Spiel

MARCH 2015 WWW.PNWR.ORG 45 It is a history of Porsche production cars used in racing. The marketing, engineering, design, racing, and acquisition background is presented in well-illustrated detail from the 1949 #017 Gmünd 356/2 coupe to the 2005 Carrera GT, with a shout out to the 2015 918 Spyder. It is a sensuous art book, replete with centerfold after centerfold after centerfold. While the text is simultaneously entertaining and intellectually stimulating, any Porschephile will experience a powerful, visceral response to the well-illustrated details and pure art of the hundreds of transcendent photographs. I didn't actually count them all, but trust me, there are hundreds and every last one is superb. The book measures 9.75" by 12.25" and is 1.38" thick. From a physical standpoint, it is big enough to cram in the entire story and do justice to the photographs, but practical enough to read in bed à la Panorama or Excellence. Based on what I now know about the significance of many of these interesting vehicles, my two hour tour with Bob and Rory Ingram could have turned into an all-day undertaking. They dodged a bullet. Unique Convergence of Expertise I don't know how the three authors got connected, but each contributor is the best in his field, and the sum of their contributions is greater than the individual parts. I suspect it happened when they were each invited to contribute to the "Porsche By Design" project and design exhibition exploring the Porsche lineage as art at the North Carolina Museum of Art. This exhibition ran from October 2013 through January last year. I just missed it when I was in North Carolina, but I picked up the companion book. (Incidentally, this earlier book Porsche By Design: Seducing Speed is still available directly from the museum bookstore at http://store.ncartmuseum.org/Books/Porsche-by-Design-Seducing- Speed-Exhibition-Catalogue-p380.html.) Randy Leffingwell Most of the text was written by Randy Leffingwell, well known to readers of Excellence and Panorama for his in-depth illustrated articles on the history of Porsche and various individual cars. Randy has made a career out of creating illustrated books on several automotive lineages but seems to have a natural attraction to Porsche in particular. Over the years, his source network has grown into a veritable Who's Who of the Porsche world from Ferdinand and F.A. Porsche to Dieter Landenberger (keeper of the Porsche archives) to Vic Elford, Derek Bell, and even Jay Leno. I am in awe of the encyclopedic knowledge he displays with everything he writes. His descriptions and explanations are uniformly clear, organized, and easy to follow as befits his journalism background. Just in case you missed something, each segment along the way contains a "summary point" to keep you grounded. A four-page fold-out with photographs of all Collection cars representing The Beginning of the marque. This is one of several fold-outs summarizing various sections of the collection. Two pages from the write-up of the 1952 America Roadster, the car featured in Carl's February 2014 Spiel article. The "Collector's Notes" written by owner Bob Ingram at the bottom of the left-hand page are typical of the inside information supplied with each car.

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