Raceborn: 75 Years of Porsche Motorsport at Retro Classics

Discover how Porsche launches the Raceborn 75 motorsport anniversary at Retro Classics 2026, showcasing historic race cars and customer racing milestones.

Porsche is kicking off its anniversary year “Raceborn – 75 Years of Porsche Motorsport” at Retro Classics 2026 in Stuttgart, turning one of Europe’s key classic car events into the starting point of a year-long celebration. From 19 to 22 February, Porsche Heritage and Museum will present four racing cars in Hall 1, each representing a different chapter of the brand’s global motorsport legacy — from its earliest competition steps to modern championship-winning machinery.

As Achim Stejskal, Director of Porsche Heritage and Museum, explains, the focus goes far beyond trophies and records. The exhibition is designed to show motorsport as a defining part of Porsche’s identity, shaped by regulations, technical limits, and the people driven by an uncompromising pursuit of perfection. Visitors are invited to explore the story not just through results, but through the technology, courage, and personalities behind the cars.

One of the centrepieces of the stand will be an original Porsche 356 SL (Type 514), the first Porsche model built specifically for motorsport. In 1951, it delivered a class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a milestone widely seen as the official beginning of Porsche’s motorsport history. Beyond that, the 356 SL became a symbol of early customer racing, giving private drivers and small teams a machine capable of competing internationally.

At the other end of the timeline is the Porsche 909 Bergspyder, a radical lightweight project developed in 1968 for the European Hill Climb Championship. Weighing under 400 kilograms, it was powered by an air-cooled eight-cylinder boxer engine of just under two litres, producing 275 PS (202 kW). Porsche notes that it could accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in about 2.4 seconds — a figure that still sounds striking today.

Modern motorsport history will be represented by the Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Ayhancan Güven for Manthey EMA. Less than a year ago, Güven secured the DTM championship in a dramatic season finale at the Hockenheimring, with the title fight going down to the last laps. The car will be shown to the public for the first time since its competitive outings, making it a standout highlight for GT racing fans.

A key part of the programme will be the panel discussions titled “Different perspectives in Motorsport”, taking place on 21 and 22 February at 14:00 (CET). Porsche will bring together two-time Le Mans winner Timo Bernhard, works driver Ayhancan Güven, Porsche Motorsport spokesperson Holger Eckhardt, and Porsche corporate archive head Frank Jung. Their discussion will bridge past and present, touching on topics such as the path from sim racing to real-world circuits and the transition from being a racing driver to running a successful customer racing team.

Alongside the cars, Porsche will display motorsport artefacts from its archives and historical film footage. Visitors will also get a first look at the yet-to-be-revealed “motorsport ambassador” car for the Porsche Museum in 2026, which is expected to appear at numerous events throughout the year.

Retro Classics provides an especially fitting stage for the launch. The event marks its 25th anniversary this year, and around 77,000 visitors attended in 2025. With that audience and atmosphere, Porsche’s anniversary programme begins not as a quiet museum tribute, but as a live conversation between heritage, engineering, and today’s racing world.