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Originally Posted by The Badger
What exactly does it cover ?
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Regarding Han Mezger's book...
I am not finished with the book yet, and I don't have it in front of me, but it basically starts out with a short history of his life prior to Porsche. He had wanted to be an aerospace engineer initially, but the post war conditions in German at that time made that impossible. He then became interested in auto design and due to shortage of engineers during that time, he could have worked for a lot of different places (and probably for more money), he wanted to work for Porsche. He joined Porsche straight out of school.
Roughly speaking he breaks things up into chapters based upon cars (911, 917, 906, 908, etc), the various F1 cars/engines (early 60's engine, the TAG turbo and later efforts), special projects, etc. It is a mixture of technical details, personal anecdotes, raw history presenting in a roughly chronological order. The technology side is not super in depth (at least so far). Or at least I didn't think it was. It might be to a layperson, but I expect most who read this book likely understand what he is talking about.
It is interesting to hear how each previous project helped the next. For example how as he came to understand head design (combustion chamber, valve angles, sizes, etc.) that he was able to use that knowledge to improve older engines (such as the 4 cam Furhmann engine) as well as future designs. He comes across a bit of a troubleshooter, problem solver. Bring him in to solve problem X and then he is back on some other project.
I find the anecdotes entertaining. For example there was one about how one of the factory drivers at the time (can't remember the name) got into a push-up contest with Ferdinand Piech while they were at Le Mans. Piech lost and sent over a case of champagne to settle the bet. Mezger and a mechanic got into the champagne early and became completely drunk in advance of their teammates!
I flipped forward and it covers right up to his retirement (around 1993 if I remember correctly) with some post retirement thoughts. As I read each chapter, it leaves me wanting more. This is not a comment on the lack of information, but more that I think this is the last time I will hear this type of detail from someone such as Mr. Mezger.
Has Ferdinand Piech written an autobiography? If so, has it been translated into English?
Richard