GT3 100 Jahre Nürburgring

STORY

No car defines a brand the way the 911 defines Porsche. It was shown at the 1963 Frankfurt show and sold from 1964. At first it was called the 901, until Peugeot claimed the right to three-digit names with a zero in the middle and Porsche had to rename it. Its layout was unusual: a flat-six sits behind the rear axle. The shape was drawn by Ferry Porsche's son Butzi and has hardly changed since.

The rear engine could have been a drawback, and early cars could handle sharply. Porsche spent six decades working on it and turned the weakness into a trademark. Generation after generation improved traction, aerodynamics and electronics, while the silhouette stayed the same. The 911 is the textbook case of evolution over revolution.

From the air-cooled 993, loved by purists, to the water-cooled 996, which saved the platform, from Turbos to GT3s to today's hybrid-assisted cars: the 911 remains the reference every sports car is measured against, and the only Porsche that has been built continuously since the 1960s.