Norbert Singer on Selling Porsches and Racing

    Is there a connection between Singer's contribution to Porsche's racing successes and Porsche's success as a company?

    911 & Porsche World Magazine's November, 2000 issue, included Russ Tyler's interview of Jurgen Barth, who joined Porsche AG in 1963 as an apprentice, gained the "Ing" title as engineer, worked for Hushke von Hanstein, helped built the "Group C" racing department at Porsche, was the "B" in the BPR sports car organization (now called the FIA GT), won  numerous races and rallies including LeMans in 1977 in a Porsche 936 with Jackie Ickx and Hurley Haywood, co-starred with Steve McQueen in LeMans (the movie), helped initiate the 959 project, and today runs Porsche's Kundensport (the customer racing department) as well as shepherding development of the GT3R.

    It is an excellent article, typical of the depth and quality of 911 & Porsche World. You would enjoy both the article and the magazine, which you can find at the link behind the name of the magazine, or at CHPublications Ltd., PO Box 75, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 7XF, United Kingdom, or for the US: EWA, 205 Highway 22, Green Brook, NJ 08812, 1-800-272-2670) but the section appropriate for this page is this exchange with Herr Barth on page 41:

        Tyler: "What do you see in the future for Porsche motorsport?"
        Barth: "It is difficult to say because it is run differently now. I'm sure that it is perfect at the moment to run in just the Carrera Cup and the Supercup, but I think that in the future there will be a need to run in the higher levels once more, because we are still a manufacturer of sports cars.
        "And to sell sports cars I believe you need to have an established record of race wins. I remember the year when we needed some more money to develop what became the 962. Herr [Norbert] Singer and I created a chart which plotted the sales figures and overlaid these with overall racing successes. We started with the first year of the company, and went right up to 1980 or 1982. It was incredible. As the winning line began to fall, so the sales figures fell, too, but after a lag of about one year. And as the wins started to increase, so the sales increase, too. The two lines followed each other almost identically, but there was always this gap of about a year between them."
 

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