FROM MY REVIEWS IN THE 356 REGISTRY:

Porsche Engineering for Excellence by Tony Drone is a misnomer.  Drone starts off by stating “nor does the book delve very deeply into technical detail…”  Instead Drone writes from the point of view of a talented but spear carrier of a driver – he was good enough to be selected to drive one of the three factory 924 turbos at LeMans.  So a decent racer, also an automobile magazine columnist and part time Porsche salesman specializing in showing potential punters what a Porsche could do on the track. Approximately 30 out of 190 pages are devoted to the 356, which basically came and went before his time.  We get the usual potted history, entirely from the British point of view 

Drone’s point of view is basically that of a race driver.  At Donnington race track he drove David Cleaver’s original 1954 356 cabriolet 1500:  “To drive, and I hope I shall be forgiven this, it’s the nearest thing to a hovercraft on wheels ... it was somewhat overdue for a suspension and steering overhaul but still got round the circuit respectably quickly even if it was hard to make a mental connection between the car’s steering wheel and its attitude through the corners.  On the move, the hovercraft was marginally more alarming than that 1954 cabrio, but only because the sea was a bit choppy at the time.”  At least we are not treated to more angst about overseer. 

Photographs will be new to US readers, unless they subscribed to the Motor. – starting with a split window coupe arriving at the Paris motor show in 1951.   Drone is clearly not fond of Speedster, noting “The Speedster, contemporary with the 550, was not a real racer but was dressed to look the part, to American eyes at least.”  “It wasn’t a car that the serious Porsche driver lusted after.”  That’s enough to send Speedster fanatics into hysterics, not to mention his ending a sentence with a preposition.  If you are interested in a fresh look at the 356, and an interesting race car driver appraisal of almost all Porsches, consider Porsche Engineering for Excellence at S37.95

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