involved with the first GT3 and every GT3 RS
since. I’ve developed Boxster, the Cayman and
even the Cayenne. In the beginning I was shocked
when they told me I had to test an SUV.
I said, “Listen we are a sportscar company, we
are not building lorries!” But finally, as is always
the way with Porsche, when the product was ready
it was better than its competitors. It was more
sporty than an X5 or other rivals.
For me, the thing that sets Porsche apart is very
obvious: when you buy a Porsche you buy two cars.
You buy a sportscar and you buy a daily car. That
was the most important thing. A Porsche is the
only car where you can spend an entire day at theracetrack then in the evening you go home and
you have no shaking in the steering wheel; you
still have brakes left. Porsche is the only brand
to have this big difference.
And that’s because of the engineers. I’ve known
them for 40 years and there is this special spirit
in these people. Their life is Porsche, nothing else.
They are in the office at 7am and going home at
10pm and they never complain. I think that’s why
the Porsche cars are better than the rest. All my
life, even when I was driving for Ford, Fiat, Opel
or Lancia, my private garage has always had a
Porsche in it. Now I own 11, so you can see clearly
that for me, it has always been Porsche.MY VERY FIRST CAR, WHEN I WAS 20 YEARS OLD, WAS A USED PORSCHE 356
WITH 75 HORSEPOWER. I BOUGHT IT BECAUSE MY BROTHER, WHO WAS 10
YEARS OLDER THAN ME, HAD ONE.
Back when I was around 10 years old myself, my
parents would always tell my brother, “take the
small one with you”, so I used to go with him on
Sundays when he went driving with his girlfriend.
This made him very angry, of course, but he told
me: “Listen to me, when you have enough money
to buy a car, buy a good car. And the only good car
is a Porsche.” So when I was 20, I bought my 356
even though I didn’t have a lot of money.
Then of course the situation was very lucky
when I finished competing in ’92 with Audi
because one day later the member of the board
at Porsche, Mr Wiedeking, called me and asked,
“Is it true Audi has let you go? If so, you can start
tomorrow as an ambassador for Porsche and as
a chief test driver.” That offer was the maximum
for me in my life and now I am 25 years with
Porsche. But I had one condition. I told him:
“Mr Wiedeking, you are sure? If you have me
under contract I will tell you what I think, I will
tell the truth, not what you want to hear.”
He said, “Okay, that is the reason I want you
because it is good for my company. And everybody
knows you are very undiplomatic.” That was the
agreement between us right from the beginning.
I’ve been lucky enough to develop the 959,
Carrera GT and 918; three very special cars. My
favourite is the Carrera GT, though I’ve been
I was shocked I had to test an SUV. I said, “Listen,
we do sportscars, we are not building lorries!”
WalterRohrl
THE LEGENDARY TEST DRIVERDEVELOPING
PASSIONFamily ties
Rohrl actually has good
reason to dislike Porsche.
In a cruel twist of fate,
Walter’s older brother died
at the wheel of his own 356.
Rohrl promised to never put
his parents through that
again and was famously
meticulous in his event
preparation. He committed
entire rally stages to
memory and, despite his
prodigious speed, drove
within his limits. Rohrl’s
meticulousness is also
evident in how he cares
for his own Porsches. “I go
around every small hole in
the road and never push
hard,” he explains. “The rev
counter is very seldom over
3000rpm.” Highlights of his
collection include two 356s,
a ’72 2.7 Carrera, 993 RS,
987 Boxster Spyder, 911 R
and 991.2 GT3 RS.Family ties
Rohrl actually has good
reason to dislike Porsche.
In a cruel twist of fate,
Walter’s older brother died
at the wheel of his own 356.
Rohrl promised to never put
his parents through that
again and was famously
meticulous in his event
preparation. He committed
entire rally stages to
memory and, despite his
prodigious speed, drove
within his limits. Rohrl’s
meticulousness is also
evident in how he cares
for his own Porsches. “I go
around every small hole in
the road and never push
hard,” he explains. “The rev
counter is very seldom over
3000rpm.” Highlights of his
collection include two 356s,
a ’72 2.7 Carrera, 993 RS,
987 Boxster Spyder, 911 R
and 991.2 GT3 RS.@wheelsaustralia 71