Sunday, September 11, 2011

First Porsche Race Car - 1953 / 550 Prototype

Porsche's purpose built 1953 aerodynamic racing rocket, the 550-01 was powered by a 1498 cc mid-engine. This iconic road racing car is currently on loan to the High Museum in Atlanta and is featured in their exhibit, The Allure of the Automobile.
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The Porsche 550 Prototype is the first of two 550 prototypes built and is the first race car built by Porsche. The company’s wild success in the racing arena, and resulting sports car market, began with this car. The first 550 completed for competition in 1953, after just a year of development which started in 1952, won in it’s initial outing.
That same year, the two Porsche 550 Prototypes, 550-01 and 550-02, ran neck and neck for the entire 24 hours of Le Mans, crossing the finish line at the same interval at which they had started. Le Mans scoring officials awarded the win to 550-02.
The end of the racing season brought a relocation for the cars to Mexico where they raced in the 1954 La Carrera Panamericana. After that, the cars vanished with only 550-01 resurfacing years later in a Mexican warehouse.
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2 comments:

Francisco J.Pellegrino said...

Ótimo post, carro maravilhoso, carroceria com detalhes lindos...putz sou fã destas coisas em aluminio...queria ter o dom de poder construir a minha...as rodas da minha barata serão 10 janelas como estas aí.....

abração.

MoVilla said...

Impressionante como o desenho é tão limpo, ainda em 1953. Ao contrário dos seus contemporâneos que eram mais rebuscados.

Oi Chico!

As fotos deste post eu busquei na net.
Mas tenho em meus arquivos fotos de um destes que tirei no Rolex Monterey do ano passado. Estava exposto identico aos destas fotos, ou seja sem vidros e com aqueles pinos, que devem servir para ajustar a carroceria (talvez, sei lá).

Vou ver se a encontro.
Grande Abraço.