Porsche mechanic 1970

Hi.
In a danish blog, we are trying to find a name, and maybe a history about a specific Porsche mechanic.
He keeps popping up....

You can see him sitting down to the left, on the first picture here: http://www.motorretr...l-end-svar.html
The guy in the circle: http://www.alstrup.n...0531-00033b.jpg
Here, to the right: http://www.motorspor...williams-35.jpg

Thanks,
Kai.

Peter Davies.

Worked for Wyer, not Porsche.

English.

Worked for McLaren on and off from the early Seventies until relatively recently.

Now retired.

Edited by Nigel Beresford, 08 September 2012 - 10:46.

Thanks!

3 minutes - Must be slow Saturday...

Wow slow news day indeed.

But brings me round to thinking of the mechanics who have worked in and on truly historic situations (Hunts M23, Petersons 79, Jones's FW07 etc.....) HOW did their career in motorsport engineering shape up from a 'peak' onwards ?

We dont often hear of them, Bob Dance and and Jo Ramirez are a couple I've heard of, and of course some of the contributors to this great forum, but obviously there are other people with similar stories, (Dave Ryan ?) who have worked in the profession for 40+ years dealing with some of our heroes and who have only just retired or quite the sport.

Anyone got some good stories to tell ??

Edited by roger.daltrey, 08 September 2012 - 20:11.

FYI Dave hasn't retired - he's running his own GT team (Vonryan Racing).

I found myself sitting at the same table as Peter at a McLaren reunion dinner a few months ago. I'd always been too shy to talk to him back in the day when I was a kid hanging around in Colnbrook, but age has a way of emboldening you. It was interesting to ask him about his experiences with Porsche back in the 917 days, and surprising to find that they were very similar to the experiences we had at Weissach building the RS Spyders we ran at Penske. As they say, plus ça change...

Edited by Nigel Beresford, 08 September 2012 - 20:43.

It was interesting to ask him about his experiences with Porsche back in the 917 days, and surprising to find that they were very similar to the experiences we had at Weissach building the RS Spyders we ran at Penske. As they say, plus ça change...

Interesting! Care to elaborate with more specifics (either Peter's or your own)?

Well, just comparing and contrasting the working methods & practices of premier racing teams (JWA & Penske) against what was essentially a car factory environment in Weissach. Just a matter of racer's pragmatism in dealing with problems right now, versus the rather more formal and stilted approach.

Edited by Nigel Beresford, 08 September 2012 - 21:27.

Hmm, Thing is Nigel, this may be bread and butter to you - but (and I may only be speaking for myself) I'm fascinated by this stuff !!

I guess we need to find a way to tease it out of all you guys with the right intelligent questions.....

Edited by roger.daltrey, 08 September 2012 - 21:39.

Well, you have to appreciate that a degree of diplomacy is required because some things are in the recent past, and perhaps the not too distant future too.

From the Penske perspective, the RS Spyder ALMS project was a real highlight for all of us because of the success we enjoyed working with Porsche (and we really enjoyed beating competitors with the class of Audi). We also learned that sports car racing is great fun. Penske and Porsche were culturally very different organisations. Penske is all about racing, whereas Porsche had disbanded its racing department in 2000 or so, and five years later was going through a process of assembling a new group. Consequently whilst they had a handful of first class, experienced veterans like Roland Kussmaul (worthy of huge respect...), they also had several factory based guys who were still learning what racing was all about, and who, frankly, initially regarded Penske in the same way they regarded some of the GT teams that bought customer cars from them, which is to say with a degree of condescension. Of course, that all changed.

Edited by Nigel Beresford, 09 September 2012 - 09:34.

But brings me round to thinking of the mechanics who have worked in and on truly historic situations (Hunts M23, Petersons 79, Jones's FW07 etc.....) HOW did their career in motorsport engineering shape up from a 'peak' onwards ?

We dont often hear of them, Bob Dance and and Jo Ramirez are a couple I've heard of, and of course some of the contributors to this great forum, but obviously there are other people with similar stories, (Dave Ryan ?) who have worked in the profession for 40+ years dealing with some of our heroes and who have only just retired or quite the sport.

Well, of course there is Charlie Whiting (ex-Hesketh) and the guys from Bernie's Brabham days - some of whom have been engaged by FIA for some time

Edited by HeskethBoy, 11 September 2012 - 04:27.

Well, of course there is Charlie Whiting (ex-Hesketh) and the guys from Bernie's Brabham days - some of whom have been engaged by FIA for some time

Exactly - although I'm sure they've all signed up to one of BCE's NDA's and will never say anything