75 Years of Porsche celebrations during FuoriConcorso
Villa Grumello is an already established name the classic car community visiting the Concorso weekend at the Lake Como. But there is a new place on the map which is acquiring a well-deserved recognition – Villa Olmo. For the second time, this place was hosting a new part of the FuoriConcorso – the Open Museum.
The idea is to bring the treasures normally hidden in museums closer to the people. Last year the vehicles came from the Turin Mauto. This year, there could have been only one viable topic: 75 years of Porsche!
The cars exposed at the Lake Como came from all the eras and represented different fields in which the company operates. From the simple and light early racers to the Formula E. From the originally looking prototypes to the newest and greatest, like the GT3 RS and Safari versions of the current 911.
The oldest car on the display was the 550 Spyder from 1954. The simple, yet eye-catching, livery of this tiny racer reminded of the early post-war period. One can also claim that thanks to its brilliant performance in Carrera Panamericana, this car established the Porsche name as a serious brand. Light, simple, and smart construction could successfully fight with a much more powerful cars from much more experienced manufacturers.
This car was nicely complemented by the 1963 Porsche 356 B 2000 GS Carrera GT called “Dreikantschaber” thanks to its unique body shape. I’ve however looked with much more sentiment on something much younger – the 911 GT1 from 1998.
This car may have the “911” part in its name, but has nothing to do with the famous road-going 2+2. For me, the GT1 is one of the most beautiful racing cars in the history. I’m not a faithful fan of the Le Mans race but I can still remember the cars from this era.
The car that will probably stay in my memory as the symbol of this year’s Open Museum will be the Porsche Studie Gruppe B. This name probably doesn’t ring any bell but the shape of the vehicle may look quite familiar. This car from 1983 was a technological and design study which was supposed to prepare Porsche for competing in the Group B.
This never happened but the effort was not lost. The project finally evolved into the series-production Porsche 959. The model left its footprint in the history of motorsport. The Rothams liveried car won the 1986 Dakar Rally.
This year, the 75th anniversary of Porsche is being celebrated with uncountable events spread throughout the World. I’m very happy that I’ve had the opportunity to see the exposition in the picturesque garden of the mighty Villa Olmo. I’m not sure that any of the incoming events may overshadow this.
