Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951) founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" with Adolf Rosenberger and Anton Piëch in 1931.

Despite Ferdinand Porsche having designed Grand Prix cars in the 1920s and 1930s for Mercedes and Auto Union, the Porsche AG never felt at home in single-seater series.

In the late 1950s the Porsche 718 RSK, a two-seater sports car, was entered in Formula Two races, as rules permitted this, and lap times were promising.

The 718 was first modified by moving the seat into the center of the car, and subsequently proper open wheelers were built. These 1500 cc cars enjoyed some success. The former F2 cars were moved up to Formula One in 1961, where Porsche's outdated design was not competitive.

For 1962, a newly developed flat-eight powered and sleek Porsche 804 produced Porsche's only win as a constructor in a championship race, claimed by Dan Gurney at the 1962 French Grand Prix. One week later, he repeated the success in front of Porsche's home crowd on Stuttgart's Solitude in a non-championship race.

At the end of the season, Porsche withdrew from F1 due to the high costs, just having acquired the Reutter factory.

Headquarters  Stuttgart, Germany

787

The Porsche 787 is a Formula One racing car built and raced by Porsche for one year in 1961. Ferdinand Alexander "Butzi" Porsche, the founder's grandson, was involved in the design of what would become Porsche's first Formula One car.

Only two 787s, serial numbers 78701 and 78702, were ever built. Due to their lack of power and poor handling Ferry Porsche retired the model and continued with the 718/2 as a stopgap. Porsche would focus on the upcoming 804 and its flat-eight engine for Formula One in 1962. Both 787s were scrapped by the factory in 1964.

The engine was a Porsche 547/3 1.498 cc F4 boxer and produced 186 bhp.

1961

dan gurney

787  porsche porsche 547/3  1.498 cc  F4 boxer mid-mounted 186 hp

circuit zandvoort

718

The 718 was a development of the successful Porsche 550A with improvements made to the body work and suspension. The car's full name is 718 RSK, where "RS" stands for RennSport (sports-racing) and the "K" reflects the shape of the car's revised torsion-bar suspension. It had a mid-engined layout and used the 142 horsepower 1.5-litre Type 547/3 quad-cam engine introduced in the 550A.

Formula One switched to a 1.5-litre formula in 1961 and Porsche entered three 718s for Dan Gurney, Hans Herrmann and Jo Bonnier. Gurney scored three 2nd places taking him to 4th place in the Drivers' Championship. For 1962, Porsche entered a new car, the Porsche 804 in Formula One.

1962

heini walter

718  porsche type 547  1.498 cc dohc F4 boxer engine normally aspirated mid-engined

nürburgring

1960-1962