Volume 5 of the Porsche video magazine takes you from the natural beauty of Sylt in a Carrera RS to the racing days of the 956.
Even if you’re a big fan of automotive history, it can sometimes be hard to find the time to devote to learning it. Some books are out of print. Others are prohibitively expensive. Good thing there’s the digital Porsche 9:11 magazine.
We recently “read” the above issue, Volume 5. It didn’t take long, but boy did we learn a lot about several different parts of Porsche history.
1.) We now know what Sylt is – and why we need to visit it, thanks to Patrick Dempsey. The actor/racing driver finds the island in northern Germany to be a place where less is more. Kind of sounds like the old school RS he drives in the video.
2.) One of the 911’s cousins, the 956, was a racing phenom. Armed with a 640-horsepower turbocharged 2.6-liter flat-six, it dominated its rivals on race tracks during the 1980s. One of its many major achievements was taking the first eight places in the 1983 24 Hours of Le Mans.
3.) No words are required to enjoy watching a modern 911 get sideways in thick snow, although it may bring a few to mind.
4.) Back in the days of the German Democratic Republic, two brothers desperate to have a Porsche of their own decided to use their engineering skills to build one…out of old war machinery and truck hoods. They got a lucky break when Porsche decided to send them used cylinders and pistons to place in their VW Beetle engine.
5.) Hans-Peter Porsche, son of Ferry Porsche, may not make 1:1 sports cars, but he has created one hell of a miniature world, complete with 180 trains, 1.7 miles of railway, and, of course, a Porsche dealership.
Give the video a view. It’s 10 minutes well spent and you don’t even have to crack a book.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
