1952 Porsche 356 K / 9-1 Prototype In post-war Germany, parts were generally in short supply, so the 356 automobile used components from the Volkswagen Beetle, including its internal combustion engine, transmission, and suspension.

In addition, Porsche installed manually adjustable lightweight Recaro racing seats rather than the standard power-operated leather buckets ( also manufactured by Recaro ), a revised suspension system optimized and lowered by 20 mm for possible track use, 17-inch wheels ( also slightly wider to accommodate wider tyres ) rather than the 16-inch as found on the Coupe and wider tires, 225 front and 255 rears rather than 205 and 245 respectively.

With the no frills approach meaning less weight, as well as the optimising of the suspension, Porsche could focus media attention on the Club Sport variants fast road and track abilities.

While the 356's body was an original design by Porsche employee Erwin Komenda, its mechanicals ( including engine, suspension and chassis ) were derived from the Volkswagen.

Porsche already preferred the flat-four engine, and selected a swing axle rear suspension ( invented by Edmund Rumpler ), while Zündapp insisted on a water-cooled five-cylinder radial engine.

Similar to designs of European cars such as Porsche, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and others it used coil springs at all four wheels with independent rear suspension arms incorporated at the rear.

None of the issues Nader raised were problems among owners of the Porsche 911, which had the same layout and similar suspension, nor with the less powerful Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle.

Journalist David E. Davis, in a 2009 article in Automobile Magazine, noted that despite Nader's claim that swing-axle rear suspension were dangerous, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen all used similar swing-axle concepts during that era.

The 718 was a development of the already successful Porsche 550A with improvements being made to the body work and suspension.

The Porsche 904 rode on coil springs ( the first Porsche not to use trailing arm front and swingaxle rear suspension ), with unequal-length A-arms in front.

Yet, Formula One used lighter 13-inch wheels, and Porsche had already used Team Lotus suspension parts in earlier years.

Porsche used torsion bar suspension for their 911 series from 1963 until 1989 with the introduction of the 964.

When developing the suspension system the facility of electro-hydraulic kinematics and compliance at Anthony Best Dynamics was employed to measure the performance of the suspension on a Jaguar XJR16, a Porsche 928S and a Honda NSX to use as references.

The Porsche Carrera GT's carbon-ceramic ( silicon carbide ) disc brakeNotable technology includes a pure carbon fiber monocoque and subframe, dry sump lubrication and inboard suspension.

The Weissach axle ( pronounced ' Vise -' as in ' advise ' and '- ach ' with guttural ' ch ') is a special rear suspension arrangement devised for the Porsche 928.

Porsche substantially revised the suspension, replacing the rear torsion bars with coil springs and shock absorbers.

Toyota engineers ( including Dr Kumabe ) had visited Germany before World War II and had studied Porsche and Volkswagen designs ( independent suspension, aerodynamic bodies, backbone chassis, rear-mounted air-cooled engines, economical production cost ).

In circuit racing, the new car was very hard to master, though, due to the swing axle rear suspension design initially adopted by Porsche ( relatively advanced for its day, it is now utterly obsolete because of its many problems ).

The longest surviving flat-six-engined model, the Porsche 911, is a rear-engined sports car with acceptably compromised interior room and a long history of suspension development to utilize the characteristics of the drivetrain layout.

As a suspension or steering failure was suspected, the BMW team with Hubert Hahne and Dieter Quester withdrew from the race, as did Mitter's teammate at Porsche, Hans Herrmann.

These problems were evident on the Mercedes-Benz 190SL and 300SL, Porsche 356, Triumph Herald, Vitesse and Spitfire, Tatra T603, Renault Dauphine, Volkswagen Beetle ( until rear suspension modifications, c. 1967 ) and others.

Aftermarket roll-inducing springs from the likes of SCAT, also called camber compensators, are available for Porsche, VW and early Corvairs, which reduce oversteering tendencies at the cost of increasing suspension harshness.

They are or were used in: the Volkswagen Beetle, some Porsche and Subaru cars, many BMW and Honda motorcycles, and aircraft engines ( for propeller driven aircraft ), etc.

Coventry Climax were late in producing the smaller 1. 5-litre engine required for the 1961 season and the Cooper-Climaxes were outclassed by new mid-engined cars from Porsche, Lotus and championship-winners Ferrari.

The combustion chambers were developed in collaboration with Porsche.

The crash also showed that the track's distances were too long for regular fire engines and ambulances, even though the " ONS-Staffel " was equipped with a Porsche 911 rescue car, marked ( R ).

Since its inception in 1949, Porsche has manufactured only six front-engined models, four of which were coupes, including the 928.

By the late 1960s, Porsche had changed significantly as a company, and executives including owner Ferdinand Porsche were playing with the idea of adding a luxury touring car to the line-up.

Porsche engineers wanted a large-displacement motor to power the 928, and prototype units were built with a 5. 0 L V8 producing close to.

Base prices were much higher than that of the previous rangetopping 911 model and the 928's front-engined, water-cooled design put off many Porsche purists.

Unusual features were champagne gold metallic paint, matching brushed gold flat disc wheels, two-tone leather interior, a plaque containing the production number on the dash and the extremely collectible three-piece Porsche luggage set.

Changed bodywork, larger front brakes and a new, more powerful 5. 4 L, 350 PS ( 257 kW / 345 hp ) engine were the big advertised changes ; what Porsche wasn't advertising was the price.

Porsche 944s were also built there, although they used far fewer Volkswagen components.

Figures from 2008 / 9 onwards were not reported as part of Porsche SE.

Shortly after the start of production of the S2 variant, Porsche engineers began working on another set of significant upgrades for the model, as executives were planning a final " S3 " variant of the 944.

During the development phase, 80 % of the 944's mechanical components were either significantly modified or completely replaced by the engineers, leaving so little of the outgoing S2 behind that Porsche management chose to introduce the variant as a new model, entitling it 968.

Both the VarioCam timing system and Tiptronic transmission were very recent developments for Porsche.

By the late ' 50s many fewer parts were shared between Volkswagen and Porsche.

Among the manufacturers signing licensing agreements to develop Wankel engines were Alfa Romeo, American Motors, Citroen, Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Suzuki, and Toyota.

The Dauer-Porsche 962LM, Porsche 911 GT1-98, Mercedes CLK-GTR and Toyota GT-One were prime examples of prototypes masquerading as GTs.

The GT1 class was for the purebred supercars and purpose-built race cars, such as the McLaren F1 GTR, Ferrari F40, Porsche 911 GT1, Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR, Toyota GT-One and Nissan R390 – while the first two were a derivatives of roadgoing sports cars, the German and Japanese contenders were pure-bred racing cars – virtually sports prototypes.

The Zündapp prototypes were followed by the Porsche Type 32, designed in 1933 for NSU Motorenwerke AG, another motorcycle company.