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We alternate between a 928 and a 930. With European-spec horsepower, both of them fly, up the slope (it seems as steep as a stairway) at "Z" bend, sliding the tail wide for the photographer, then through the narrows to the banking at the south. On the long straight, as these street cars reach well up in top gear, there's time to check out the orchard that butts against the track on the west. The terrain falls away so that we are about mid-height on the trees. Then we brake hard to stay out of the engineering compound, arc under the bridge connecting the office area to the track, and power on down south again. When we return to the photographer's site, there's a serious problem. A prototype wandered by that wasn't supposed to be seen. It was not a Porsche. It did, however, make delicious V-8 sounds, although the version now in production has an inline engine; and it did have conspicuous camber in the rear wheels, whereas the production model has a solid axle. They want to know if a picture was taken. The photographer says no. Then, in almost pleading tones, we're told that confidentiality must be maintained. The engineering relationship with the customers absolutely depends on it. Which means that this testing ground called Weissach, so small it would be written off to infield at the GM proving ground, will be largely left anonymous. It has no shiny tools and towers inside to stand as monuments to Porsche engineering, and all but a few of the monuments on the out-side go about wearing other nameplates.

 

Weissach Record Book

Weissach has several racetracks for both street- and race-car development. Below are the lap records for Porsche's current production cars and several important Porsche race cars of the past two decades on the fastest Weissach track, the 1.57-mile-long "Can-Am"circuit.

Production cars Lap speed, in mph
924     79.2
944     81.0
911sc  84.4
928S   82.6
930     85.7

Racing cars (driver)

917L (Elford) 109.3
917K (Kauhsen) 110.0
903/03 (Elford) 109.3
917/10 (Donohue) 120.0
936/76 (Braun) 115.8
935/77 (Schurti) 111.5
956/83 (Ickx) 123.9
McLaren-TAG Fl (Lauda) 123.6

Customers of Weissach

Weissach exists primarily for the development of Porsche's production cars and for its motor-racing activities, its use by outside customers is on the increase. In the fiscal year that ended last July 31 [remember, this is from a 1980's article - Ed.], annual billings for such use rose from $23.5 million to more than $31 million.
"Over 80 percent of the company's 40 to 45 clients are directly or indirectly related to the motor industry," says Horst Marchart, the managing director-in charge of all outside R&D. "Manufacturers are generally happy with what we do for them, but many don't like talking about the helping hand in the back-ground." Marchart adds, "To be quite honest, there are one or two clients we would not like the Porsche name to be associated with, either."
The engineers at Weissach aren't naming names, but we have managed to learn a few of them nonetheless. The customer list includes:

-Aerospatiale: A310 Airbus cockpitdesign.

-Audi: bench and durability testing,engine development.

-Ford. engines, cylinder switch-offmechanism, chassis development and testing.

-West German Ministry of Defense-Leopard tank and Biber and Wiesel special-purpose vehicles.

-Harley-Davidson: engine -Lada: development of a compact fwd car from drawing board to production.

-Lycoming: aircraft-engine development.

-Peugeot/Talbot: gas and diesel engines, turbocharging, chassis work.

-SEAT: development of a small fwd hatchback, component design.

-Volkswagen: bench and durability testing, component development.

-Yamaha: motorcycle-engine development.

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