Walter Röhrl is 64-years old. That makes him a retiree, which is richly ironic as the Bavarian is generally regarded as the greatest driver alive.
Although Röhrl never raced F1, he did compete in the Group-B rally era and has of late been the man chiefly responsible for finessing Porsche’s road cars.
Suffice to say – no Porsche gets the production go-ahead without Röhrl’s approval. Not bad for a guy who started out as the Bishop of Regensburg’s limousine driver in his teens.
Although Röhrl should have exchanged his driving shoes and gloves for a pair of loafers and the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzle page years ago, he is still going strong.
During the recent international media launch of Porsche (very) long-awaited Cayman R, the master was on hand to entertain the journalists present with some world-class car control at the helm of perhaps the rarest, and certainly most beautiful, Porsche of all – the 904 GTS.
Despite having professed his deep admiration for the company’s contemporary GT-series 911 models, the 904 remains Röhrl’s favourite Porsche of all time.
Powered by a mid-mounted 2-litre flat-four engine producing 148kW in standard trim, the racing versions weighed less than 700kg. Performance was startling (0-100km/h in six seconds dead, top speed near 260km/h) and even today it is regarded with great reverence by Porsche acolytes the world over.
Porsche even offered a few cars with six-cylinder engines which became available as 911 production came on-line in late 1963.
Check out the clip below and admire the perfect fusion of man and machine as Walter Röhrl pushes the 904 to its limit.
Although Röhrl never raced F1, he did compete in the Group-B rally era and has of late been the man chiefly responsible for finessing Porsche’s road cars.
Suffice to say – no Porsche gets the production go-ahead without Röhrl’s approval. Not bad for a guy who started out as the Bishop of Regensburg’s limousine driver in his teens.
Although Röhrl should have exchanged his driving shoes and gloves for a pair of loafers and the daily newspaper’s crossword puzzle page years ago, he is still going strong.
During the recent international media launch of Porsche (very) long-awaited Cayman R, the master was on hand to entertain the journalists present with some world-class car control at the helm of perhaps the rarest, and certainly most beautiful, Porsche of all – the 904 GTS.
Despite having professed his deep admiration for the company’s contemporary GT-series 911 models, the 904 remains Röhrl’s favourite Porsche of all time.
Powered by a mid-mounted 2-litre flat-four engine producing 148kW in standard trim, the racing versions weighed less than 700kg. Performance was startling (0-100km/h in six seconds dead, top speed near 260km/h) and even today it is regarded with great reverence by Porsche acolytes the world over.
Porsche even offered a few cars with six-cylinder engines which became available as 911 production came on-line in late 1963.
Check out the clip below and admire the perfect fusion of man and machine as Walter Röhrl pushes the 904 to its limit.