double wishbone setup that Helmuth Bott had investigated on a crash-damaged 356 that he rebuilt.
