Porsche 956 962

Unleashed in 1982, the Porsche 956 became the most successful purpose-built race car in history. Over the following decade, the 956 and its later long-wheelbase version, the 962, would win five consecutive world championships, as well as every single classic sportscar race in the world a record number of times: the Le Mans 24 Hours seven times, the Daytona 24 Hours six times and the Sebring 12 Hours four times, plus 39 world championship events and 55 IMSA races, to name but a few of its remarkable achievements. Many of the successes were achieved by works-entered cars, almost always in the iconic white-and-blue colours of sponsor Rothmans, and they form the focus of an extraordinary body of work researched and written by author Serge Vanbockryck over the past 30 years. This is the first part of his project, a two-volume production about the Works 956s, with a second such title on the Works 962s to follow in the summer of 2020.

This work chronicles the history of Porsche's 956/962 sports car. It includes the development story of the 956; its low-key debut at Silverstone in 1982; and the Joest team's two consecutive Le Mans victories. It also includes appendices of international race victories and technical specifications.

The Porsche 956 and the derivative 962 version dominated long-distance sports car racing on both sides of the Atlantic during the 1980s, both in European Group C racing and the American IMSA series. The car’s numerous successes included six consecutive victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours and four consecutive victories in the Daytona 24 Hours. This is a big book about a big subject, as these awesome machines raced competitively for 12 years and almost 150 of them were manufactured for use by factory and customer teams.

Porsche 956 / 962 Owner's Workshop Manual is the latest addition to the “classic racing car” manual series, taking the series beyond ten titles, and complementing Ferrari 250 GTO, Ford GT40, Porsche 917, AC Cobra, and Ferrari 512. This highly produced manual extends coverage of iconic sports-racing cars. 2016 was the 30th anniversary of the Porsche 962's first Le Mans win (the 956 having won for the previous four years) in the hands of Derek Bell, Hans Stuck and Al Holbart.

Powered by a tubocharged flat six, the 956/962 had Porsche’s first full monocoque structure and was the first car its engineers designed to produce aerodynamic downforce. Raced both by the factory and by private teams, these were turn-key cars: just turn the key…and win. These are among the world’s most respected racing cars. In these pages an expert on Porsche, Karl Ludvigsen, shares rare images from his personal archive and describes the highs and more highs of these great Porsches.

Looking back on 70 years of the legendary marque at one of the world's greatest races, Porsche at Le Mans is authoritatively written and packed with photos, history, and results.