As their first dedicated sports racing car, the 550 RS Spyder was raced to Porsche’s first major victory at the grueling 1956 Targa Florio. This early success marked the arrival of Porsche’s dedicated race car program, one which went on to win more races than any other manufacturer and largely fueled Porsche’s ongoing commercial success.

At the 1953 Paris Motor show, everyone got a first glimpse of the production worthy 550. It’s simplistic lines, scant interior, tiny windscreen and purposeful engineering left little doubt towards the intended nature of the car. It was a refined, lightweight and agile race car meant to outclass the heavier, less forwarding thinking competition. And it worked.

The 550 was built around a simple tubular ladder chassis covered by a taught aluminum body refined Erwin Komenda from the early prototypes. Sitting near the center of this was a complex engine which Ernst Fuhrmann designed to make the most of the 1.5 liters provided.

Schubladenmotor

Designated the Type 547, Fuhrmann’s engine sat at the forefront of Porsche performance for over ten years. Since its inception, the unit has pained every mechanic being somewhat over engineered and overly complex.

The Type 547 uses the same 4-cylinder boxer layout from the 356, but in an entirely different way. To achieve maximum efficiency, the valvetrain uses a complex system of bevel gears and camshafts to offer a true DOHC setup per cylinder bank. This so-called 4-cam setup was exceptionally difficult to setup but allows for domed pistons and a better combustion chamber shape.

Further adding complexity to the unit is a dual-plug ignition system that uses twin distributors of the intake cam. Both circuits could be controlled by levers from the cockpit.