March 18, 2021
Featured in Elferspot Magazine's "5 Really Expensive Porsche Books, But Worth Every Penny" from March 15, 2021:
Expensive as hell, but it works. Many of us in the German-speaking world know this advertising slogan from days long past. Whether the dandruff shampoo addressed back then actually worked is something we cannot prove. But we dare to say that the slogan, which is admittedly a bit dusty, is absolutely true for the Porsche book recommendation that now follow. They are indeed expensive, but they work. And how! Please do not take our recommendations regarding the following Porsche books as a ranking. Each Porsche book has its own special features in terms of content and design, and it would not be possible to make a judgmental ranking here.
Anyone interested in the history of Porsche simply cannot avoid the subject of the 911 Turbo. The truly excellent book Turbo 3.0 by Ryan Snodgrass delves deep into the development, production, and mystery of the three years of Porsche’s groundbreaking 3.0-liter Turbo models produced from 1975 to 1977.
The book is the result of the most meticulous research and intensive studies in the Porsche factory archive.
This extremely comprehensive compendium attempts to cover everything an owner, restorer, historian, or enthusiast would want to know about the beginning of Porsche’s turbocharged supercar. With a foreword by Jürgen Barth, the Turbo 3.0 book explores the history of the first production turbocharged 911 and delves into the development of turbo road and race cars through great interviews with factory engineers, development drivers, and race drivers. 536 pages, each of them exciting and informative, and 1,508 photos, 754 of them never before published, make the Porsche heart beat faster.
September 18, 2019
Review of the Turbo 3.0 book in Octane magazine's October 2019 issue:
We'll come clean: this book was released last year but our review copy was mislaid during Octane's hastily carried-out office relocation form Bedfordshite to London. It's author, Ryan Snodgrass, very kindly offered to send us another one—and we're so glad he did, because this is a truly exceptional work.
A companion volume to Snodgrass' previous magnum opus, Carrera 2.7, this mammoth 536-page tribute to the Porsche 911 Turbo is printed on creamy archival paper and presented in a stout slipcase. Pay extra for the 300-off Publisher's Edition and you get an even stouter clamshell box that additionally houses convincing reproductions of Porsche ephemera such as press releases and photos, and actual 35mm colour slides, plus a 20-page supplement on how the book was put together.
Is either version worth the money? Emphatically yes, because the level of detail and the production values are stunning. To give just two examples: expert financial book-keepers were hired to check the production data for all 2819 Turbos built; and because no detailed cutaway drawing was ever made of the Turbo, noted cutaway artist Makoto Ouchi was commissioned to draw on. The print specification—which apparently involved '15-micron stochastic hybrid screens' and 'special wide-gamut inks'—will have any bibliophile salivating over their silkscreened linen slipcase.
Every possible aspect of the 1975–77 Turbo is covered in depth: development, build, mechanical, design, one-offs and special editions, racing versions... There's even a spread devoted to specific tyre inflators, jacks and plastic gloves supplied by Porsche for the Turbo's space-save tyre.
As you'll have gathered, we're impressed. It's taken a while for Turbo 3.0 to make it into these pages, but it was well worth the wait.
—Mark Dixon
July 30, 2019
"Ryan Snodgrass's book on early Porsche Turbos is probably the greatest single model book that I've ever seen in my life. I have not been able to put it down since getting it. It is just full of every bit of geeky goodness about those cars. It is phenomenal."
Of course, when asked at 0:28:07 by Mark Green if manifested into a car, what kind of car would Robb Sass be, his affinity for the Turbo was clear. Sass answered he'd like to be a 1975 or 1976 Turbo Carrera, the first generation Turbo: "I think that they are kind of a little bit edgy. It was the height of the malaise era. A car I really respect as when everything else was slow and crappy, you had this car that would go 0 to 60 in about 5 seconds. Performance on par with a muscle car from ten years before at a time when people were building the Mustang II. If I could aspire to be any car...I'm not a 75-76 Turbo Carrera, but if I could that is probably what it would be as it was so shocking and so surprising and a little bit unpredictable." "Porsche never got the memo that the malaise era was going on."
May 23, 2019
The Turbo 3.0 book wins first place in the coveted MOTORWORLD BUCHPREIS for the Markenbuch category (best book for a single brand), which honors the best car books of the year. The award ceremony took place on Thursday, May 23, 2019 inside the Arthur Bechtel Classic Motors showroom at the Motorworld Stuttgart V8 Hotel in Böblingen, Germany.
For almost 20 years, noted automotive historian and journalist Jürgen Lewandowski has presided over the Autobuchpreis which honors the best works produced each year on automotive and motorsports topics. For 2018, MOTORWORLD Group became the primary sponsor for the Autobuchpreis, hosting the event and judging team of Jürgen Lewandowksi (chairman of the jury), Andreas Dünkel (Motorworld Group Chairman), Mark N. Backé (Grand Basel Chairman), Vittorio Strosek (Strosek Design), Michael Stoschek (Brose Chairman), Christian Steiger (Classic Cars Editor-in-Chief), Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (Leica Camera Chairman) and Robertino Wild (Capricorn Chairman).
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