News

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

Amongst its numerous attributes, Porsche sports cars have always been about performance, engineering, innovation and being different. From the production of the very first sports car to bear the Porsche name, the 356 which came into this world in 1948, the company has strived to excel with each successive model. In this same mould, the 911 Turbo 3.0 is just one of Porsche’s many milestone achievements that have set this manufacturer apart from the rest of the motor industry.

In the same way that the Atlantic salmon swims upstream against the strong flow of a river to reach the headwaters to spawn, so too has Porsche avoided the easy path to achieve its goals. Many motor manufacturers might claim to have pursued similar ideals over the years, but few have come close to achieving these as consistently as Porsche has done. When the 356 was launched, its design was just so far ahead of anything else on the market, and being streamlined and lightweight, it soon started beating much more powerful rivals in motorsport. When it was replaced by the 911 model, racing drivers and teams loyal to Porsche continued to compete, giving the new model excellent exposure. It was the company’s success with the 917/10 and 917/30 turbocharged race cars though, that encouraged Porsche to experiment with turbocharging the 911’s 6-cylinder engine.

Apart from Porsche’s success with the Carrera 4-cam 4-cylinder engine in the 1950s and early 1960s, the most notable big step forward for Porsche, was in turbocharging the 911 engine. A number of manufacturers had dabbled with the concept, some had mild success even, but no other manufacturer came close to achieving what Porsche did with this technology. When Dr. Ernst Fuhrmann suggested hooking up a turbo to the 6-cylinder 911 engine, many questioned whether this would be manageable, or even if it could work in the passenger car market. History tells us that the 911 Turbo 3.0 launched in 1975 was the big breakthrough that saw Porsche’s sports cars grab the market’s attention. Many sports car loving kids around the world will happily admit to having had a poster on their bedroom wall of the Turbo 3.0 at some point (the Editor included).

Production of the 911 had fallen from a high in 1973 (15,438 units), around the time of the Carrera RS introduction, dropping 47% to a low in 1975 (8189 units). With the launch of the Turbo 3.0 in the spring of 1975, sales of all 911s began to climb again to 10,677 units in 1976 and 13,793 units in 1977. Not only was the Turbo 3.0 flying off the showroom floor, but Porsche was also writing history on the race tracks of the world with its 934 and 934.5 models. Put simply, turbocharging the 911 6-cylinder engine transformed the company from a little Stuttgart manufacturer into a serious contender around the world with both its road and race cars.

It should be remembered that Porsche launched the Turbo 3.0 at a time when other sports car manufacturers were facing bankruptcy, dramatic drops in sales, and increasing demand for cleaner running vehicles. In the face of such daunting odds, the Turbo 3.0 made everyone sit up and notice, from customers to race teams, from rival manufacturers to business and financial commentators. Many thought Porsche would fall on its face, but the reverse happened, and we can probably thank Porsche for being so brave in the face of the oil crisis, and for giving us the 911 Turbo 3.0 model.

The book, Turbo 3.0, written by Ryan Snodgrass and published by Parabolica Press, is an outstanding piece of work. The book’s narrow remit is precisely its strength, because if you are the lucky owner of a 911 Turbo 3.0, then you would not need any other book on this subject on your bookshelf. This exhaustive volume endeavours to cover everything an owner, restorer, historian or enthusiast would want to know about the dawn of Porsche’s turbocharged supercar. Turbo 3.0 covers not only Porsche’s historic 3.0-litre Turbo, but also the development of production-based turbocharged race cars by examining the Carrera RSR Turbo 2.14 and Turbo RSR 934/934.5 race cars....(read more)

A few months ago, I picked up a rather large package at the post office, brought it home and—it being the end of a long day—put it aside. After dinner, I opened the box and discovered a book full of boost.

You may be familiar with author Ryan Snodgrass’ freshman effort, Carrera 2.7, a first-rate reference book that fit right in with the new edition of Carrera RS from TAG. Both titles are considered go-to-books for settling matters of originality, and there was every reason to expect that the long-awaited sophomore offering from Snodgrass would follow the established format.

This time, however, Snodgrass enlisted as art director Richard Baron, whose body of work would fill a few bookshelves. Baron’s stylistic shift has given Turbo 3.0 a separate identity, in much the same way that a 1976 911 differs from a 1976 930. The core remains, but the differences are immediately apparent and very pleasing.

The organization seen in the previously mentioned books was used to form this one’s structure: chassis numbers, color codes, optional equipment, promotional campaigns, literature, tool kits, racing variations. All are where they should be, along with a narrative of the concept, development, introduction, and production run for 1975–1977. A more suitable title for this comprehensive study is The Really Big Book of the 3.0 Liter Turbo.

Mit dem Turbo erweiterte Porsche sein Produktportfolio im Jahr 1974 nach oben und stand hiermit in direkter Konkurrenz zu Ferrari, Lamborghini und Co.. Das zweite Buch des amerikanischen Verlags Parabolica Press nimmt sich dem Turbo 3.0 an, der nur für einen recht kurzen Zeitraum produziert wurde, ehe er vom Turbo 3.3 nahtlos abgelöst wurde. Abermals erhält man hier ein Prachtband über einen weiteren speziellen Porsche 911.

Das Buch kommt wie der Titel zum Carrera 2.7 in zwei Editionen in den Verkauf, wobei zu Rezension die üppige Publisher’s Edition zur Verfügung gestellt wurde. Diese kostet 599 € statt der 399 € für die Limited Edition, wobei beide Bücher selbstverständlich limitiert sind. Die Limited Edition kommt im klassischen Schuber daher und ist auf 2.500 Exemplar limitiert. Die Ausstattung entspricht somit der Edition vom Carrera 2.7-Buch. Die Publisher’s Edition hingegen kommt in einer sehr aufwendigen Box daher, die beim ersten Begutachten einen gewaltigen Eindruck hinterlassen kann. Lediglich 300 solcher Bücher werden auf den Markt kommen und zeichnen sich auch durch eine Nummerierung und die Signatur des Autors aus. Das Öffnen der Box bringt die das in rot gehaltene Buch zum Vorschein, welches durch ein Band herausgeschoben werden kann. Erst auf den zweiten Blick kann man noch weitere zusätzliche Features entdecken, die sich hinter einem schwarzen Blatt verbergen. In der darunterliegenden Mappe finden sich zahlreiche Archiv-Materialen, die teilweise aus dem Porsche Archiv wieder neu reproduziert wurden. So finden sich neben Pressemitteilungen sogar Dias und Werksfotos wieder. Ein toller Fundus, der einen Einblick in die Archiv-Arbeit ermöglicht. Passend hierzu findet sich in der Publisher’s Edition auch der zweite Teil der Behind the Scenes wieder, in dem auch intensiv die Arbeit nach seltenem Archiv-Material erläutert wieder. Diese 20-seitige Broschüren liegt ebenfalls der Publisher’s Edition bei. Ein durch und durch beeindruckender Auftritt, den das Buch hinlegt.

Following its domination of the Can-Am racing series in 1972 and 1973, Porsche used its experience with turbocharging technology gained in motorsports for serial sports car production. Launched in 1975 with a turbocharged flat-six engine, flared wheel arches to accommodate wider wheels, and unmistakable “whale tail” rear spoiler, the 930 Turbo was revolutionary in its performance. It was the fastest German production car upon its introduction, helping Porsche to fortify its reputation as a seminal sports car manufacturer.

Following in the considerable wake of his award-winning Carrera 2.7, author Ryan Snodgrass again hones in with laser-like focus on just a single variant of the iconic 930 Turbo—the earliest 3.0-liter examples produced from September 1974 through June 1977—tracing the model’s roots and origin during an era that is often referred to as a dark time for performance cars.

Ryan Snodgrass is an excellent storyteller who proved capable of making the subject of a single Porsche model – the 911 Carrera 2.7 MFI – engaging reading supplemented with exceptional documentation. That book had no shortcomings.

However, when Snodgrass set out to relate the planning, engineering, styling, and development history of the Typ 930, he used his own work as his benchmark. Then he reset it a great deal higher with his latest book turbo 3.0. This work – throughout – tends to humble the word “encyclopedic” as Snodgrass explores every element of turbocharging and the turbocharged Porsche 911 in detailed photos, diagrams, and documents. There are pages (and pages) of paint color representations, a complete series on actual cars, and an astonishing chart identifying ALL Turbo 3.0 colors and the frequency of their appearance in 1975, 1976, and 1977.

“They were fire-breathing monsters spitting fumes in their wake. The MFI system produced by Bosch had been developed by the race teams to provide ample fuel flow with smooth and quick throttle response . . . and remarkably quick throttle response was what you got. Floor it in an MFI engine and OPEC cheers.”

This lament by a Porsche owner explains why the subject of this book, the cars with the 2.7L motor with mechanical fuel injection, have “historically been overlooked by the general public and remained unknown to all but the most astute Porschephiles." And now there’s a book to right that wrong; and not just a book but the book. Truly, Carrera fans never had it so good!

Carrera 2.7 is one of those Porsche books you just cannot put down. It is a perfect example of how to write a modern super detailed and beautifully designed text on a specific car. Author Ryan Snodgrass, who looks after the carreramfi.com website in the USA, is a confirmed fan but this work on his favourite model excels in terms of research, writing style, design and the huge amount of contemporary and studio photography. This lavish ($250 USD) slip-cased book details every aspect of the story behind the first full production 911 Carrera.

The 1974 models were the next step in Zuffenhausen's then-established routine of introducing bi-annual major upgrades to the 911 series. The top-of-the-line range model had been planned as a 2.7 911S, with the free-revving engine first used on the previous year's RS. However, the new G-series models were much more than that – adopting the required impact absorbing bumpers and a whole new interior. The use of the revered Carrera name upset many purists, but it was an essential gilding to the top production model at a time when Porsche faced stalling sales and possible bankruptcy caused by the 1973–74 OPEC oil embargo. Although not available in the USA, Porsche treated its customers in other markets to a RS-powered thoroughbred. The Carrera 2.7 was the last in the line of pure-bred 911s, before ever more restrictive regulations took the 911 in a different direction.

This absorbing book details all the development that led to the final production models and includes fascinating sections on the Sonderwunschen (special wishes) cars, the other sections covering the technical specifications, colours, options, literature, motorsport and even the tools included with the car. It is a fantastic work and an essential for any serious Porsche book collector.

– GT Porsche magazine