Moment of Truth

Santa brought me a coffee table book again this year, "The History of the Porsche 911" updated for 2007. [santaspoiler]Santa bringing the book means that I went out and grabbed one of Border's $15 and under sale items on Christmas Eve and stuck it in with the other gifts, but I was too lazy to wrap it. Everyone in my house knows that presents from Santa aren't wrapped.[/santaspoiler] Anyway, about the book.

The History of the Porsche 911 is one of those 20" square, 350 page books with 250 full bleed pictures and 100 smaller supporting shots. The pictures are the thing, not the words. Typically, the text is there just to fill up the spots between pictures. Normally, I'd flip through and gawk at the glossy images and that would be pretty much it. I've bought or been given dozens of these over the years and haven't read a single one.

This year was different; I read every word. Maybe it was the subject matter, arguably the world's best ever sports car, or maybe it was a particularly hard Christmas for me. Being my first extended set of holiday parties since Lorilee, the consummate 'Christmas Girl' passed away, maybe it was easier to bury my head in the sports car book than interact with family. Just maybe.

If you know cars at all, it would seem a given that the Porsche would have always cherished the 911 brand and kept it in the forefront of the company's plans always. Not the case, which leads me to the point of this bit of writing.

In the mid-70's as the US was continually flagellating on regulations for emissions and safety, someone inside of Porsche had a great idea. Knowing that Chevrolet's Corvette was THE American sports car and as such would never be outlawed someone in legal reasoned, 'let's build a German version of the Corvette' and we'll be safe with the regulators. Over the next 10 years they worked on phasing out the 911 and refining the replacements. At one point top management dictated that no further work would be done on the 911. Two front engine, rear drive cars (the 928 and 944) would receive all development Deutsch Marks.

A new chairman was appointed in the late 80's after an early retirement, three months before the Super Bowl of endurance racing - the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The chairman, eager to learn about the racing effort for the big show, met with the racing division staff his second day on the job. They were busy preparing two 944's for the race. "How will we secure victory?" was the first question. The staff replied that these cars would not be competitive, they were working feverishly with hopes to be within 2 seconds per lap of the best in their class - overall victory would be out of the question.

This became a watershed moment for the new chairman. He stopped everyone working in the shop and assembled the racing staff for a quick meeting. The meeting was brief. He declared that while he was chairman Porsche would only enter races with the goal of overall victory. He would return tomorrow and expect a 20 minute presentation on exactly how Porsche would accomplish this goal.

The plan was hatched by the racing team during the 'all-nighter' that followed. The next day the new chairman was presented with a radical plan - take last years Le Mans winning 911's out of the Porsche museum and upgrade them to the current regulations, run a radical race strategy that would force Porsche drivers to stay in the car two or three times longer than the rest of the field. Do that without any mistakes by the pit crew or drivers for the full 24 hours and Porsche could win the race.

The "Museum Cars" came in first and third that year winning yet another Le Mans for Porsche. The chairman was revered by the workers at Porsche and the 911 was brought back to prominence for the company, where the 911 remains the flagship platform to this day.

When I read the story, two things came to mind:
- Don't Settle.
If I don't set a worthy goal or have a high standard, greatness won't be achieved.

- Make the decision when it needs to be made
There is no reason to hold back for even a moment when I know what is right.

However, having finished the book, I guess I'll have to return to the party. Oh, wait, here's a great one "The Full and Complete Racing History of the AMC Gremlin" - better get to reading.