Why Porsche’s black sheep was doomed to fail

Green shoots of potential were visible when Porsche raced in Indycars 30 years ago. But politics and technical complexity proved its undoing

Author James Newbold

Published Sep 25, 2018, 12:07 PM

As Porsche celebrated its 70th birthday in lavish fashion at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with a sonorous parade of its most famous and successful cars - among them multiple Le Mans winners, the iconic Can-Am 917/30 and even the 804 Dan Gurney used to win the 1962 French Grand Prix - it was apt that the sole representative from the company's largely forgettable foray into Indycar racing remained on static display, silent and unloved.

The Norbert Singer-designed 2708 was the first in a (short) line of Weissach-blessed cars that summarily failed to take the US open-wheel world by storm between 1987 and '90, at which point Dr Ulrich Bez pulled the plug after a grand total of one win and three pole positions.

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Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.