Love for Porsche – Turbo 3.0 Book Review
The Porsche fan site Love for Porsche – Liebe zu Ihm review of the Turbo 3.0 book:
The Turbo 3.0 book is just as the car : a benchmark
The automotive industry had not easy times in the mid seventies. New safety and emission regulations were imposed to them, and the oil crisis left quite a trace in the period. Porsche had some dark times too with diminishing sales. Dr Ernst Führmann, designer of the iconic 4-cam Carrera Engine, was the CEO of Porsche in that period. In Can-Am races, the turbocharged Porsche 917/10 and Porsche 917/30 had proven its reliability. So Ernst Führmann had the idea of putting a turbocharged engine in a street legal Porsche 911. The idea of the Porsche 911 Turbo was born.. a story that still continues.
Ryan Snodgrass of Parabolica Press, known from the excellent Carrera 2.7 book, took a dive in the history of the Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 liter, nicknamed the Porsche 930. Ryan Snodgrass used all possible material to his disposal. The Porsche factory archives were of course an important source of information, but that was not enough for the author. Ryan Snodgrass interviewed people involved with the design of the Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0, as well as mechanics, test drivers, engineers, racers and owners. The enormous amount of information is compiled in the book “Turbo 3.0 – Porsche's First Turbocharged Car”. And just as the Carrera 2.7 book, the Turbo 3.0 book became a one- model only encyclopedia. A book any Porsche enthusiast needs to have in the library.
It is hard to imagine how detailed the Turbo 3.0 book is. That makes it a perfect source for perfectionists, restorers and historians. As you could expect of a book like this, there is a list of all the chassis numbers with information like the color the car left the factory, type of engine and gearbox and the option list for that particular car. But there is more useful information. How many of you know all the different possible colors for a Turbo 3.0? And did you know what the toolkit should look like? The Turbo 3.0 book has plenty of detailed information about all possible colors. The chapter about the interior has pictures and information of all upholstery available at the time. All gauge variations are described as well as the radios that could be ordered at the factory.
In the 536 pages, literally nothing remains uncovered. The privateer racing exploits of the 3.0 liter Turbo are included as well as the development of the cars that directly derived from the Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0: the iconic Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.1, the Porsche 934 and Porsche 934/5. “Turbo 3.0 : Porsche's First Turbocharged Supercar” was among the 6 books shortlisted for the Specialist Motoring Book of the Year Award of the Royal Automobile Club. Even though it was another book that ran away with the award, being on the shortlist is an honor on its own. And to be honest... well deserved. This book sets a new standard and it will become the reference for the Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 without any doubt. It is worth every cent. This book should be in any automotive library. You can order it directly at Parabolica Press.
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Octane Magazine — Turbo 3.0 Review
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
Panorama Editor-in-Chief picks Turbo 3.0 As Best Book
"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."
Turbo 3.0 Book Wins MOTORWORLD Buchpreis
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).
