The significance of Porsche Motorsport for its road cars

If Porsche is proof that motorsport improves the breed, then its output of racing cars last year suggests a very healthy company indeed.

In 2016, Porsche delivered an astonishing 600 racing cars, which its boss of GT and motorsport, Frank Walliser, reckons makes Porsche the biggest builder of race cars in the world.

Dallara, for example, might argue the point, but for a company whose main business is road cars, 600 race cars is a massive number.

There’s also a direct link from the racing car department to road cars, Walliser said. For example, when the 919 World Endurance Championship team is wound down at the end of this year, its 200 engineers will be redeployed inside Porsche. “We’ll keep the people, yes,” he told Autocar at the Frankfurt motor show.

Most will go on to design the new Formula E car, a project that takes on new significance, after the VW Group’s further commitment to electrification at a pre-show press gathering.

But others will go to work on "a few projects we have on the go".

On the direct link between GT and motorsport and road-car engineering, I think Walliser was only half-joking when he told Autocar last night: “When there’s a new 911 or whatever being designed, the race department turns up and gives them a book of our specification.”

In practice, that comes down to details like wishbone design, which the race team can influence to their advantage, making the completed car more competitive.

Walliser was also interesting on the subject of GT cars, when he talked about the new £112k GT3 Touring (pictured above), essentially a new option pack for the existing GT3.