Hans Mezger

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Hans Mezger (born November 18, 1929 in Ottmarsheim ; † June 10, 2020 ) was a German engineer and head of the motorsport department at Porsche .

Hans Mezger at the Hockenheimring, 2009

Life

McLaren MP4 / 2 with the TAG Porsche engine developed by Hans Mezger

After studying mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Stuttgart , Mezger first worked in the Porsche testing department in Zuffenhausen from 1956. At the end of the 1950s he was involved in the development of racing engines for Formula 2 and the 1.5-liter eight-cylinder for Formula 1 , which was driven by Dan Gurney and Jo Bonnier in 1962 . The project was discontinued after a short time. The first air-cooled six-cylinder boxer engine for the Porsche 911 from 1963, which replaced the four-cylinder boxer of the 356 and formed the basis for the motorization of all subsequent 911 generations, was a design by Hans Mezger.

Ferdinand Piëch , then head of the testing department, created a special motorsport department in 1965, of which Mezger became the head. Porsche focused on sports car races with the 904 , 906 , 908 , 910 and 917 models . With the Porsche 917, which Hans Mezger designed and for which Piëch created the framework conditions, Porsche won the Le Mans 24-hour race for the first time and also the brand world championship in 1969, 1970 and 1971. Also in the US racing series CanAm and IMSA was able to celebrate successes.

In 1972 Mezger's department was relocated to Weissach as part of a reorganization . At the end of the 1970s, Porsche dominated sports car races with the 935 . In the autumn of 1981, McLaren commissioned Porsche to develop a turbo engine for Formula 1. The engine developed by Mezger was financed by Mansour Ojjehs TAG and known as the "TAG-Porsche". He won the world championship in 1984 , 1985 and 1986 with Niki Lauda and Alain Prost .

The sports cars 956 C and 935 were successfully racing in parallel to Formula 1 . In 1987, Porsche entered the US CART series with the 2708 . Mezger's team initially developed the car and engine, but success did not emerge until the company switched to March's chassis . Teo Fabi was able to win a race before the team withdrew from the series in 1990.

In 1990, Porsche returned to Formula 1 with a new V12 engine with footwork . However, problems with the oil supply and a lack of success led to the end of the project in mid- 1991 .

In the mid-1990s, Mezger retired after 40 years at Porsche. He was still closely connected to motorsport and gave lectures at universities.

Mezger engine

The GT models of the 911 - Porsche GT3 and Porsche GT2 - and turbo models of the water-cooled 911 series 996 and 997 series continued to be equipped with a so-called Mezger engine. This has a two-part aluminum crankcase, which Hans Mezger had designed, instead of the multi-part crankcase of the other current Porsche cars. One of the features of the design, which is geared towards motorsport, is the improved oil return for dry sump lubrication . This ensures engine lubrication , particularly with the high lateral acceleration forces that can be achieved with modern (semi-) slick tires in racing .

literature

  • Gordon Wingrove, Hans Mezger: Porsche 917: The Undercover Story . Peter Morgan Media Ltd, 2006, ISBN 0954999029 .
  • Tobias Aichele, Hans Mezger: Porsche 911: Engine History & Development . Motorbooks International, 1999, ISBN 0760307024 .

Web links

Commons : Hans Mezger  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Porsche website: Porsche mourns Hans Mezger. In: www.porsche.com. June 11, 2020, accessed June 11, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Mezger, Hans
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and head of the motorsport department at Porsche
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Stuttgart
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 2020