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The Turbo 3.0 book has been shortlisted for the prestigious Royal Automobile Club's "Specialist Book Of The Year" 2018, one of the most prestigious awards in the automotive publishing industry. The winner will be announced at the annual awards event, hosted October 31st by respected broadcaster and journalist Simon Taylor at the Club’s historic Pall Mall clubhouse.

“We never fail to be amazed at the quality and variety of titles that our experienced judges propose for the Awards, and this year is no exception,” said Peter Read, the Club’s Motoring Committee Chairman.

The judging panel consists of of six experts who are totally independent of the Royal Automobile Club and represent the UK’s most informed motoring literary critics. The judges include Gordon Cruickshank (Motor Sport magazine), Mark Dixon (editor of Octane magazine), Ben Horton (independent motoring bookseller Hortons Books), Mick Walsh (editor of Classic & Sports Car), Christian Whitehead (motoring department of London bookstore Foyles) and Tom Wiltshire (book reviewer for Auto Express).

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.

“Exhaustive” doesn’t even begin to describe Ryan Snodgrass or his opus on the Porsche 930 3.0 Turbo. Let’s start near the back, on p. 452. Here, along with a handy production-data decoder for the model, is an exhaustive list of EVERY 930 from 1975 to 1977, including paint, interior, engine, gearbox, tires, distributor, de- livery and completion date — plus a synopsis of installed equipment. This level of detail is emblematic of Snodgrass’ work. He is a former software engineer, and his love of Porsches led him to start his writing career with Carrera 2.7, now followed by Turbo 3.0.

It’s a thick, 10.5-pound, beautifully printed, designed and written book on the car that Porsche used to repudiate the awful cars that came out of the mid-1970s, when fuel economy and safety were the highest representation of the art, and performance was an ugly stepchild. Using turbo technology and knowledge gained from racing the 917, the Carrera 3.0 was an antidote to the times.

While only 2,819 of the 3.0 Turbo cars came out of the factory, they had an outsized impact on the market (with prices to match, as a first-year 930 is going for around $150,000). Sometimes called the “doctor killer” for the dangerous intersection of high-horsepower, turbo-lag and a lack of skills behind the wheel, the 930 was actually a touch slower than the mechanically injected 2.7-liter predecessor. But that was mostly down to extra weight that balanced the increased output, mostly thanks to safety equipment (thanks, Ralph Nader!) demanded at the time. Heck, safety was such a top-of-mind item that there were threats to kill all convertibles in that period. So the introduction of the 930 was certainly counterintuitive — and well-received by enthusiasts.

And well-received is what this book should be. It’s an instant classic in the category of single-model history and detail.

Provenance: Ryan Snodgrass brings a software engineer’s hyper-fo- cus and demand for perfection to his second book. Turbo 3.0 is an intense, deep dive into the history of the model and every scrap of information available.

Fit and Finish: This book is simply beautiful. The claimed (I didn’t count them) 1,508 photos and illustrations are beautifully reproduced on quality stock. The overall design is understated and serves the content. The entire package is top-shelf.

Drivability: With Turbo 3.0, Ryan Snodgrass has reset the bar for any future Porsche book. The text is smart, lively and easy to read, supporting an incredible amount of information. At $395 for one of 2,500 copies of this limited-edition tome, you can expect the same appreciation in value as in the car — even as you appreciate Turbo 3.0 as a resource and good read.

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.

We air freighted in several pallets of Turbo 3.0: Publisher Edition books late last month and have shipped out at least one book for every pre-order placed before November 1, 2017. Within those pallets a few Turbo 3.0: Limited Editions arrived, and those were shipped out to the very earliest orders from last May 2017.

Another small batch of Publisher Edition books arrived in Seattle this week and will be shipped out over the next few days. Mid-April an air freight of 120 books arrives into Seattle International Airport, mostly Limited Editions, and will be shipped out to those who pre-ordered last Summer and Fall. In May, the container ship will arrive in at the Port of Seattle with the remainder of the books which will go out to the remaining pre-orders.

Your patience will be well rewarded. The Turbo 3.0 book shaped up to be an exceptional book which we think is unparalleled to any of the 400+ automotive books in our library. Anxiously awaiting? See what the very first readers think in their reviews of the book.

The following two videos share a glimpse into the extremely high-quality printing the Turbo 3.0 book. We have worked hard with our pre-press and printing partners to push the boundaries of printing. During pre-press we utilized advanced techniques including custom wide-gamut CMYK profiles, sampling techniques to optimize each photo for maximum print quality, and automatic color correction adjust each photo to accurately account for the physical color tone of the actual paper. 

During printing, special wide-gamut CMYK inks were used to get more tonal range out of each photo, the printing plates were produced with a 15μm stochastic random screen to significantly improve rendering of minute details when looking closely at a photo, and three different spot varnishes were used across the book. No expense was spared in ensuring the quality of book was as exceptional as the care and quality that goes into each car Porsche produces.

A long time coming with many Porsche enthusiasts anxiously (and patiently) awaiting its arrival, the Turbo 3.0 book is nearly here. The individually numbered Turbo 3.0: Limited Edition and the very special Turbo 3.0: Publisher's Edition books will begin shipping from the United States in early March 2018 to those who pre-ordered the book prior to November 15, 2017. Pre-orders placed after November 15, 2017 will begin shipping 3–4 weeks later in order of the original purchase date. Please see our FAQ for more details on shipping and availability. If you haven't already, place your pre-order now before the 15% pre-order reduced pricing on the Limited Edition ends in February 2018.

We still have copies of the award-winning Carrera 2.7: Limited Edition book available for shipping from both United States and, for European customers, our warehouse in Germany. The above photo highlights the size differences between each Carrera 2.7 and Turbo 3.0 editions, with each slightly taller than the next.