Total 911: It must be an exciting time now that Manthey has an official link with Porsche?
Michael Grassl: Of course. We’ve taken some big steps as a company over the past 25 years when Olaf [Manthey] founded Manthey. There were some great milestones like the first 24-hour race, Le Mans and then of course getting Porsche on board.
Where did the company start back in 1996?
Olaf founded the company along with his wife, Renate. He used to be a race driver and was quite successful for different brands and manufacturers. He got to a point where he didn’t just think it was cool to win the races as a driver, but to also win them as a boss with your own team – that’s where it began.
He started with motorsport in general, but Olaf also had an eye on street cars, so the history of Manthey being involved in street cars started a long time ago. He even founded a brand called Manthey Motors at that time, where he only dealt with street cars and developed parts for them. So he’s always had parallels with the racetrack and street cars.
Olaf has had real parallels in racing with Porsche as well. He started with Porsche Supercup, then did a
